We thought about Walmart but ended up with Indiegogo

The best version of the Subsoccer table soccer game

We had a clear strategy with Subsoccer’s first subsoccer game model. We initially aimed to build the best possible version of the real table football game.

Subsoccer 7

In 2019, when we started, our first model was Subsoccer Force (we later changed the name to Subsoccer 7). Our purpose was to make a stylish, durable game table that fits every office, game- and showroom.

In 2023, we succeeded in this goal when selling Subsoccer 7 games to more than 60 countries and hotels, schools, soccer stadiums, and the world’s biggest sports brands.

Subsoccer 3

When Covid hit at the beginning of 2020, we had to rethink our strategy. Subsoccer 7 was aimed at public places, and suddenly, those place was closed. We already had plans to produce different models for the Subsoccer product family. Still, we had to think those plans over again.

We listened to what our customers wanted from the Subsoccer game. We ended up designing and manufacturing a game that is light, easy to disassemble, and assemble without tools. In addition, the product had to be durable and work in all environments.

Go to market plan

The next challenge was finding the best way to launch a new and unfamiliar product. For example, is it good for Walmart or Amazon to release the product?

We also explore crowdfunding channels such as Indiegogo or Kickstarter. We had a challenge; even though we had sold games to tens of countries, only a few had gotten to try playing Subsoccer.

We suspected that crowdfunding channels such as Indiegogo have more courageous customers to try new products than, for example, Walmart. We chose Indiegogo because we wanted to find out in advance if there is a demand for the product.

We implemented the Indiegogo campaign in the summer of 2022 and succeeded quite well. We sold hundreds of games during the campaign to dozens of countries and several dozen states in the US.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/subsoccer-3-the-real-table-football-game#/

Now that we have delivered the games sold during the Indiegogo campaign, we can be satisfied that we chose crowdfunding as the channel and did not try to get directly onto the Walmart shelf, which in hindsight, would not have been a very effective channel even for this product.