Start A Successful Slime Business: How to Sell Slime Online

The Internet makes business easy, and people can sell goods online and become successful easily. Slime is a popular toy in recent years and everyone wants to have it. Because of the huge market demand and potential, people see the opportunity of slime business and want to seize it. I believe the same is true for you who are reading this blog now.

Here we will show you how to start a slime business and sell it online.

Do Some Research: Understanding the Slime Market

Before you start a slime business, you should do some target market research so that you will know where your customers are. Maybe you are a successful toy wholesaler, a retail store owner, a supermarket manager, or a college student and entrepreneur with no experience. No matter what, your goal is the same: sell toys.

So, the first question is, is there still a market for slime? You know, it’s been around for years, is it too late for us to start? Can we still make money selling it?

Is Selling Slime A Good Business

Where the customers are, the market is there. On YouTube, videos about slime have been played more than 10 billion times. People who watch these fun videos are our potential customers and are likely to buy slime from your online store!

However, while slime remains popular, the people looking to make money from it is also increasing. So, besides understanding your customers, you also need to research your competitors.

Honestly, if some people in your area are starting a slime business and doing a great job, then you need to put effort into the types of toys and their prices. You must find the weaknesses of your opponents. Then adjust your products and price advantages to win the fierce competition.

Types of Slime: Beyond Your Imagination

Don’t forget to research the types of slime toys in your target market, they are more diverse than you think. In fact, this is the key to its appeal to people. You need to observe which types of slime on the market are more popular or easier for you to make a profit.

Types of slime currently on the market include:

Cloud Slime: It looks like a cloud, sometimes called cotton slime.
Butter Slime: It looks like butter.
Fluffy Slime: Similar to Cloud Slime, the texture is light and soft.
Clear Slime: Kids can use it to make bubbles.
Magnetic Slime: You can control its movement with a magnet.
Crunchy Slime: It makes a “crack crack” sound when rubbed. Also called Floam Slime.
Jelly Cube Slime: It simulates jelly with some small cubes mixed in.
Glow in the Dark Slime: It can glow at night.
Glossy Slime: This type of slime has a metallic-like sheen on its surface and is sometimes called Metallic Slime.
Scented Slime: In theory, any of the above types of slime can be scented by adding fragrance.

Of course, you can find more. And, because of its sticky properties, slime can also be mixed with other toys, such as air-dry clay and kinetic sand. Slime is fun, no wonder kids love it and even adults can’t resist it.

Besides play, you should also know that a slime toy called a therapy putty can also be used for healing purposes. The therapy putty is so stretchy and stiff that you have to use force to stretch or squeeze it. People use it to exercise hand muscle strength for rehabilitation.

However, therapy putty is a toy for adults, and children may think this hard slime is boring. You need to consider this information when selecting slime types.

Opportunities & Risks

The global epidemic in recent years has made it difficult for all industries. Everyone wants to earn or save money instead of spending it. However, this is actually an opportunity.

The epidemic has changed people’s lives, especially the way they shop. And online stores that don’t require face-to-face contact make people feel safer.

On the other hand, although adults are reluctant to spend money on themselves, the trend in the toy market continues to rise. Obviously, our dear parents would rather work harder to make their kids happy. So, don’t worry it’s too late to start slime business now, you can benefit in the toy market anytime.

However, opportunities always come with risks, and you must always remember it. Awareness of risk will keep you alert to the temptation of opportunity. And you need to know that not all slime toys will make you profitable. You must carefully choose and develop a business plan that works for you.

Estimate the Cost of a Slime Business

At last, you need to estimate the costs of starting a slime business. This will let you know how difficult it will be to do, and whether you will need financial support. Make sure you have enough money for your business, or you won’t be able to sustain it.

You can calculate the cost of this business project based on the following factors:

Cost of slime toys

If you plan to sell homemade slime, calculate the cost of the ingredients.

Source slimes from toy manufacturers or factories usually cost less, although this requires a larger MOQ. You need to consult them to get the best quote.

Please note that currently, various areas have strict standards for the safety of toys. Some online shops will ask you to provide the test reports and certifications. For example, toys in Europe must undergo EN71 laboratory testing, while third-party testing is required in the Americas. This will be an expense, you should factor it into the cost.

