Grand Prix International (GPI), a well-known project management group within the toys and game industry, and Floship, a company that focuses on fulfillment, are partnering to bring efficient fulfillment systems to crowdfunding campaigns.
GPI president Mike Fisher has expressed frustration with the fulfillment process of crowdfunding campaigns as they grow in popularity, where “goods exchange hands with multiple third parties before ultimately arriving on a backer’s doorstep.” The partnership between GPI and Floship hopes to make this process smoother, getting crowdfunding backers the products they supported in a more straightforward manner.
“Having a combined GPI x Floship team working to seamlessly transition a campaign through numerous logistics steps will save our clients so much time, not to mention ensure that the process is executed flawlessly since it’s in the hands of people that do this for a living and not someone trying to figure out the complicated process themselves for the first time,” says David Blanchard, Vice President of Business Development for GPI. “It’s a crucial step in managing a successful campaign.”
Crowdfunding has become a common method of raising funds for projects on the internet, the idea being a large number of people put in money to see a project realized. Campaigns are often run through platforms such as Kickstarter or GoFundMe, with the former having an entire category for toy campaigns. Industry bigs have even gotten in on the crowdfunding action. Mattel utilized crowdfunding for its Masters of the Universe Origins Eternia Playset and Hasbro’s Haslab has launched a number of crowdfunding toy campaigns.
The new partnership between GPI and Floship has goals to reduce delays in fulfillment as well as save overall costs for those running crowdfunding campaigns. GPI has previously worked with game makers that utilized Kickstarter, but with this new venture, can offer a process that allows for crowdfunding to be handled internally.
