20 Aug 2022
UniToast: A Marketplace for students
A marketplace made by students, for students. I started this project in university to make some extra money while exploring my creativity. On this page: three years of running the project, results, and ideas for growing it as a small business.
Attract, Engage & Convert
The project started as a side hustle in 2017. I created a design to surprise my flatmates for a Christmas party. Their enthusiasm pushed me to sell the jumpers to other University of Birmingham students.
In the first year I used TeeSpring to fulfil orders and marketed through Facebook community pages for organic leads. After the small campaign took off, I applied for a university Ideas Fund and was awarded £500.
2017–2018
TeeSpring handled manufacturing, selling and delivery. In 2017, 30 jumpers sold between 19 November and 10 December. In 2018, 17 sold between 4 November and 2 December with lighter marketing.
2017 sales by colour and size
| Colour | Small | Medium | Large | X Large | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black | 0 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| Navy | 3 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 13 |
| Green | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Jade | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 | 17 | 3 | 3 | 30 |
Navy was the most popular colour in 2017; Jade the least. Medium dominated size. Teespring kept fulfilment out of my hands — fine for a side project, but timing, delivery windows, delivery fees and trust in an unfamiliar POD brand all capped sales.
- Timing — posts landed too close to the end of term.
- Delivery time — 7–12 days meant jumpers arrived after students left.
- Delivery charges — an extra £2.75 on a £19 jumper put some people off.
- Trust — few students knew TeeSpring, so a Facebook post alone felt risky.
Local manufacturing would let me control stock, packaging and campus delivery.
2019
With the Ideas Fund I tried to own more of the process. Hand screen-printing prototypes cost £98.72 and taught me how hard quality control is — so production went to Ink King Studios: 50 jumpers for £600 (£10+VAT), negotiated down from £660, with a four-day turnaround.
Shopify powered the storefront for a short Christmas window (26 Nov – 2 Dec). Facebook pages Fab N Fresh and Edgy Memes drove reach. Campaign results: 30 sales, £725 revenue. The Birmingham Tab wrote up the Old Joe Christmas jumpers, which spiked traffic on 5 December.
2019 stock mix (selected sizes)
| Size / colour | Sold |
|---|---|
| S Black | 6 |
| S Navy | 5 |
| M Black | 15 |
| M Navy | 7 |
| M Forest Green | 8 |
| L Black | 1 |
| L Forest Green | 7 |
| XL Black | 1 |
- Most sales came from Facebook; four were in person.
- Most visitors were on mobile — the storefront had to work there first.
- Black / medium led again; XL stayed a small but real niche.
- Next: staff of UOB, Christmas markets, email retargeting, size guide, design variants.
UNITOAST (2020–)
The longer bet was a student marketplace — a place for creatives to sell designs with free shipping, next-day delivery where possible, commission on peer sales, and free advice on printing.
- Objective 1 — healthy net profit on the UOB Christmas jumper campaign using Facebook, Google PPC and campus markets.
- Objective 2 — invite other student creatives into a small Etsy-like space.
- Objective 3 — expand the model to at least one more university.
