FBA Toothpicks
Here's a business you can start for less than $1000
I know what you’re thinking. “Toothpicks, really?” It’s surprisingly compelling, read on.
I’ve built a number of companies and they always end up being more involved an complex than I hoped they would. My wife (Tamara) likes to joke with me that my next business needs to be no more complex than selling toothpicks online. When I’m stressed or trying to overcome a big obstacle in my current business, she’ll often say “toothpicks” to remind me of her wishes of simplicity.
Recently, when looking for my next thing, I decided I would take that sentiment to heart and explore selling toothpicks as a venture.
And…it’s not half bad. As it turns out, even a boring business like toothpicks can be pretty exciting.
Competition
As you can imagine, the competition isn’t very stiff.
On amazon, you find what you expect to find–generic toothpicks in large packages for a reasonable price.
But, toothpicks are sort of a commodity. How could we differentiate? Maybe larger packs? Lower cost? Quality? Brand?
Those are all possible, but maybe weaker than some other options.
Customer
Some insights from a daily toothpick user.
If you get into the toothpick game, you don’t want to be selling to occasional users who need them for craft projects or something like that. You want to be selling to daily toothpick users.
A daily toothpick user either (A) is obsessed with having clean teeth or (B) has some dental defect or permanent retainer that causes food to easily get stuck.
Anyone who has rode in my dad’s car would see a few toothpicks stuck between the A-pillar trim and the headliner. He was sort of known for this. Why? He knows after every meal, he’s going to need a toothpick and he wants them easily accessible. Although people made fun of him because of this, we can glean some valuable insights.
Daily toothpick users:
Use toothpicks many times throughout a day
Need toothpicks to be easily accessible
Are OK with re-using if needed
Like that “fresh” feeling a good picking can bring
With this information, how might we differentiate?
Differentiation
A quick search for “flavored toothpicks” reveals some options.
Here we see not only flavors, but some other ideas.
Anything stand out as you read the titles?
Yes, “quit smoking” appears a lot in the top listings. It seems that toothpicks are used also by people who are trying to quit smoking as an aide to help with oral fixation. Noted.
What else do you see?
“Caffeine,” right? Interesting. It seems that one of the highest reviewed items on this page promise “energy” to the user.
If we scroll down further on the page, we discover more.
Popular flavors seem to be mint and cinnamon. Even hot cinnamon. Cinna-Pix promises that you’ll “feel the heat” with their highly rated toothpicks.
Also notice, that the packaging of these toothpicks is smaller than the bulk options seen before. It seems that the “chapstick” form factor seems popular. Taking note that ease of access is a consideration, a daily toothpick user might want to not only have toothpicks in their car, but also in their pocket, at their desk, by their favorite chair at home, etc. So a multipack of a small form factor seems to be a good move.
OK, we’re starting to develop a product concept here.
Multipack
Small carrying case
Popular flavors
Maybe additives like caffeine or plaque inhibitors or promote moisture
Differentiated brand
Margins
But how much money can you make in the toothpick biz?
As it turns out, the numbers are pretty decent. Especially if you can win a daily toothpick user with repeat buying behavior.
These “dry mouth” toothpicks have some pretty good numbers
Volume: 819 per month
Price: $24.99
COGS: $2.50 (Alibaba research)
FBA Fees: $7.29
Gross Margin: $15.20 or 60.8% (not bad indeed)
That means, if you owned this product, you would be netting $12,448 per month from this listing alone.
And you wouldn’t just have one listing. You would have multipacks of the same flavor, variety packs with different additives, Smaller packs, bulk packs, etc.
Here’s another popular brand:
Volume: 1102
Retail: $9.99
COGS: $0.50 (Alibaba)
FBA Fees: $3.72
Gross Margin: $5.78 or 57.8%
This product could be netting $6,369 per month for you.
What do you think?
Could you:
Create a better name than “Flavor Forest” or “Dry Mouth?”
Create better packaging?
Write a better description?
Create better product imagery?
Create better flavors?
Offer a better price?
If you could do any of the above, you’re already thinking about the things that could cause you to win in this category.
You’re probably not going to buy a private island by selling toothpicks online, but the toothpick biz has some things going for it:
Repeat users
Brand loyalty
Low shipping costs
Low COGS
Product that never expires
Low competition
Want to get in the toothpick biz? Send me some of your samples and I’ll give them to my dad :)