Jumping Fox Design. Business based in Cupertino. Sells 3-ring binders and notebooks.
The Journey
Share the story of how your business started. How did the idea come about? What goals did you set to accomplish?
We’re a woman-run business with a two-fold mission. Since opening in 2016, we have worked to simplify design and procurement for custom B2B merchandise and promotional products. We can create original products based on provided art, or develop a faint idea into bespoke merchandise. Our network of international manufacturers puts us in a unique position to deliver high-quality branded merchandise at low prices for our B2B clients. We also saw a need for elevated paper products in the consumer space. So in 2019, we expanded into retail and launched a storefront on Amazon selling private-label, high-end stationery products under the brand, JUMPING FOX DESIGN.
Knowing what you know now, is there anything you would have done differently in building your business?
In retrospect, we should have launched our Amazon business much earlier. While creating custom merchandise for corporate clients is rewarding and profitable, we faced challenges like customer concentration, low visibility, unpredictability, and time-to-scale. Being the world’s largest marketplace, Amazon has completely changed our growth trajectory. Their traffic and exposure are second to none, and Amazon offers many tools for a new brand to gain exposure and to acquire customers relatively quickly and cost-effectively. Our B2B business declined significantly during the pandemic, but thanks to our Amazon store, we still experienced year-over-year growth.
The Business
What does your business offer and to whom?
We’re passionate about inspiring customers with high-quality paper products that withstand the test of time. Our current B2C product lines include premium bound and spiral notebooks as well as linen-wrapped binders. For businesses, we offer custom branding on our existing
products, or fully bespoke notebooks for their customers or employees. Our products are made with sustainability in mind. Our linen-covered notebooks and binders are free of plastics and synthetic leather, and they’re shipped in eco-friendly packaging. By fusing inspiration, perfectionism and quality into our creations, we aim to offer luxe products of the best value for the high-end stationery space.
Often times, a fear of failure can prevent us from taking risks to move forward. Can you recall a business challenge you were able to pivot into a growth opportunity and/or success?
We had many concerns before launching the Amazon business, as nobody on our team had previous e-commerce experience. Creating listing pages, running advertising campaigns, and managing inventory were all new to us. In addition, selling on Amazon has a material impact 2 on our profit margin, so thoroughly understanding our costs and pricing the products to ensure a healthy profit margin was another big challenge. We’ve had to constantly adjust our product targeting and sales strategy to maximize our ROI and time-to-profitability. Nevertheless, we couldn’t feel more fortunate that we took the risk, as it has completely changed our growth trajectory.
Where and how can people support your business (i.e. location, website, social media)?
Shop our top-selling paper products on our Amazon shop. And follow us on Instagram and Facebook for new product releases and inspiration.
It is our hope that the participants and entrepreneurs at this wonderful event will provide whatever support they can. Our next goal is to connect with more brick-and-mortar stores and larger retailers to increase the reach of Jumping Fox Design. We would appreciate any referrals or introductions!
Additional Insights and Advice
What advice would you give to other women of color who are thinking about starting a business?
If you don’t have any previous experience or existing resources in your industry, consider working for someone else to gain some of that experience first. Working knowledge of product development, customer and sales channels, and relationships with manufacturers are particularly important. Alternatively, you’ll need to hire people with this expertise— which can be expensive.
Research the competitive landscape for the product you want to offer. Think through your competitive advantages and disadvantages so you don’t set out to fail.
Constantly examine and adjust your strategy to try to achieve scale and profitability faster and more cost-effectively.