The Blizzerator was a creation of necessity. After years of my husband and I struggling to remove snow from our car, Jeep and truck we realized there had to be a better way. Leaning on cold wet cars to clear snow with short brushes and ending up wet and cold was not an option, nor was opening the door, standing on the door jamb to clear roof snow (its the law) and ending up with a pile of snow on the seat, or trying to clear snow with existing wobbly straight extension brushes from the roof of our SUV and pickup with arms overhead, a strenuous and awkward task that frequently removed as much paint as snow.
We realized we needed something better, so we designed the Blizzerator. The Blizzerator's patent pending angles of attack provides the operator the ability to contour any vehicle, virtually eliminating overhead operation and contact with finished surfaces. The large Rotating 12" locking brush head allows you to clear your vehicle from one side. The squeegee slides over the brush providing protection and longevity allowing user to cut through our crunchy northeast snow. No more buying brushes every year or two.
The Blizzerator has been very well received and is the proud recipient of Popular Mechanics Editors Choice award for Design and Innovation.
How did you earn your first sales? Which channels are now generating the most traffic and sales for you?
Marketing any new concept is a daunting task. Currently there are two methods we use to excite customers and retailers about products. Our marketing initiative includes direct as well as a web launch with Shopify.
Direct marketing involves many options. The most direct way to bring a product to market is trade-show attendance which provides the opportunity to present your product/s to retailers and the public, however you need to look beyond the box. Our product is an automotive accessory, however it is not only in auto stores. Look beyond the box and you will find Blizzerator products in all types of retail stores, pharmacy's, supermarkets, big boxes and more.
Web marketing and SEO-SMO is extremely important as well. Having just launched we now see where we need to improve our Web efforts via SEO-SMO. Our initial efforts were limited to pay per click adds which proved beneficial, however there is always room for improvement and consumer direction/conversion.
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?
The back end of Blizzerator.LLC handles email traffic. Our orders are directed to our shop and copied to our fulfillment center for processing. Increasing payment pathways is always helpful as there are consumers that have preferences on which path they wish to pay with. Shopify payments, paypal etc etc. Consumers like options!
What are your top recommendations for new ecommerce entrepreneurs?
Marketing is key to your success. Find the avenues that fit your product/s and market! Just when you think your done, do it again and again. Whether your approach is using the many Web marketing tools available, direct marketing or both (Strongly Recommended)...Get out there and pound the pavement...You can shake hands with a 1000 people on the street with and without need for your product line and get 10 or more interested, but when you put yourself in an arena with people searching for products like yours, a 1000 handshakes may very well be 1000 perspective consumers/retailers.