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How You Can Turn Boy Scout Uniforms Into a Six-Figure Business

I am reminded every day that there are huge, untapped business opportunities for Developers, Buyers, and Sellers on the eBay platform. While at the iOS Dev Camp hosted by our family at PayPal X, I had the pleasure of chatting with Alex who mentioned a great deal he found on eBay for Boy Scout uniforms for his boys. With such an incredible deal, I decided to look at some numbers:

  • $100-$140 - Cost of required Boy Scout uniform at traditional retail outlets
  • $56-$114 - Cost of required Boy Scout uniform on eBay
  • 44%-60% - Savings

Add in the patches, camping gear, craft supplies, sporting equipment, and those savings quickly add up.

Imagine that an enterprising Seller visits his local Boy Scout troop asking parents if they’d like to consign their previously-loved uniforms for sale on eBay. Then imagine that a clever Developer builds an inventory management app to help that Seller. Or a Developer who helps Buyers shop for those items (think uniform or camping bundles). Now imagine a budget-conscious parent shopping for a Boy Scout shirt saving 85% on the cost (as low as $6 on eBay vs $40 retail). That’s a virtuous cycle where everyone makes or saves money.

The average troop size will be about 20 kids (source: scouting.org). You won’t make $100K from just 20 kids. But to the Boy Scouts you add: a few more troops, the Girl Scouts, school uniforms, theatre/prop apparel, formal wear, and costume rentals. All of a sudden the market gets bigger. Here’s how the Seller gets to six figures:

  • $100000 - Target revenue
  • $4 - Your average take per uniform
  • 3 minutes - Average processing time to process, pack, and ship an order with inventory on hand (using a Seller app, of course!)

  • $100000 / $4 = 25,000 units
  • 25,000 / 52 weeks = 481 units per week
  • 481 * 3 minutes = 1443 minutes labor per week
  • 1443 / 60 minutes = 24 hours labor per week

Working half-time for $100,000 a year doesn’t sound too bad, right? Here’s how the Developer gets to six figures:

  • 25,000 units * $0.25 per unit = $6250 (based on monetization from: Developer’s own pricing model, Open eBay subscriptions, and/or eBay Partner Network Quality Click Pricing)

Not bad. But extend that app to ROTC uniforms. Athletic uniforms. Halloween costumes. Get multiple Sellers to subscribe. Drive Buyers with a mobile app. That’s how you get to $100K.

Just so you know that there is more than enough business out there to make these numbers credible, I tried to find industry information freely available on the web. Some numbers to consider:

  • $324M - Cub, Boy, and Venture Scouts Uniforms; estimated based on 2.7M scouts at an average uniform cost of $140 (source: scouting.org)
  • $198M - Girl Scouts Uniforms; estimated based on 3.3M scouts at an average uniform cost of $60 (source: girlscouts.org)
  • $1.30B - School Uniform market (source: CNBC)
  • $759M - Formal Wear and Costume Market (source: IBISWorld)

    • Based on a casual comment by a delighted parent, I discovered an opportunity that might never have crossed my mind. For the best monetization opportunity on the web, eBay still can’t be beat. If you want to know more:

    Have an idea for another eBay business or app? Post a comment below.


    Serge

    August 30, 2010 | Permalink