Redbubble: A Perspective from a Top Selling Artist
Independent Artist, Top 10% Seller on Redbbuble
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Redbubble
Why is this company interesting?
Redbubble is an Australian-listed three-sided marketplace connecting individual artists, fulfilment partners, and customers. Artists upload unique designs and Redbubble partners with fulfillers to produce 'print-on-demand' (POD) products and ship to consumers.
Redbubble's competitive advantage lies in the 60m long tail of unique designs that drive organic traffic via SEO to customers looking for customised products. The flywheel starts with artists uploading designs, this unique content driving organic traffic which drives sales through the fulfilment network. As the fulfilment network scales, delivery time and cost declines which drives sales and the flywheel again.
Redbubble reminds us of Etsy in 2016; a marketplace with a unique and sticky supply side and a new CEO to focus the company on driving sales for sellers. RBL's 5-year revenue CAGR is +35% with gross margins over 40% and an estimated ~15% long term EBIT margins.
Redbubble: A Perspective from a Top Selling Artist(August 26, 2021)
Michael Essek
Independent Artist, Top 10% Seller on Redbbuble
Michael is a professional independent artist and likely a top 10% artist on Redbubble. In 2013, he started designing and selling t-shirts online through print-on-demand sites like Redbubble and Teepublic and today his biggest revenue source is Amazon Merch. He earns over $1,000 per month from Redbubble, 2-3x more from Amazon, and <$1,000 from Teepublic and Etsy.
In Practise Notes
- Amazon sell 2-3x as much per month compared to RBL for this t-shirt designer.
- Amazon may not compete with RBL, but if a large portion of searches start on AMZN, does this reduce the TAM for Redbubble? That user who searches for 'dinosaur t-shirt' starts and maybe finishes on Amazon. Same could be said for Etsy at a given scale.
- Creating consumer mindshare is the biggest challenge for Redbubble. Building brand equity globally as the go-to place for customised products.
- Artists are more of a principal rather than an agent in a transaction on Etsy. It's more expensive for the artist and less profitable.
- The artist believes the biggest competitive risk is IP infringement
- How Redbubble could improve the uploading process for artists
- Suggestions for RBL to improve the artist experience
- In theory, as RBL expand the products they print designs on, the larger the TAM. However, it's unclear just how incremental certain products like jigsaw puzzles or backpacks really are? Also, it's not as easy for artists to use the same design across all products; each design is optimised for the product
- Customer behaviour; is there a limit to how much customisation a person wants? How many customised t-shirts? Or customised furniture? Also, as the customer's income increases, how much does the true quality matter more than customisation?
Interview Transcript
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