3D-printed action figures fighting to secure a paying audience in KC from freeamfva's blog
Business isn’t what it should be for a company as innovative as Doob 3D, Nick Nikkhah said openly, seated on a leather couch that looked out across the Overland Park retail store’s showroom.To get more news about custom figurine, you can visit koalaprint.com official website.
People don’t know what to do with [Doob]. They’re just like, ‘Whoa, what is that?’ … It’s a new thing for me. I’ve never had to deal with a brand new company — that customers don’t know what it is,” said Nikkah, owner of Doob’s Kansas City location.
Shelves of Doobs — better understood as custom 3D-printed action figures — line the store’s walls, giving customers a glimpse at those who’ve taken the plunge and stood inside the “dooblicator” — a high-speed scanning pod outfitted with 66 cameras and nestled in a back corner of the showroom.
“If you ask 100 people, ‘What do you feel about this?’ The majority of people are going to be like, ‘Oh my god, that is incredible’. … About three percent are going to be like ‘That’s creepy,’” Nikkah grinned as he recalled the customer experience.
Click here to read more about Doob’s Kansas City location. Slow to adopt the custom products, Kansas City consumers have shown a general lack of interest in being “doobed,” which could ultimately drive such technology out of the metro, Nikkah said.
“For us to overcome some of that is like, ‘Just come get scanned. You don’t have to buy anything!’ … Come get scanned, then 20 years later — if you want to — print it,” Nikkah said in response to the way high prices could have impacted sales throughout the course of the store’s first year of business, threatening its longevity.A serial entrepreneur, Nikkah first saw potential in Doob and its 3D printing technology when he interacted with the German company — which has found success in New York and Los Angeles — through a friend’s Facebook post, he recalled.
His interest in such innovative technology piqued, Nikkah formed an alliance with partner Malik James to bring Doob to the Kansas City market, he said.
“We didn’t know it was going to take this long,” Nikkah said baffled. “I honestly thought it would be way ahead. I thought it would just kind of spread like fire.”Slow but steady, Doob’s five member team — a group that isn’t given titles upon hiring and instead works to achieve a common goal — has shifted its focus to creating a customer experience, explained Aaron Yoratovich.
“We just tried to make it more of an inviting place to spend your time while you’re getting this great product,” Yoratovich said of the process, which included bringing in complimentary snacks, beer, wine, and creating a lounge area that enables customers to enjoy the memory making process.
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