I have been involved in the textiles industry for several years. I came across latex foam through one of our vendors and was immediately impressed by it.
It is extremely comfortable and has environmentally friendly properties. After dabbling with it for several years I decided to make a stronger push into the market.
How did you earn your first sales? Which channels are now generating the most traffic and sales for you?
We first sold our items on eBay. While eBay remains a steady sales channel for us, our Shopify storefront has provided us with explosive growth in the last year.
Our Shopify storefront is now, by far, our leading sales channel. Shopify has created a great platform which has allowed us to create a storefront that looks great and is search engine friendly.
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 have integrated our Shopify storefront with Shipstation. This integration works seamlessly and provides us with a complete shipping solution. We use the Yotpo app to handle all of our customer reviews. We use the Product Options app by Bold apps to allow customers to tailor our products to their specific needs.
What are your top recommendations for new ecommerce entrepreneurs?
Find ways to push traffic to your website. You can have the best website in the world, but if no one sees it, you will not generate sales.
Don't skimp when it comes to the appearance of your website. Why should shoppers take the time to look around your site when you haven't taken the time to make your site look nice. They should not and they will not.
Make use of the apps! Apps usually integrate very easily with Shopify and will save a lot of time.