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$130k to $2.3m: The young men making a fortune selling stubby holder dispensers

Friends Dean, Dylan and Jon are the co-founders of The Stubby Club.
Friends Dean, Dylan and Jon met while playing soccer when they were teenagers. (Source: Provided)

Three men in their twenties have managed to grow a $2.3 million business selling contraptions to keep stubby holders in.

Emblazoned with sporting team branding, the product has been a real hit.

The Stubby Club has seen a 1,600 per cent jump in revenue since 2019, growing from $130,000 to $2.3million in three years.

“Stubby holder dispensers are still our top selling product,” The Stubby Club co-founder Dean Snoxell told Yahoo Finance.

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Now in their late twenties, the three founders met when they were 16 playing soccer.

They ended up in business together as the owners of a Hudsons Coffee franchise, where they dreamed up the idea for their sport merchandising business.

Snoxell said DIY stubby holder dispensers started cropping up a few years ago, which were typically just a bit of PVC pipe used to keep stubby holders inside.

An example of The Stubby Club stubby holders and table.
The Stubby Club managed to secure the rights to various sports branding. (Source: Provided)

The trio saw a market for these dispensers adorned with professional sport team branding.

They got their hands on a proper vinyl printer, and managed to secure the licensing rights to the NRL, the AFL, Cricket Australia, The Big Bash, the NFL, Holden and some English Premier League teams.

The dispensers are now being sold for around $69.95 each, or $84.90 for a personalised one.

The company has since expanded into other creative products, including golf pong, bar runners, mini table tennis tables, and beer pong tables.

The company has also just released a pet range, including dog beds, bowls, leads and other pet items with sport team branding.

How to stand out in sports merchandising

Licensed sports merchandisers have been around for a long time, Snoxell said, which is why his company’s strategy has been to identify gaps in his competitor’s product lines.

“No one was doing dispensers, for example, or mini table tennis tables,” he said.

Another strategy that’s worked for the company has been to identify trending games in the US and introduce them to the Australian market.

Cornhole boards has been one example, which is a game where people throw bean bags though a hole in a plank of wood.

“The mission has always been to build a one-stop-shop with fully licensed, fun and creative merchandise that sets us apart from the competition,” Snoxell said.

Snoxell and his co founders hope to become bigger players in Australia’s booming online sporting merchandise industry, which has experienced 17.5 per cent growth over the past five years and is estimated to be worth $700 million.

The startup has launched an equity crowdfunding campaign with leading crowdfunding platform Equitise, with the goal of raising $1.5 million for new stock, equipment, printers and additional staff.

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