Acrylic Sheet Services Business

Acrylic (plastic) sheets as protection for humans and objects have long been a business. However the pandemic has shown to light their importance. Everyone is protecting themselves from each other. No wonder that the acrylic sheet industry is experiencing a boom. This trend is likely to continue as these preventive devices become permanent and become part of many security protocols.

How to make money from this industry? One of the answers if you have enough capital to manufacture acrylic sheets is to start a manufacturing company. For most of us however this option is not possible due to financial constraints. This article would mostly be concerned with the products and services that you can produce from acrylic sheets which is a more viable business option.

You Can Start Small

It is no big secret. You can easily create an acrylic sheet forming business. There are already a number of acrylic sheet suppliers online that you can order from so supply is not a problem. You can also use common handyman/ woodworking tools such as electric cutting tools to cut and form the acrylic sheets.

Brand new laser cutting machines can be purchased from Alibaba for $1,000 which is not a lot of money if you are serious about the business. This is similar to a woodworking or furniture business which means that you can also start your business from home. For example you can turn an empty room in your house as a workshop or even your garage.

This article would not touch heavily on the standard acrylic sheet service business which are usually composed of large sized barrier and signage products. Rather this article would go on a smaller scale basis. You could have a better competitive advantage in this industry by competing on a more narrower and smaller range of products.

Clear Plastic Display Cases

When I was living in Australia I used to make it a point to visit each of the small shops located near my residence. They were a mixture of food, pharmacies general stores and so on. I used to spend hours visiting them especially the general stores that sell a lot of home goods. One of the things I noticed was that people particularly old people were checking out home decors particularly vases and other ceramic figurines.

Protect Against Damage
In fact in a few of these shops certain portion of the aisles were completely stocked with ceramic figurines. The big and moderately expensive vases and figurines are usually in the far end of the shop completely protected by glass casings. If a client actually wanted to touch and physically inspect these products they would have to ask the shop attendants to unlock the protected glass casings.

In the other shops they do not have protective glass casings but rather they tie down the big vases and the figurines they sell. They tie their products in the walls and cabinets of their shop. This is a cheaper option but is less effective since the shoppers can still accidentally break them when they hit it with solid objects like shopping bags and trolleys.

Protect Against Dirt and Dust
Another thing I noticed with vases and other ceramics just tied down and exposed to the elements is that they gather a lot of dirt in no time. The vases and ceramics with dust accumulated on them is not a good sight to behold especially when you are trying to sell decorative products.

I then see another need for protective clear plastic display cases: They protect possessions from dust and dirt besides physically protecting them from damage. In fact I have seen products such as display cases and cabinets that serve this purpose. I even saw small clear plastic boxes being marketed as display cases for small objects.

These are small boxes that come in many sizes specifically designed to protect small objects from dirt and damage. Being a collector of small figurines myself I decided to buy a few of them. They not only protect my figurines but also made them more attractive looking. What I meant is that the glossy display cases create the illusion that my figurines were more expensive than they actually look.

Who do you sell To?

One of the best group of people to sell to would be to collectors. Collectors own plenty of similar items. For example there are many people who collect scale models of cars. There are scale models of cars with standard sizes and then there are a fewer ones that have custom sizes. You can create mass produced clear plastic display boxes and sell it to model car collectors.

You can also offer to create custom sized plastic display boxes for irregularly sized scale models. For example action figure and figurine collectors collect all manner of statues with different shapes and sizes. The market for expensive action figure collectables alone has grown exponentially with the growing popularity of superhero themed media in our culture.

You can approach for example companies and shops that sell such products and offer a referral fee if they endorse your plastic display box products to their customers. This does not only cover toy collectables and ceramic figurines but also other things that need preserving. For example wooden sculptures and artefacts from nature.

Wood will biodegrade with time, gets coated with dust & dirt, damaged and worse could be eaten by insects such as termites. This includes many handicrafts which may be antiques. Now you have new clients. You can this time approach woodcrafting and antiques companies and shops. You again can offer a referral fee if they endorse your products and services to their clients.

Of course do not forget that the shops themselves are potential clients. There will always be items in shops that need protecting from tampering, dust & dirt as well as degradation. For example your client may have a fashion shop that sells fashion items like clothes, shoes and trinkets.

You can easily recommend that your clients protect some of their more expensive trinkets. You can make the selling point that since trinkets are small they can easily be stolen thus the need for clear display boxes to house them. You can even argue that their expensive shoes once housed in clear plastic displays increase in value due to the illusion of exclusivity.

As you can see there are many potential customers for clear plastic display boxes. This include companies, shops and their customers. Even such common items such as food can benefit from clear plastic displays. You can make a selling point to your client that their food products would look more hygienic if they were housed on your clear plastic displays.

You can compare your clear plastic display products to Glass Cake Domes in terms of food. Your product however has an advantage to this traditional product because your product is stackable. They also are more efficient in using display space. As you can see you can market your product as an alternative to glass cake domes and similar products.

Who are your new prospective customers now? This time they would be fruit shops, butchers, diners, restaurants and any organisation that displays food in their premises. They are particularly good target customers since their product which is food depends a lot on being perceived as hygienic and clean. You can use this as a selling point.

Selling to Museums and Similar Organisations

As discussed before these plastic display boxes are a differentiating factor to the many products which are not insulated. They give the object the illusion of being special from the rest. For example the premier food at upscale restaurants can be served in a silver food dome to denote their specialness. This is a part of showmanship.

It seems these display cases remind me of expensive objects I find in museums encased in glass. It gives the illusion that my figurines are clean and damage free for example. For sure you can market your acrylic sheet business in museums. Museums want their delicate displays to be protected from dust and dirt as well as intentional and unintentional tampering.

Museum pieces can be worth millions and the need to protect them can be a big business for you. Let us start with paintings. I have been to museums where million dollar paintings are displayed in such a way that visitors of the museum can easily touch them. This is both good and bad for the museum.

I understand the need for museums to make their paintings as accessible as possible so visitors can really appreciate them but the bad part is that these paintings have no defence against vandals. There are many crimes around the world where vandals destroy or deface million dollar paintings for some reason or another.

Besides selling protection services from vandals paintings also degrade when exposed to the elements for a long time. They can also get dirty from dust and dirt. Again the same problem from damage, degradation and dust & dirt. You have the potential to make more money with museums and other organisations like art shops, companies with art collections and so on.

This is the same thing with million dollar statues and figurines. They also need solid physical protection. We can also include antique and expensive papers such as antique maps and books. These objects especially need protection since they are very delicate due to their texture and age. A vandal can easily tear up a page of an ancient book for example if it is not protected.

Create Not Only the Box But the Clamps as Well

Besides offering clear display boxes and other containers you could also offer clear plastic Clamps to hold in place objects. For example an expensive ceramic vase might be protected by being housed inside a clear plastic display box but could still be damaged when for example someone trips on it or if an earthquake happens.

Clamps also hold the object with or without a clear plastic display container housing it. Clear plastic clamps have the same purpose as ordinary ropes in the sense that they both keep an object in place. The plastic clamps however are more aesthetic to look at especially if they hold together expensive objects.

Conclusion

People protect the objects that are important to them. They protect them from vandalism, damage, dust & dirt and degradation. Clear plastic display cases, boxes, sheet and other protective forms fit this need. These protective products have a lot of potential use for a lot of people and businesses.

They apply to business owners as well as to their customers. Museums, art shops, toy figurine shops, restaurants, fruits shops and so on all have potential uses for these products. You can offer your products directly to these businesses or offer referral fees when they endorse your products to their customers. The important thing is you always sell the benefit of your products and services to these businesses and people.