As many startups discover, bringing a new product to market can be every bit as challenging as building it in the first place.
The Amazon Launchpad programme is designed to enable startups to meet these challenges so they can bring their products to market and get them discovered by customers around the world. Startups on the programme can use Amazon’s world-class ecommerce expertise, global infrastructure, and powerful marketing tools to help them tell their story and build their brand.
The programme showcases cutting-edge products from some of the brightest new startups – from smart watches and coffee machines through to Wi-Fi kettles and innovative new toys and games.
At the Amazon Academy in Manchester, Miguel Martins, head of Amazon Launchpad in the UK, explained: “Unless they have already built a customer base, it is very difficult for new startups and their products to be discovered. Launchpad has been created to help startups stand out and reach those customers at a very early stage of business life.”
The programme supports startups with physical products that are ready to ship, connecting them into Amazon’s expanding network of accelerators, venture capitalists and crowdfunding websites, which include Indiegogo, Crowdcube, and Kickstarter, to help hem grow their business.
Many of the startups that began their Launchpad journey with Kickstarter, the world’s largest funding website for creative projects, include Musaic, a new music system that delivers exceptional sound quality, and SAM Labs, which helps to teach engineering, DIY and coding skills through fun, connected toys.
Another is Nottingham-based craft toy start-up Simbrix, founded by Assim Ishaque who invented Simbrix – a small plastic construction toy – after watching his children play with flimsy craft beads.
“They were fiddly and kept falling apart, and I thought I could come up with something better,” he said. “I actually drew the solution whilst sitting in a business conference, and 400 prototypes later, it turned out to be Simbrix; two-dimensional pixel bricks that connect together.”
In April 2015 he took Simbrix to Kickstarter, but failed to hit his funding target, which was frustrating, given the positive feedback he’d had from his visits to craft fairs to test the market. However in October 2015 he returned to Kickstarter, and this time exceeding his funding target by 300%. Ishaque then began shipping his product, and embarked on endless rounds of visiting craft fairs and toy exhibitions to work out how the best way of selling it. It all changed for his business when we heard about the Amazon Launchpad programme.
“We applied, and two months later we were out there selling to new customers,” he says. “Sales had previously been slow, but all of a sudden we started getting a lot of sales notifications. It turned into a roller coaster, and our sales really started to rocket; in fact, we were constantly running out of stock.”
Through Launchpad, Simbrix went global. In addition to the UK, Simbrix is now sold in Germany, Spain, France, Italy, USA, Canada, and more recently in Japan.
“I’m an international exporter with a toy company; that’s just amazing,” says Ishaque.
On the back of this success he is now preparing to launch a new version of Simbrix. “The feedback from Amazon customers has been the biggest influence for us.”
Amazon takes care of inventory management, order fulfilment, and customer service for Simbrix, allowing startup to focus their efforts on product development.
“Startups that join Amazon Launchpad benefit in many ways,” says Martins. “They are able to launch faster, build their brand faster, get discovered quicker, and go global much sooner.”
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