Today we have an intresting interview with a nice guest from Netherlands a new producer of inflatable stuff - lets ask some questions
Please Introduce yourself
My name is Joost, I’m 45 years old and I have a history in sales and more recently the event industry. Our team consists of six people. I have two business partners who have a very diverse work experience, then there’s our designer, who owns a small part of our business too. And last but not least we have a photographer and videographer.
Q1: Why did you decide to produce inflatables and what does the name of your business mean?
A: We have been producing inflatables for the event industry for years with our other company, Show Support. With that company we facilitate complete brand and audience activation for our clients. We accomplish this not only with inflatables, but personnel and other resources too. We decided to produce inflatables for the community when I came in contact with TTR. He wanted to buy some beach balls from me. I looked at his website, saw their old SPH ball and I suggested we could do a better job. So, we did.
From that moment on we decided to create a new brand with different product lines. All the products we make have to meet our company values.
We seek for added value within this niche market, so we try to do either;
* Make an existing product better, cheaper and preferably both.
* Make an entirely new product, which is not yet available.
SHOSU is not only the first three and first two letters of our event company name, it also means “to deal with, to cope with” in Japanese.
Q2: Tell us about the quality of your inflatables
A: Our community customers have very different demands than our clients in the event industry. Different sorts of material, valve types, seams, you name it. We have an advisory panel of about 10 people from the community who help us with our product development.
Q3: Who is that nice girl who is modeling on your site? Tell us, does she like inflatables?
A3: She’s a friend of ours, she’s not into inflatables but like most Dutch she is very open minded. We did two photoshoots with her, and we like to change now and then so we found a new girl. But with more sexappeal and a more curvy body.
Q4: What is your bestseller at the moment?
A4: In order of quantity: Naughty beach ball, Heart print beach ball, red/transparent ball and our Party Rainbow ball. We are taking that feedback and making new designs as we speak.
Q5: Where do you ship your inflatables?
A5: Of course, we ship worldwide. People from the community are everywhere in the world!
Q6: Tell us about your project with ThirtyThreeRooms – it’s a really nice beach ball - how did you decide to produce this beachball
A6: Thanks! We think it looks amazing too! Well, when TTR and I started speaking, I instantly felt a strong connection to the TTR brand. I like the way they handle things. Their videos and pictures are amazing and next level if you ask me. We started designing together and one idea led to another. We wanted to be fitting to the style of both brands, we wanted it to be very sexy! And we really put a lot of effort and research in the SPH, it feels amazing!
Q7: Who are your competitors on this market and what are your strong sides in comparison with them?
A7: There are a couple of strong competitors out there who run a pretty good business and are specialized in their own field. I have a lot of respect for the people at HP toys and IW. I get a lot of questions like; are you going to make dragons, whales, et cetera. Well, we won’t. That’s the playing field of others who are doing a good job as it is. Take IW for instance, they launched a ton of new items all at once and a new website at the same time! People have no idea how difficult that is and how much work goes into these kinds of productions.
Our strengths are design and new, crazy ideas. Although I’m a huge fan of HP, I will never do the same things as another company. It’s not good for business and I would never get any personal satisfaction out of it. Besides making stuff for the community, I need to like it too. I could never do anything with full motivation without being passionate about it.
Another strong side is that we really try to listen to the people of the community. Hence the product development advisory panel, which consists of ten very experienced people from the community.
Q8: What are your plans for the near future?
A8: We have a roadmap with new products filled until the third quarter of 2021 (yes, we’re going to do big animal inflatable too). Besides shipping the Naughty beach ball, we’re launching two very unique new products. The first one will be a crossover where balloons meet inflatables. It will also be the cheapest big inflatable on the market with sizes of 86 and 70 inches each. We will be keeping them lightweight so shipping to the US won’t be cost prohibitive.
The second item has something to do with an SPH, but I don’t want to spoill the beans just yet haha.
Another thing we’re doing in the next couple of weeks is our product development survey. In this survey you’ll see our take on the products we want to launch Q1 2021 and ask the community if we need to change or maybe add stuff.