Online operating costs

Compared with the high rent of street stores, the cost of online shops is low. For $29 per month, you can start your business project on Shopify. You can also buy yourself a website domain name for a few dollars a month. All started easily.

The hard part is building and running your online store or website. If you are good at website design, congratulations, you can save this cost. Because hiring professional programmers and website designers can cost you hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Also, you will need to spend time learning online marketing and SEO. These techniques can make your online store and products visible to more people, and they are free. But if you hire operations personnel, you will need to pay an additional salary.

Besides, advertising will allow you to get the first customer faster, but it will also cost more.

Warehouse rent

If you have a large inventory of slime, you will also need to pay warehouse rent.

Shipping cost

Setting up your store to have customers pay for shipping can save you money, but it may also cost you some customers. Also, if you’re importing slime, you may need to pay taxes and customs clearance fees.

Planning Your Slime Business

After detailed market research and cost calculations, you have a clear understanding of your slime business. Now, we need to refine it.

Defining Your Niche and Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

Usually, we will define the niche market of the product so that customers will remember you. This is a USP(Unique Selling Proposition). For example, let’s say your competitors are selling cheap slime toys. They seem to be selling well, what should we do?

Step 1: What are your competitors doing?

Check out competitors’ stores, whether online or offline. How do they present and market their products? Looking at their slime types and ads, you can deduce their target customers and niche market.

Avoid being in the same niche as your competitors. You’d better find a special USP that’s unique to you, so that your product can stand out from the competition and get consumers to pay for it.

Step 2: Who are your target customers?

Don’t try to satisfy all your customers; that will only make you lose more than you gain. You can take a moment to think about what your ideal customer base looks like? Imagine what kind of toys they would need?

Step 3: What are your strengths?

Now that we know our competitors and target customers, it’s time to look at our own slime toys. Are they unique? Is the price cheaper or more expensive than others?

Step 4: What is your vision or slogan?

A business vision is important because it embodies your values and attitudes. Health, environmental protection, safety, creativity, vitality, future… No matter what it is, choose a unique advantage and slogan and make it your USP.

Remember, a good USP will make people remember you and differentiate you from your competitors.

Creating a Business Plan

Once you have established your niche and USP, we need a practical business plan so you can actually start selling your slime toys.

You can start from the following aspects.

The source of slime toys: homemade or purchased? How much inventory do you need to prepare? How to set up a workspace and warehouse? How to design branding and packaging?
Where to sell: online or offline? How to decorate the store? How to solve sales and shipping? If it is an offline store, where should you choose the address? How to find potential customers on social media?
Marketing strategy: Where to set up ads? How to promote and increase brand awareness? How to provide good customer service and increase repurchase rate? How to resolve customer complaints?

Overall, the more detailed you think about it, the easier your business project will be.

Sourcing Ingredients and Supplies

The product is always the most important. Whether you choose to make your own or purchase it, you should take it seriously and make sure every slime toy we sell is worth it.

Essential Ingredients for Making Slime

Homemade slime is a cheaper option, but it takes time. These are what you need to know about the ingredients for making slime:

Glue (white glue used in schools is fine)
Borax (note, parents don’t like this)
Food coloring (just a few drops will change the color of your slime)
Baking soda
Contact lens solution (you can use this instead of borax)

You can easily find these ingredients in your kitchen or supermarket, mix them according to the recipe instructions and you can get slime toys.

However, you need to note that homemade toys cannot be stored for a long time because they lack antiseptic ingredients. Generally speaking, you are also unlikely to sell them in supermarket chains or on Amazon. Since these homemade products have difficulty passing EN71 laboratory testing or ASTM third-party testing.

Homemade slime is great for small entrepreneurs, such as school students. You can post ads on campus and sell it to interested classmates or teachers. Its initial cost is low, and it’s easy for you to succeed.

However, if you want to get more bang for your buck, you’ll need a more efficient way to get slime.

Finding Reliable Toys Suppliers

Finding a reliable toy supplier can reduce hassles and save you time. Moreover, these slimes will be safer and legal.

