156: The Evolution of Sales Channels for Hardware Products

Ben Drury is the Founder of Yoto, a connected hardware toy product for kids. Yoto has sold almost 500,000 units worldwide in just a few years of explosive growth. Today Ben is going to share some valuable knowledge to inventors, hardware startups, small manufacturers, and e-commerce brands on the 5 different sales channels, and how a hardware startup evolves through those channels to maximize their sales growth just like Ben did with Yoto. Today you will hear us talk about: Crowdfunding. It takes you down a great path of figuring out all the elements needed to build a successful product business. Direct via Website. The website gives you a lot more information that you can sell Amazon sales It’s easy to set up sales with Amazon. Wholesale / Retailers, Micro retailers, independent retailers, mass retailers If you go to a retailer with a buggy product, you will get hurt at retail badly There are lots of regulations with retailers, and a lot of requirements. Retailers want to see success before they bring on a new product Retailers operate on long cycles, they are looking years ahead You have to be very well prepared for dealing with big retailers. Specialty Channels Demand fuels specialty channels which are unique partnerships that want to buy your product The feedback loop from customers is very active. EPISODE LINKS: Ben Drury Links: LinkedIn | Yoto | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok The Product Startup Podcast Links: https://www.ProductStartup.com/ Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook Page | Facebook Group | Pinterest | Twitter | YouTube PTC Links: https://www.ptc.com/ OnShape | Creo Mako Design Links: https://www.makodesign.com/ YouTube | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter Kevin Mako Links: Instagram | LinkedIn | Quora | Facebook | Twitter Partner: PTC’s best-in-class software solutions Onshape: The only cloud-native product development platform that delivers full-featured computer-aided design (CAD), integrated product data management (PDM) and enterprise analytics in a single system, and Creo: 3D CAD solution that provides designers with the most innovative tools to build better products faster, such as generative design, additive manufacturing, real-time simulation, IIoT, and augmented reality. Producer: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop-shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent referral, prototyping, and manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories.