Featured Listing: 10-Year-Old Sunglasses Company

About the business

Tell us a little about yourself. What’s your background? How did you start the business?

I am a generalist with a background in economics and logistics. I took over Panda in 2016 as a remote project so I could go travel. The original owners founded Panda in 2012 with a very successful Kickstarter.

As an eCommerce business, where are your products made?

China.

What can you tell us about your Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) and Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

Shopify says: the average customer order is $150. Acquisition cost is low as we spend nothing on paid ads.

How have you marketed the product and where are your customers originating from?

Not really. We have no paid ads and rely on email marketing through combined sweeps + returning customers and referrals.

Is the asset on your listing owner-operated, how much time does it take to run the business, who else is needed on the team, and what is automated?

It takes about 2-4 hours a week to keep things moving, that’s 90% inbox management and email scheduling. Dianne, our VA handles all of the routine customer services.

What does someone need to do to continue operating the business in its current form?

Maintain the inbox, maintain the email sweepstakes, maintain the social media.

Growing the business

Can you list a few opportunities for a potential new owner to continue growing the business?

Retargeting ads, any paid ads of any kind, putting some time/money into SEO. There’s a lot of really low hanging fruit as far as opportunities go. Partnerships with existing shops or pop up stores. Sunglasses are easy to include in any sort of summer/travel/beach themed prize.

What has been the evolution of this asset since its launch?

Definitely a bit of a learning curve. I’ll honestly say that the company suffered due to my inexperience but has since recovered and has a lot of potential for someone without said learning curve.

How does this business make money? What are the current revenue streams?

Sunglasses sales.

What marketing channels are most profitable for the business?

Email. Social definitely plays a role but we’ve done a poor job of tracking that.

How big is your current team? How many people does it take to run this business?

2, I and my VA could be run with one person but I would strongly suggest keeping Dianne on as she is both experienced and relatively cheap.

What’s the reason for selling your business on Flippa?

Ready to peruse another project full time.