Ecommerce / Commerce Strategy
Self-initiated project - €69 smart projector
I started Numio to actually learn how e-commerce works, not just read about it. My plan was to pick a real product, build a store, market it to the right audience, and figure out if the numbers actually work, and learn in the process.
Visit the Numio websiteI wanted something in the gap between "watch on your phone" and "buy a €300 TV." Mini projectors sit right there, I realized it would be a great product to market at the right price and with the right audience.
I decided to create the brand name "Numio One" and chose a suitably priced manufacturer of an Android-powered 1080p projector, no separate streaming stick needed, works straight out of the box with Netflix, YouTube, Disney+. Target buyer: students, people in rentals, anyone whose room doesn't really have room for a TV.
Why this category
€69 instead of €250+ is a price gap that makes people decide fast, not think it over for a week.
It's a strong-value impulse buy - exactly the kind of decision that happens right after an intriguing paid ad on their social media of choice.
I wanted this product to target people with limited budgets - such as students living out on their own in a city - and wanted it to be treated as an impulse purchase.
The message was "you don't need to spend much to turn your wall into a cinema." I priced it at €69 against a €99 reference price to make that value obvious at a glance, and built in things like free EU shipping over €50, a 30-day money-back guarantee, and cash on delivery, mostly to make a no-name brand feel less risky to buy from.
I wanted to see if this business was actually feasible, so I got a supplier quote: €29 per unit for orders of 1-30 pieces. Forecasted expenses below.
Retail price
€69
Supplier cost
€29
Payment processing (~2.5%)
~€1.70
EU shipping
~€6
Returns reserve (~8%, typical for electronics)
~€2
Gross margin
~€30 (~44%)
I wanted to keep a 25% net margin after ads, which left about €13 to spend acquiring each customer. A 44% margin sounds good, but acquiring customers through paid ads isn't easy while you're still figuring out which ad set actually converts. One bad ad set and that whole batch of customers is a loss.
The plan was to film UGC-style content myself with friends, shot like a normal person's TikTok, and run it as a paid ad with a direct link to the store. My thinking was that UGC paired with a trending sound, showing the real experience and how easy the setup is, could perform much better for a no-name brand than a polished, obviously-an-ad piece of content.
I'd test the ad across the biggest European markets, see where it performed best, and allocate the real budget to the winners.