Stickers, both in physical and digital form, are becoming a popular way for businesses to build their brand. It’s a growing industry with many of the world’s leading brands, including Calvin Klein, Coach, and Stussy, having had recent sticker campaigns. If you are considering starting your own sticker business, you should read more about it and consider the pros and cons, which we will discuss here.
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Pros of a Sticker Business
Growing Industry
The sticker market is hot. The global die-cut sticker industry was worth $148.5 million in 2021 and will reach $188 million by 2028. Some of the latest trends from industry leaders like StickerYou and StandoutStickers include stickers that promote a certain destination or a way of life, such as visiting Las Vegas or being more eco-friendly.
Now is a great time to seize the opportunity to get in on this booming market.
Low Startup Costs
You can start a sticker business for less than $5,000. You can outsource the printing of the stickers, so you don’t need expensive printing equipment. You just need a computer and some design software, and a marketing budget. You can run the business from home, so you don’t need to rent an office, and you can sell your stickers online or to local businesses.
Flexibility
Again, you can run the business from your home and outsource the printing. All you have to do is design the stickers, market your products, and ship them to customers. You can set your own hours, and you don’t have to answer to anyone.
High Profit Margins
It costs very little to design and print your stickers, so you can sell them at about an 80% profit margin. That means that 80% of your sales revenue stays in your pocket. For example, if you sell sheets of stickers for $3 each, and you sell 1000 in a month, your revenue will be $3,000 and you’ll keep $2,400.
U.S. industry leader Sticker Giant counts Apple, Google, and NASA among its clients, and takes in about $21 million in annual revenue.
Easy to Scale
Since you can outsource your printing, you don’t have to invest any more money in equipment or space as you grow your business. This means that you can increase your sales without increasing your costs. Of course, once you grow to a certain point, you might need to hire people to help you fulfill orders, reducing your profit margin, but your revenue will be high enough at that point that you’ll still be making a tidy profit.
Cons of a Sticker Business
Design Skills Needed
You’ll need to be able to design unique stickers that will be eye catching and help you stand out in the market. Not everyone has these skills, but they are a must for a sticker company. You should also have basic knowledge of graphic design apps like Canva, Procreate, Apple Keynote, and PicMonkey.
At some point, as your business grows, you may need to add more sticker designers to your team.
Competitive Market
The downside to a booming market is that everyone wants to get in on the action. That means you’ll be competing with not only the bigger, established companies, but also small new sticker companies like yours. This makes it even more imperative to have the design skills to make your products unique. You need to try to catch a trend with a sticker design that will take off.
Some Tips for a Sticker Business
Choose a Target Market
The target market for a sticker business will be mainly B2B (business to business), meaning your customers will likely be other companies. Businesses need stickers for branding and promotion purposes, and to label their products.
However, you cannot target the entire corporate sector at once. You need to carry out market research and discover potential target market opportunities around you. Focus on one industry at a time, gain expertise in that niche, and then if you succeed in that area, target another market segment. Local businesses may be your first step. You can connect with business owners on LinkedIn and call them directly to make sales.
Write a Business Plan
Writing a business plan will help you to think through every part of starting and running a business. A business plan is also necessary if you apply for a loan
Your business plan should include:
- Executive Summary: Brief overview of the entire business plan. Write this after your plan is complete.
- Business Overview: Overview of the company, vision, mission, ownership, and corporate goals.
- Product and Services: Describe your products or services in detail.
- Market Analysis: Assess market trends.
- Competitive Analysis: Analyze main competitors, assessing their strengths and weaknesses, and try to find a way to give your business a competitive advantage.
- Sales and Marketing: Develop sales and marketing strategies.
- Management Team: Overview of management team, detailing their roles and professional background. This may be just you at this point but think about who you might need in the future. Consider who else you might need to hire for various roles.
- Operations Plan: This is the logistics of how you will run your business on a day-to-day basis.
- Financial Plan: Three years of financial planning, including startup costs, break-even analysis, profit and loss estimates, cash flow, and balance sheet.
In Closing
Now that you understand the pros and cons of a sticker business, you can decide if it’s the right path for you. You may need to do some more homework about starting a business, but this should have jump started your thinking. A sticker business is a great way to get in on a growing market, so if you decide to move ahead, the sky is the limit. Good luck!
About Carson Derrow