Of course, you may need to spend some time up front discussing needs and prices with numerous suppliers or manufacturers. Going to the factory and seeing the manufacturing machines and production lines is a good idea. You will know how the slime toys are made.

Once you reach long-term cooperation with the toy suppliers, you will benefit a lot.

Importing slime toys from China is a good idea. Usually, you can purchase high-quality products at a lower cost and receive patient and sincere service.

Huilian is an OEM/ODM factory with 40 years of toy manufacturing experience, located in Foshan City, Guangdong Province, southern China, adjacent to Guangzhou(Canton) and Shenzhen. With a cover area of 40,000 square meters, Huilian Toy Factory not only produces high-quality slime, but also air-dried clay, playdough, play sand, etc.

All our toy products comply with the safety standards of ASTM, ISO and EN71. Please feel free to contact us to get the latest product catalog and the best quotation.

Setting Up Your Workspace

When you plan to sell homemade slime, set up a workspace. Don’t simply assume that having a table is enough. No matter how big a table is, it will eventually become messy if you don’t plan and organize it.

Designing an Efficient Slime-Making Area

Fix the slime ingredients in a certain location to ensure that they are there every time you need them.
You should store the ingredients and finished slime product separately. It’s a good idea to label them.
After each production ends, clean the workspace in time.

Ensuring Safety and Compliance

Although slime toys are not food, you should choose safe and compliant ingredients. Make sure your workspace environment is clean and sanitary.

When your business is just starting out, don’t be in a hurry to make a lot of slime toys because you probably cannot sell them at once. Hoarding slime will go bad quickly, causing your costs to rise.

Don’t sell bad slime toys, it will reduce your business reputation and make customers lose confidence in you. So make sure every toy you make is perfect. This can also reduce complaints and troubles.

Crafting Your Product Line

When your business has made great progress and your sales have gradually increased, you need to craft your product line. If you purchase slime from a supplier, you can skip this section. Toy manufacturers can adjust product lines to meet your needs at any time. You don’t need to spend time or energy doing so.

Experimenting with Different Slime Recipes

Maybe you’re used to a certain homemade slime recipe, but don’t forget, your customers are curious and picky. They need new toys. So you’d better change. Whether online or otherwise, find ways to get more recipes and practice them.

You can usually find more interesting or efficient slime recipes. It can relieve boring repetitive work, on the other hand, you will also get new orders and customers.

Developing Unique and Eye-Catching Slime Varieties

Besides finding recipes, you also need to understand what types of slime your customers want. As we mentioned earlier, there are many slime toys on the market, but not all types are popular. Moreover, slime types that are currently unpopular may suddenly become hot at some point. You need to keep an eye on market trends.

Check out your competitors and see what types of slime they are selling.
Turn on your phone and see what people are watching on social media such as YouTube or Instagram.
Ask your current customers what type of slime they want.

All in all, unique and eye-catching slime toys will always win you customers, so don’t stop looking for them.

Branding and Marketing Strategies

A brand allows customers to remember you and differentiates you from other competitors. In addition, the brand is more conducive to communication, and you will get more orders as a result.

Building Your Brand Identity

Design a unique brand name and logo for your slime toy so people can easily remember it. It would be a good idea to use the product name in the brand so that people can understand what you are selling at a glance. For example, the famous play-doh and kinetic sand, you can easily know the toys they represent.

But that’s not your only choice. You can of course name it whatever you like. The McDonald’s and Starbucks brands don’t directly tell you what they sell, but they succeed anyway. Therefore, the brand name will not dilute the impact of the product, as long as you do it well enough.

An important tip is, don’t use someone else’s brand name, this is copyright infringement and can get you into trouble with a lawsuit. After you have prepared a good brand name or logo, remember to register it to obtain a trademark that is exclusive to you. This protects your brand equity. You don’t want your hard-working brand to be copied by others.

Creating a Strong Online Presence

Use social media to create a strong online presence for your brand and products. People are spending more time on social media these days. And whether it’s in the form of text, pictures or videos, you can use them to showcase your slime. For example, you could launch a fun or scientific video on YouTube to get people to watch it and ask you for prices and purchase links.

Please note that you need to create a single presence for your social media account rather than posting randomly. Apparently it’s not a good idea to release fun gameplay and a way to clean slime at the same time. Because their viewers are completely different, the former are your potential customers, while the latter are not.

