The Sock Hop is an independent boutique in Nolita, NYC.
The Sock Hop has two distinct products, we make men's custom shirts in the back of the store and also sell socks from the finest sock manufacturers in the world.
How did you earn your first sales? Which channels are now generating the most traffic and sales for you?
Being primarily a retail store in one of NYC's up and coming shopping neighbourhoods, we operate primarily on word of mouth.
Our biggest success factor has been satisfying customers who walk-in and having those happy customers tell their friends.
Tell us about the back-end of your business. What tools and apps do you use to run your store? How do you handle shipping and fulfillment?
Having both an online store and a physical store gives us the luxary of shipping directly from our store.
Typically, when we get an online order, we'll pick out the item from our stock, wrap it up, then use a barcode printer for the name and shipping address of the customer. We are pretty bare bones in that we just then have a delivery person come in and pick it up for shipping.
We don't use any apps for shipping just yet, though we plan to in the near future.
What are your top recommendations for new ecommerce entrepreneurs?
Start with your eyes open and stay nimble.