Introduce your business and tell us your story: How did you decide on what to sell, and how did you source your products?
My job before opening the store was as a sales representative for a company selling 25 different lines in the baby gear world. When my family and I moved to Kingston I noticed a hole in the market and decided to take the plunge and open a store. My experience in the industry helps me immensely to choose the highest quality as well as trendiest products for new moms. We use mostly Canadian suppliers - however we do order some product directly from companies mostly in the US.
How did you earn your first sales? Which channels are now generating the most traffic and sales for you?
Social media and word of mouth have been the most effective means of getting the word out! We provide customers with an amazing experience when they come to the store in terms of customer service and awesome products. Most the our sales are currently in store - however we have big plans to expand into the online world.
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?
Shopify provides me with all the tools I need to run my store. From managing inventory to analysing reports on best sellers to creating and printing barcodes - I can do everything through the system. We handle shipping and fulfillment internally and have a shipping company pick up the packages.
What are your top recommendations for new store owners?
One of the main things I have learned as a business owner is the importance of confidence and believing in what you are doing. People often talk to me about their business dreams and speak about getting their ducks in a row before they can do anything. I laugh and tell them I did not even have a pond let alone ducks when this mission started. I was confident in my plan and right away started with concrete steps to making the store happen - renting a space, renos, ordering etc. It seems like people often over think their dreams and in turn spend weeks, months, years pondering and planning without actually doing. With a system like Shopify - which is so user friendly and has amazing customer service - the technical side of the business was a breeze.
I have more time to spend on what I enjoy about the business without having to worry about my POS or online systems. The main reason I chose Shopify was the automatically connect the online store with my POS. At first I looked at some other POS systems that did not have an online option and it was a nightmare to sort out the inventory. Shopify makes it so easy and straightforward.