Spending time publishing inappropriate content is unworthy. Of course, in the early stages of operation, you need to make some bold attempts to find a suitable style.

Launching Your Business Online

In any case, you need a place for customers to see your products and conduct transactions, i.e., an online slime store. You can open a store on Amazon or eBay, or you can make your own ecommerce website, such as a Shopify store or other.

How To Start A Slime Business Online

Today, many convenient tools allow you to create an online ecommerce store. Take Shopify as an example. They provide you with 80+ website themes and templates. You only need to choose the style you like to get a good storefront. This is much easier than decorating an offline store, and the cost is also low.

And, it only takes a few minutes to get your online store up and trade your slime toys.

How to Present Your Slime Toys

Use your phone or camera to take clear photos of your slime toys and upload them to your online shop. Remember, it’s more important for a picture to be clear than to look good. You should also try to take videos of them so your customers can see what they really look like.

Please note that in your online shop, you should place real photos instead of downloaded ones from elsewhere. If customers find that what they purchased is not authentic, they will lose trust in you and never back again.

A good idea is to put the latest and best-selling slime products at the top of your website’s homepage. Make them the first thing your customers see as soon as they enter your store. Frequently updating the “latest” products on your website will generate interest and attention from your customers.

Managing Operations and Growth of Online Shop

The most difficult part of your slime business plan is operations and growth, that is, how to get more traffic and orders to your online shop.

Keywords and SEO

Unless you directly tell customers the website address of your store, most of the time, your potential customers find you by search. Whether it’s Amazon or Google, in order for customers to find your website, you need to research the keywords and SEO.

Keywords refer to the text entered by customers in the search bar. For example, ‘slime’ is a search keyword. But the word has a broad meaning and encompasses many intentions. They don’t have to be your customers, or even most of them, although it will bring considerable traffic to your website.

We need more accurate keywords to describe our products and let our target customers search for us. The job of arranging these keywords in the website is SEO, which makes your website surpass the competitors and win more traffic and orders.

Advertising and ROI

Compared with SEO, which slowly acquires natural traffic, advertising is an efficient method. You can get traffic and orders to your website in a short time, but it also requires you to invest money.

As long as your potential customers find you by search, you still need to research keywords before setting up your ads. Some keywords will bring you good traffic, but they may not lead to orders, which will make your money not worth it. Of course, this may also be worth it if you want to expose and spread your brand.

So, when you decide to spend money on advertising, you can determine whether the cost is worth it by calculating the investment-output ratio (ROI). After all, a customer acquisition cost that is too high will not allow you to make money.

Providing Exceptional Customer Service

Good customer service helps you reduce complaints, yet, the exceptional one can get you more repeat customers. They may even bring you more new customers. So try to provide better service to your customers.

Handling Inquiries and Resolving Issues

We all know that customers come first, but practicing it is not easy and requires more patience and enthusiasm.

When your customers come to you with questions or complaints, you should respond positively. Most of the time, your customers want to solve the problem, but not argue with you. Please listen and understand their needs with the utmost goodwill and come up with appropriate solutions.

Fostering Customer Loyalty and Advocacy

It’s a common practice to include a thank you note or a small gift in the package for your customer. An extra note or gift will surprise them and make them remember you. The next time they want to buy a slime toy, you will be the first one they think of.

Additionally, giving your old customers some extra discounts will make them more willing to buy again. Membership is also a way to retain customers.

Finally, use your online presence to plan some business activities and interact with your fans and potential customers. This can achieve the effect of brand promotion and also make your customers trust you more.

Conclusion: Start A Slime Business Online

Selling slime online is a wonderful idea, it’s a low-cost business project to start and almost anyone can try it.

But honestly, it’s impossible to start a slime business for free. Even if you plan to sell homemade slime, you’ll need to spend money and time purchasing the ingredients and making it.

On the other hand, online stores are not completely free. Whether it is Amazon or Shopify, you need to pay some fees for them. And for your own website, you also need to pay for the server every year.

However, compared to traditional offline stores, the cost of starting an online slime business is almost free. Give it a try! What does it matter! Everything is possible!

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