Merchandising Their Way to a Community: Interview with MosoBox!
*THIS POST CONTAINS ADULT MATERIAL, FOR MATURE AUDIENCES 18 AND OLDER
An anime community is incomplete without merchandise. Luckily for us, MosoBox exists to provide customers with a selection of high quality items from independent creators such as artists, visual novel developers, and a large list of others! I have received an excellent opportunity to interview the man behind Mosobox! We will be discussing the start of Mosobox along how the operation behind the shop works!
1. What made you decide to start Mosobox?
There are a lot of things that nudged me in the direction, but the largest push would be attending my first convention Anime Revolution in 2012? OSI Japan (or the predecessor booth to that) was vending there and they had Project Diva setup at the booth, then I thought "doing something like this at cons is a cool idea"
2. Is it all you? Doing the shipping and everything?
The day to day operations is just me, off the top of my head specifically:
Contacting partners and potential
Managing social media
Customer support
Packing orders
Convention prep
Convention selling
Arranging production
Accounting and book keeping
Site updates
Though I do have friends that helped with the back-end tech stuff which is basically:
Whatever was needed to get a server to host the site
Stuff to making sure the site doesn't die
Did have more people before that did some of the other tasks such as social media and accounting but a mix of forgetting things and not being able to compensate them for their time I feel was main reasons for them to stopping. However, it was relatively peaceful parting of ways and this was way closer to the start of MosoBox, like years 1-2? Back then it was more casual and smaller in scope.
Like a small handful of people?
Well it's just me for the main operations, then I call in the site friend when there is an issue or I intend to do upgrades. I took control of the social media and accounting when those people left, so it's been basically solo for 5-6 years now?
Do you give yourself days off?
Well I hear people say "You don't really need days off if you enjoy what you are doing".
I pace myself on a day to day schedule, so I don't time myself 8-5. I have assigned work for the day and I get myself to finish, if I finish it early I get more time to do less urgent work or sleep. Overworking is more of a scheduling problem in my opinion, so it rarely happens!
3. This is my first time talking to someone doing this, how does it all work?
At a very fundamental level you can imagine MosoBox work similar to sites such as RedBubble or TeePublic, where people can submit their art and such to be sold online and then they earn a royalty on sales. Though the changes to that would be only partners of MosoBox can submit items and in addition to selling online we also attend conventions to help sell and promote items and partners.
What cons have you set up at anyways?
We attended Anime Revolution, Otafest, Animethon, International Fan Festival Toronto, Youmacon, and finally Sakura-Con in a weird roundabout way. Did have plans to go to more cons in the states, but around the time I was able to pick up enough momentum and budget to attend the larger conventions in NA has started to enforce a "No Fanart policy" for the vendor halls. Thus I can't attend conventions like Anime North, Anime Expo, Sakura-Con, and Otakuthon in standard MosoBox fashion. Once we get enough original IP to be considered an official distributor booth then we can start rolling out to the larger conventions!
5. You're a man of culture. Which types of franchises are usually in your stock? (Fate Grand Order, Girls' Frontline, Azur Lane, etc)
What I like to say is when in doubt just get mobile games like Fate Grand Order, Girls' Frontline, and Azur Lane. Though I would say I'm more targeted to the waifu demographic, so I usually try to get items relating to them. Touhou is always good to, but I definitely want to push more towards original IPs from partners.
6. Do you think you'd sell merchandise of your mascot, Moso-chan?
We already have boxes of Moso-chan so I doubt we can peak beyond that, but of moe Moso-chan, doubt it. If anything they will be freebies to be given out in orders.
Fair enough, I happen to still have a box right behind me!
The box is what I feel about peak MosoBox branding, so no real rush to make alternative items. :)
7. Speaking of those, which items are the most popular? (Charms, psoters, postcards, etc.)
Charms and posters are definitely the more popular items. I believe charms are a bit ahead of the posters, but it's hard to tell. There are more people that buy charms individually, but people who buy posters buy a bunch together. I guess charms have a more mass appeal but posters are good for concentrated buyers or something.
How about the postcards, how do they perform?
They sell sometimes? Not near the volume of posters or charms.
8. You've got partners such as kimiyotosan, skeptycally, NDTwoFives and so on. How do you manage to keep track?
Short answer is, I don't. I'm pretty sure there are partners that forgot they are partnered with MosoBox still! It's a casual passive relationship so they only have to be engaged as much as they want to.
9. For the future, what things do you have planned for Mosobox?
Definitely do want to pick-up more IP from people, artists' original characters, visual novel developers' characters, web comic series, etc. Product wise am working on sourcing oppai (breast) mousepads, clear file folders, and wall scrolls depending on feedback from customers. Business wise though, I definitely want to push and scale online operation as I feel the MosoBox site is starting to become a good platform for original items!
What new items have arrived?
Just got a new order of keychains in from a few of the artists partnered with, mostly The Quintessential Quintuplets, Fate Grand Order, The Rising of the Shield Hero, Girls' Frontline keychains, and original character mofu keychains too! The new items are from Kimiyoto, Oni Noodle, Kurisustinah, Rokuuso, Pidjun, Though I believe I got items for Sub and ehrrr as well. There is the PokkeBox (by Pokke) too, trying out selling NSFW items online too it should come with lewd posters, postcards, and ahegao buttons!
I am heavily interested in this Pokkebox! I remember you having some uncensored DEVGRU-P postcards, do you still have those?
I have them somewhere? But totally got the rights for these after the buzz for SSDPRK(Stay! Stay! Democratic People's Republic of Korea!) has passed, oh that reminds me am getting some Fakku books for sale too at cons! Not sure if I will offer NSFW stuff so readily online though as Paypal and stuff doesn't like that...
10. Would you like to add anything else?
Well if people are interested in working with MosoBox. I'm always down for going through with them to see what's viable. You don't have to be an artist, game dev, or writer either! I'm also open to suggestions on possible people to partner with!
That wraps up my interview with MosoBox! I had a ton of fun learning about how your operation works and seeing your business grow each day! If you would like to follow MosoBox or check out the shop, I will place links down below.
If you’re interested in partnering along with MosoBox, you can also email: support@moso.moe
[Interview with MosoBox] June 25, 2019
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