Introduce your business and tell us your story: How did you decide on what to sell, and how did you source your products?
After having my second child, I realized that there weren't any affordable clothing options for breastfeeding moms. We launched with a few wholesale styles in Spring 2014, our own products in October 2014. Wholesale for the first three months, overseas manufacturing since then.
How did you earn your first sales? Which channels are now generating the most traffic and sales for you?
98% of our sales are from FB marketing, but word of mouth is now picking up. We haven't used anything other than social media at the moment because we are trying to slow growth a little bit to keep up with demand.
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?
We recently launched the returns app which we love. We also used the restock app for a little while to learn what people are looking for. We use Stitch Labs for inventory management and Shipstation for shipping. Everything ties seamlessly together. It's important for us to touch every order before it's shipped and manage our exchanges in-house, so we ship everything ourselves. Shopify + Shipstation makes for an amazing combination.
What are your top recommendations for new store owners?
Find a niche and become your buyer/avatar. Being able to find your buyer in the ecommerce world and build a community is key to success.