3D-Printed Product Business
A 3D-printed product business run single-handed for four years: design, manufacturing, branding, stock, sales and books. 502 orders and $31,227 in revenue to 445 customers, sold into retail stores throughout New Zealand, closed in 2024.
Result
502
- Organisation
- Role
- Year
- Location
- Sector
- Status
- Built with
Background
Designed, manufactured and sold 3D-printed products into retail stores across New Zealand over four years, as sole operator.
What I built
Everything end to end: product design in CAD, manufacturing and CAM setup, retail stock management, branding, marketing, sales and finances. The business ran for four years before closing in 2024.
Numbers
502 orders and $31,227 in net revenue from 445 customers over four years. Orders came from every region of New Zealand, mostly through word of mouth and Instagram.
Outcome
Running a physical product business solo means the design decisions and the commercial ones are the same decisions. Tooling cost, print time, packaging size and margin are all inputs to the form. That constraint is the most useful thing the four years taught.
Full write-up: www.hamishvisser.com/projects/3d-printed-product-businessHamish Visser · hamish@visser.net.nz