College Merch Business Idea
So I had this great idea while I’m here in Ukraine to create and sell college-related paraphernalia. After running an idea by a successful businesswoman friend of mine, the idea was shot down completely.
Explanation:
There’s quite a bit of alma mater pride going on in Kiev, as you can imagine it would in any town with several colleges the size of Notre Dame. However, none of those colleges sell their alma mater merchandise! I was shocked to find out that such a staple of the American college life was completely missing in Ukraine!
For instance, KPI (Kiev Polytechnic Institute) is attended by something like 20,000 students, yet you won’t see anyone in the city wearing anything KPI-related. The same can be said about the Schevchenko State University. I mean, nothing. Not even a keychain!
I realized the following positives and negatives to this situation:
Positives:
- The market has not been cornered yet.
- I have a friend who goes to China regilarly, knows Chinese suppliers, and can get cheap merchandise made-to-order.
- I am decent with graphic design – I can scan some college logos and design bona fide merchandise myself.
Negatives:
- I don’t know anyone “connected”. I don’t want to be “sleeping with the fishes, see”. I guess I have to figure out who to pay off if I decide I can sell my merch on the street. Yes, of course I’m talking about the mob … It’s a city of 3 mil, of course there’s mob!
- I don’t have and cannot get my hands on (here) on a few prototypes – t-shirts, keychains, notebooks, hats, etc.
Conclusions?
I need to hit the streets and make deals with whoever it is in charge of licensing college-related crap. I can’t offer anything upfront, but they would get a cut of what I would sell. As soon as I get back to the U.S., I’m spending some time designing a few merchandise items and making some models.
Oh, the idea was shot down because my friend thought 1) no one would finance the printing of the initial 500-1,000 shirts 2) no one would buy the shirts 3) people aren’t proud of their colleges. You know, your basic set of pessemistic put-downs.
Hey, who says I can’t sell unlicensed college merchandise off the Internet? I’ll be in the U.S., and they’ll be in Ukraine …
Like, what are they gonna do?
And finally, Nev plugged this site, which was nice of him. Hey, I don’t do this for the glory, but it’s still cool.
If you were to print up the t-shirts in the USA, the university wouldn’t get you… but it seems the cost of shipping a shirt would be cost-prohibitive.
Comment by Lawrence — July 6, 2006 @ 4:14 pm
Just a thought. If you have trouble selling merchandise directly to students because of low demand, you could try selling to the bookstores, cafe’s, etc. that sell to students. This might cut your profits a bit, but you might make up for it in volume.
Comment by The Prosperous Peasant — July 7, 2006 @ 12:40 pm
Nice. I’m in the process of launching an ecommerce site for college students. If you’re in need of shirts printed, I could work a deal with you.
Comment by Dennis — July 9, 2006 @ 11:03 am
I can help with the Chinese connection. We just had our first container of Chinese sewn goods arrive. Amazing how low cost it is.
Set up your cousin/uncle/friend/employee with a warehouse in their basement or room. Publish a printed catalog and distribute all over campus (pay a kid to do it). If you can’t stock in Ukraine, then set up a warehouse and hire a guy in another country and ship from there. I have a few freinds in Poland.
Wes
Comment by Wes — July 12, 2006 @ 4:18 am