The End of the JetPunk Shop
First published: Saturday November 2nd, 2024
There's a Shop?
For those who don't know, JetPunk opened an online shop back in June 2023. It was a passion project that took years to get running, you can read more about it in my blog The JetPunk Shop Backstory.
Where's it going?
Due to several circumstances, the shop will be closing down permanently after December 31st 2024. After this date, the shop will cease to exist.
Why is this happening?
The JetPunk Shop took a lot of effort to create and maintain, especially in the years of development finding suitable suppliers and such. While the first couple months back in June/July 2023 were good business and showed promising prospect, every month since (except December '23) was disappointing, barely breaking even.
Most months in 2024, we have received less than 5 orders in a single month... this means that there is simply a lack of interest from users in a JetPunk Shop (despite people asking for it for years). So overall, there is simply no viability for this venture to continue.
What have we learnt?
Firstly, a great deal was learnt about the industry of merchandise in the process, and that is certainly not wasted. A lot of the process was time consuming, but also fun and enjoyable.
Secondly, a lot of users did manage to grab themselves some memorabilia, and they will forever be a unique feature of their life that nobody else will have.
Thirdly, we learned that while a lot of users might "talk the talk" and demand features / development for the "good of the whole community", the fact is that most ideas are just not suitable or viable for the long term, and not for the majority either. From a Shop perspective, it's clear that most users fall into 1 of 2 categories:
1) They are just casually interested in JetPunk and have no attachment to spend money on it
2) They are heavily invested in JetPunk but have no money of their own to spend on it
Unfortunately, these are the main factors leading to the closure of the Shop.
Most users (me included) never really used it, unfortunately so
By far the most popular products are simply those with the JetPunk logo on it and that's it. I created designs for stickers with around 20 country's flags and flag maps on them, and even then the most popular sticker by far is just the JetPunk logo ones.
If I saw any data which suggested that adding geography items that weren't JetPunk related would've resulted in sales, then I would've done it.
Fact is, almost all the suggestions you made are already done by other companies for far cheaper, so what's the point in JetPunk doing it? The products that were offered were specific to JetPunk itself, and that's what makes the products specific and unique, not just random stuff with no connection.
Once again, I really wanted to give a constructive feedback, I am an avid supporter, I am by no means hypocritical, I just wanted to help, if there is a way to help. I believe that constructive criticism is always helpful. Anyway, good luck, I hope you'll have more success in the future.
I'm not sure why you're using such desperate semantic gymnastics to suggest otherwise.
But I don’t need more stuff, and I’m not crazy about branded merchandise anyway.
I do, however, recommend Jetpunk to others.
I’m sorry you spent so much effort on something that didn’t end up being worthwhile. I know that must be discouraging.
Thank you for everything you do!
Not bitter at all, then.
In future, I suggest that Jetpunk focuses on featuring more great user-created unfeatured quizzes and spends less time on vanity projects like this.
I'm sure they do a lot of unpaid work for the site. Which is what makes the choice to invest time and money in the shop all the stranger - the money that they lost on that could've been put towards hiring another employee for the last year.
We all make bad bets or decisions sometimes, and that's how we learn. But, if you want to talk about people being "rude" or not having any class, I suggest you compare the "Jetpunk Shop Backstory" blog post that accompanied shop's launch - where Stewart grandly wrote about how it was his passion project, about how he'd pushed very hard to make happen, and in which he didn't give any credit to any users for encouraging him to pursue the idea - with the blog post above, which blames the shop's closure on a handful of annoying, loudmouth users who led Stewart astray. It's not respectful or effective stewardship.
Comparing the blog posts - soaking up the praise and credit when it seemed like a good idea; blaming other people and taking no responsibility when it turned out to be a bad idea - makes it quite clear to me that this was a vanity project.
People don’t know what they want. They definitely don’t know what others want.
I’m sorry you got burned.
But thanks for all the work you’ve put in tho!
Definitely gonna buy something before it’s gone
Still sad to see it go, but it's for the best, so I can support the decision
I think JetPunk could use instead some other features like an official podcast (like a once per month) or some kind of JetPunk podcast channel. Chat also could be useful tool.
I also think this website needs to work with more language translators to attract more new visitors.
I would really like to do so!