FAYETTEVILLE -- A group of young business people is betting folks will plunk down cash for a subscription service delivering boxes filled with custom pins -- aimed at collectors, the artsy and the fashion-forward -- direct to their doors.
PigPin's service, which sends a curated box, with a mix of four, themed, jewelry-quality enamel pins every month, has just kicked into gear. The business is run by brother and sister Savannah and Nick Slinkard and Tanner Green, a friend of Savannah's and a student at the University of Arkansas' business school. PigPin is a new division of Fayetteville's Hogeye Inc.
The Slinkard siblings are second-generation pin people. Their father, Cliff Slinkard, founded Hogeye Inc. 35 years ago. PigPin is set to capitalize on Hogeye's infrastructure and well-established expertise.
Hogeye Inc. sells custom logo items like lapel pins, key chains, patches, and other collectibles and trinkets to wholesale clients like major retailers, the National Park Service and museum gift shops. It employs about 35 people. The company's headquarters on Martin Luther King Boulevard in Fayetteville features a 25-foot tall, dancing boar created by artist and inventor Eugene Sargent. The boar was installed in June 2018.
PigPin, unlike Hogeye, will be a direct-to-consumer business capitalizing on the pin collecting niche.
According to Online Antiques and Collectibles Sales in the U.S. by research company IBIS World, the segment has experienced strong revenue growth over the past five years in part because of higher levels of disposable income and improved consumer sentiment. The segment includes jewelry, which is projected to make up 6% of the market in 2019, with world currencies comprising 32.8%, sports collectibles at 28%, antiques at 17.6%, comics and animation art at 13.5%, and wine at 2.1%.
Revenue in the segment grew nearly 6% a year over the past five years to end up at $1.5 billion for 2019, according to the report. It projects 3% growth annually over the next five years.
Nick Slinkard designs the pins PigPin is offering to its customers. His sister, a senior at Farmington High School, adds an eye for style and flair while Green takes his business education to the table.
Designing pins that really stand out, are high quality, along with being quirky or funny is a top priority for the business.
"If you're average, you won't survive," Nick Slinkard said.
The target consumers include young people and fashionistas, collectors, artists and lovers of the unique. While the customer chooses the theme of the box he receives, he never knows exactly what will arrive each month, making each delivery a surprise. The service also lends itself to gift-giving as perfect solutions for parents and grandparents shopping for hard-to-buy-for teens and young adults.
At PigPin, each month subscription holders will be able to choose from three box themes. For July, the themes are Patriot, In the Sand and Summer Buzz -- complete with a mature audience warning. The cost of the service is $24.95 a month, and it can be canceled anytime. PigPin also offers a selection of limited edition pins for individual purchase on its website.
While the subscription space is becoming more crowded, it is a good model for a new company, said Haley Allgood, executive director of Startup Junkie in Fayetteville. In a response to emailed questions, Allgood said businesses offering subscription products and services have more insight into future revenue and therefore have increased stability.
Challenges include coming up with new ideas and rotating products to keep the boxes filled with new and interesting products; facing competitors who offer large discounts on initial purchases; the cost of packaging and shipping; and giving customers easy ways to adjust their subscriptions rather than canceling outright.
According to The Rise of Subscription Box Shopping by consumer research group Hitwise, subscription box site visits have grown roughly 3,000% from 722,000 visits a month in 2013 to 21.4 million a month in 2016, but they still remain a niche market with about one-third of 1% of the monthly traffic seen by top retailers.
Of the 127 leading sites in the segment included in the report, 31% sold apparel, 30% were focused on food, 16% sold grooming items, 16% offered lifestyle products, 4% sold items for pets and 3% targeted kids. The report notes that subscription box shoppers in the U.S. have a median age of 41, are 58% female and have a median household income of $78,436.
SundayMonday Business on 06/30/2019