Coffee Cups
Coffee is huge business, since the rise of Starbucks TM the world seems to have gone coffee mad. Naturally this must mean a rise in coffee cup sales, coffee makers and presumably coffee filters and grinders but I don’t want to give all my ideas away so we’ll stick with cups.
Even Starbucks sell cups, not just the old fashioned mugs with a huge Starbucks TM on them but all sorts of new fangled modern semi-thermos flask ones as well. I imagine from the number they stock that they must sell quite a few of them.
Starbucks has the right idea emblazoning their logo on cups that are used in social situations every day whether it be at the office water cooler, in meetings or simply in front of the TV with the kids and a friend. Of course this is nothing new, Nescafe used to brand coffee cups that were sold in supermarkets and petrol (gas) stations when I was a kid, and people bought them. They were nice but they had Nestle on them and we paid for them.
Whether it is putting logos on for companies, clubs and websites or adding a photo for proud mums, dads and grannies there is plenty of scope for customising the humble coffee cup. Surprisingly it is something that you can do from home with no more equipment than a PC and an internet connection but that is how you source them not how you sell them.
In terms of marketing I would try the following: -
Network
Ebay
Website
Yellow Pages
Flyers
Friends and family may buy a mug with your logo and/or picture on it, schools and clubs may buy group photo mugs or mugs with emblems emblazoned on them. Equally small business owners may want something with their logo and a phone number or website address. Be creative and show people what you have done so far. Every mug that gets given away has the potential to bring you more orders.
Ebay has over 6500 items listed under “coffee mug “and a further 5800 under “coffee cup”. Talk about competitive. Listing your stock, and setting up a shop does not hurt and as your offers expire they will move to the top of the offers about to expire list which will attract some attention. Reasonably priced, attractive mugs will sell which is why there are so many here.
Websites for coffee mugs/cups abound. Start from the premise that you will never get to the top of the SEO rankings and question seriously whether another coffee mug website is what the world needs. If the answer is yes then spend more time and money promoting it than you do building it. Approach other webmasters with offers to create and promote cups for them in return for them promoting your site to their users. Offer a free mug to the person who brings you the most traffic, be creative.
Yellow Pages and other business listing directories are a great source of potential buyers. You can either call or mail your prospective clients but test several in each section to see whether plumbers are more likely to respond than pig farmers. Aim for the bigger adverts as these are the guys who spend money on advertising and promotions.
Flyers can be handed out anywhere busy of dropped off at densely packed industrial parks. They are cheap to print and as simple message like “put your logo here” on a picture of a mug should get your point across. 99.5% of businesses will never respond but land one big customer and it will all be worthwhile.
You can order from sites like www.Zazzle.com or www.giftmugs.com but at about $15 a pop for one off creations you may struggle to make much of a mark-up. Not a bad place to go for some samples though to sell your concept and if course if you get a big buyer then you can benefit from the bulk order discounts.
Online this is a very competitive business but in the real world many people think it is just too hard. Whether you are selling your own designs or other people’s corporate logos be creative in your marketing and customers will come to you providing you are not much more expensive than the next guy.