Start A Leather Business - Business Ideas
Please note that the data provided in this article are estimates and may vary depending on various factors, and should not be considered as perfect or definitive.
Starting a leather business requires a great deal of effort, dedication, and most importantly passion.
If you're interested in how to sell leatherwork, or selling leatherwork online, you can use this page as a guide for everything you'll need to know.
Key Stats
Startup Costs
Min Startup Costs | Max Startup Costs | |
---|---|---|
Office Space Expenses |
$0 |
$7,000 |
Employee & Freelancer Expenses |
$151 |
$352 |
Website Costs |
$223 |
$7,215 |
Business Formation Fees |
$600 |
$4,700 |
Equipment & Supply Expenses |
$63 |
$200 |
Software Expenses |
$162 |
$3,094 |
Advertising & Marketing Costs |
$0 |
$2,550 |
Total Startup Costs |
$1,199 |
$25,111 |
Case Studies
Successful Businesses
Business | URL | Rank | |
---|---|---|---|
|
Leather Hide Store |
leatherhidestore.com |
45,765 |
|
Status Anxiety |
statusanxiety.com.au |
51,817 |
|
Tandy Leather, Inc. |
tandyleather.com |
124,921 |
|
Portland Leather Goods |
portlandleathergoods.com |
170,224 |
|
Homemakers Furniture |
homemakers.com |
179,741 |
|
Leather Furniture Expo |
leatherfurnitureexpo.com |
249,904 |
|
Leather Company |
leathercompany.co.uk |
284,243 |
|
Popov Leather |
popovleather.com |
335,417 |
|
Galen Leather |
galenleather.com |
338,189 |
|
The Leather City |
theleathercity.com |
356,528 |
|
Becker Furniture |
beckerfurnitureworld.com |
357,012 |
Pros & Cons
Pros | Description |
---|---|
Flexibility |
You can put as much time into the business as you'd like. If you like the work and have some initial experience, you can start small and manage all aspects of the business on your own. |
Meaningful business connections |
You never know who you will meet as a leather business. This could be the start of an incredible business opportunity! |
High customer retention rates |
Once a customer invests in your product, they've invested their time and energy to utilize your product/service which is highly valuable to them. Typically, your product or service becomes indispensable to your customer. |
Easy to encourage "impulse buy" |
In the leather business, you have a much higher chance of encouraging your customers to buy on impulse - you can easily alter the price, placement, packaging, and promotional value to influence the decision of your buyer. |
Control of workload |
With starting a leather business, you have the unique ability to choose how little or how much you want to work. You also have the freedom to decide which projects you want to work on, and can turn down the ones that do not interest you. |
Gain exposure and experience |
This career allows you to gain experience working for multiple different businesses - which will benefit your resume and also keep things interesting for you! |
Cons | Description |
---|---|
Motivation of employees |
If you plan to have a sales/content team on board, finding creative ways to motivate them can be a challenge. It's important that you're able to offer great incentives and a good work environment for your employees. |
Low margins |
The gross margins for your leather business are typically around 13%, which can make it more challenging to incur new expenses and maintain profitability. |
High employee turnover |
In the leather business, employee turnover is often high, which can be quite costly and time consuming for your business. It's important to try and avoid this as much as possible by offering competitive pay, benefits, and a positive work environment. |
Taxes |
As a leather business, you typically pay self-employment taxes which can be quite high. It's important to understand what you will be paying in taxes each year so you can determine if the work you're taking on is worth it. |
Niche Market |
A niche business is not necessarily a bad thing, in fact, it can be the key to your success. However, it can be more challenging and time consuming to find the perfect niche market and target audience. |
High overhead expenses |
With starting a leather business, there are overhead expenses that come with selling a physical product. You will want to make sure you strategically budget for these overhead costs. We discuss this more in the startup costs section below. |
Marketing Ideas
-
1
Affiliate Program
Affiliate marketing is a great way to bring in a new revenue stream, especially when you don't sell products or services.
Simply put, an affiliate program is an agreement where a business pays another business or influencer ("the affiliate") a commission for sending traffic and/or sales their way.
The affiliate typically gets a unique link where clicks and conversions can be tracked.
-
2
Direct Sales
Direct sales strategy implies a direct contact between a seller and a consumer without the involvement of any third party. Direct selling is popular in sectors where sellers communicate with their clientele personally. The sales technique occurs at non-store locations which include at home, work, or online.
For direct selling to succeed, hire a few (or many) salespeople to support the sales conversion process. It's critical that you assign them specific roles and responsibilities to nurture the client and provide excellent support.
-
3
Word of mouth
Word of mouth is when a consumers reflects their interest in a company’s product or service in their daily dialogues.
Therefore, word of mouth advertising is essentially a free advertising triggered by the customers experience.
According to Nielsen, 92% of people trust recommendations from friends and family.
Therefore, in today’s hyper-connected world, a single recommendation through a word of mouth can have a huge impact to your business.
Hey! 👋 I'm Pat Walls, the founder of Starter Story.
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