Ella Mental Swimwear is an American swimwear company created in 2013 by Ella Mental and Cyril Kollock. Based in fabulous Las Vegas, NV, the duo has launched their first line with a 2014 Spring/Summer Collection.
Inspired by the Las Vegas glamour, beautiful girls, and non-stop energy of the city, the duo moved to Las Vegas and have found creative inspiration in designing stunning and flashy swimwear to portray the Vegas lifestyle and trends for all those that love to bask in it. All designs are created by Ella Mental through drawings which then lend to original designs. Each piece of Ella Mental Swimwear contains hand-sewn elements and custom hardware. The fabrics are of the highest quality and all garments are made in the USA with pride.
How did you earn your first sales? Which channels are now generating the most traffic and sales for you?
Word of mouth has been great for us. A friend of a friend bought a bikini for a birthday present and choose us as a way to support us as well as give something meaningful to their friend.
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 use the entire Shopify suite for our company. The built-in credit card processor as well as the iPhone app with reader is totally indispensable. One swipe and your done, with no need for double entry into the website to keep quantities up to date. Very slick! Not to mention the google adwords coupon has been great to get us on track with google advertising and reaching a larger market.
Having tried designer built web stores and other types of CRM websites, Shopify has been a total breeze to set up with professional results. The first question of other designer friends has been "what did you use?". Without hesitation, we pointed them to Shopify.
What are your top recommendations for new ecommerce entrepreneurs?
Friends are a great way to start the sales rolling and the first sale is truly an exciting moment!
Our first sales came in after our first photoshoot. Once we put the pictures up, people were able to see what we were all about. Don't underestimate the power of professional, high quality photos from a skilled photographer as this is oftentimes the only way people are seeing your product. On our site, the fact the the pictures looked clear with the ability to provide all the relevant details was really important.
Contacting blogs and other websites in related fields to whatever you sell also helped get lots of traffic to our site. Anywhere you can get a link back to your site shared, or featured really helps. Having a nice and professional looking site really makes people think you know what your doing even if just starting. Don't hesitate to reach out and contact people because chances are they are excited about your stuff too!