Kickstarter Or Shopify? The Benefits of Running a Crowdfunding First.

You have a new innovative and super cool project and you can't wait to show that to the world... but how to do that? Should you start with crowdfunding or should you open e-commerce directly?

Well, this question is very common among my clients, and there are several answers to that question. Let's start by saying that after the pandemic, there's no more doubt about launching a product online or opening an online shop without physically having to manage a store.

So it comes clear that selling online is not a choice, it's mandatory!

What are the benefits of launching a Kickstarter and then opening your e-commerce?

Before reading the article...

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WHY STARTING A KICKSTARTER?

As you may know, starting a business is not an easy job, and getting funding is one of the first problems you will have to deal with.

There are a lot of risks to take at first, also there's no guarantee that you will see a return of your investment. Building your small business can have a lot of expenses, that's why you thought about crowdfunding first.

Let's see now what are the benefits of crowdfunding on Kickstarter or Indiegogo.

1. Save money at an early stage

With crowdfunding, you can bring your project to life without having to invest money at the beginning, to make it simple: you create a campaign on Kickstarter, without spending a fortune, you show your product just like a pitch, if it's good enough people will back you and give money to start your project, if it's not good enough fewer people will back, you will not waste money making a product that has not people's interest.

2. Less financial risk

When selling your new product the most important part of your marketing strategy is to know who your target audience is, you may hypothesize it but you cannot know if that will really work once your product is out there in the market. With crowdfunding, you have the possibility to see what happens when you pitch your product to a large audience, in this way you will get feedback before spending a lot of money on manufacturing, etc...

3. Know more about your target audience

As we said before it is easier to understand who your target audience really is with crowdfunding, you can get a lot of information about them and you will get to know if they like your product or not in a very direct way! It is so hard to collect enough feedback in the vast world of e-commerce, you cannot get suggestions from people so easily and you cannot work to the best version of your product without knowing your audience's preferences. With crowdfunding, you can learn it and more, this is a very valuable opportunity in the early stages of your business, and even if it will not end well you will learn a lot and focus on making your product work!

4. Get a spotlight on

With crowdfunding, it is easy to earn visibility and attention because these websites are public and there are a lot of early adopters ready to learn more about new products. When you go live with crowdfunding you have more attention rather than launching on your own private website. If your product goes viral in the first house, Kickstarter or Indiegogo spotlight will be on you and a lot of people will come to visit even if they didn't know you. 

WHY STARTING AN E-COMMERCE?

Starting an e-commerce has become even simpler than it used to be, especially with Shopify, now there's no more dilemma of opening an online shop or not. Of course, crowdfunding will not work universally for every kind of product (though every product could work well with a great strategy behind it).

1. Right into your target

When you find your target audience and you're sure that they will respond, e-commerce is the perfect answer because you can address to specific people with very specific products. In this case, you have more possibility to share your product around this target and develop new products following their needs and tastes.

2. Your product is always available

While on crowdfunding you have a limited amount of time and sometimes of pieces, some may not manage to buy it and it could be annoying. While on e-commerce you have no time limit, your product is still there and it gets re-stocked every time. This is a great point in favor of course.

3. Focus on your business

Preparing a crowdfunding campaign is challenging and time-consuming, most of the time you'll have a lot of pressure on your shoulders because of timing and you may neglect your product. While starting an e-commerce is easier than running a crowdfunding, because you can focus on your product and your business model more, and you have all the time you need.

CROWDFUNDING OR E-COMMERCE: WHAT TO CHOOSE?

Now that I showed you the benefits of both ways to sell your product, there are multiple ways to proceed from now on and you can choose what's the best for you!

Of course, the options now are: 1) Starting only a crowdfunding campaign, 2) starting only an e-commerce OR 3) starting a crowdfunding and then moving to an e-commerce once the funding is done!

I personally prefer and advise my clients to choose the last option, if your crowdfunding will be successful all of your efforts will eventually bring your product on your e-commerce, with a lot of people ready to buy it and support you, because they already know you.

But let's analyze the options better.

1) If you choose to only perform the crowdfunding campaign and stop it's because you may want to create a one-timer product that could only be purchased inside your campaign. It could be a limited edition or just a prototype to see if people are interested, if they're not interested you'll notice it right away and avoid waste of money (better save up and develop a better prototype!)

2) If you choose to start an e-commerce directly you may not have enough time to set up and run a crowdfunding campaign, it takes a lot of work and sometimes it is truly easier just to launch a product via e-commerce. It is really easy to create your e-commerce, just make the product page, run some ads to Shopify and Amazon, and it's all set and done. You may have to set early expenses and pay to create the product, but for many entrepreneurs, this option is better than crowdfunding.

3) In the last option you can run a crowdfunding first and then launch your online shop, it may take a lot of hard work but it's probably the best option, which I prefer and advice! This is a very good option for various reasons, you can start with a campaign with an idea that you're not sure about and test it running a campaign. If the campaign goes really well you can mitigate your risk, raise money and draw a lot of attention. Now you have an audience and that means when it’s time to start selling your product by eCommerce in the long run, you're already set up!

WRAPPING IT UP

This is it for today, as I told you what I prefer, and what my clients often choose to do is: prepare a pre-launch strategy, launch a crowdfunding and then set-up an e-commerce. This method is the most effective and shows people's interest, you cannot go wrong!

A crowdfunding launch requires a lot of hard work and sacrifices, but I'm sure that it will be worth it in order to start making your dream project come true.

Always remember that before launching your project you will need to analyze and prepare your pre-launch phase to launch your first product, I’ve got you covered with my crowdfunding pre-launch free e-book called ''3 steps to success on Kickstarter and Indiegogo''. 

As always make sure to subscribe to my channel to stay updated on fresh new content that I’m gonna drop there.

Ciao ciao! 

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