Profiles of Success Issue #47 : AllPiercings.com FollowUp
by: Tiffany Banks
In issue # 28 (see http://www.homebusinessnetwork.com/profiles28.html) we profiled a brandnew internet startup called AllPiercings.com. A couple (Erik & Dawn Olsen) were launching their first venture selling กphysical productsก online, and allowed us a glimpse into their thoughts and challenges involved in starting such a business on a shoestring. This is a followup roughly six months later…
Tiffany: Well Erik, how are things going at www.AllPiercings.com ?
Erik: Much better than I anticipated! The last 6 months or so have been a real learning experience, and weกve made a few mistakes here and there, not to mention wasting some time and money with suppliers that couldn’t deliver, but I think weกve now begun building a real head of steam, and each month is exceeding the previous month in terms of overall sales.
Tiffany: Thatกs great! You mentioned that you made a few mistakes and กwasted some time and moneyก. What kind of mistakes did you make?
Erik: One of the biggest mistakes was in terms of some of the suppliers we were using. When you spend $1000$2000 on an initial order with an overseas supplier (which many of the larger ones require as a minimum buy), and that supplier doesn’t deliver (in terms of quality and sometimes even the actual stuff we ordered), most of the time you’re left holding the bag. It was hit and miss for awhile in terms of finding suppliers that delivered the kind of quality goods we’re comfortable selling. All in all, our กquestก to find good suppliers resulted in about $7000$8000 in unsellable merchandise we essentially had to throw away. At this point, I kind of chalked that up to the กcost of doing businessก, and Iกm simply glad that we finally found 45 suppliers that can deliver consistently highquality goods.
Tiffany: WOW….$8000 is an expensive กlessonก indeed. Is that your only mistake?
Erik: Ha! Far from it! No, thatกs just the one that actually กcostก us the most in terms of actual definable dollars. Other mistakes included poorly กoptimizedก pages, streamlining our product photography (a HUGELY time consuming process for an amateur), among dozens of other small ‘tweaksก that have needed to be done over the last 6 months or so. Having said that, I think weกve finally got all the major kinks worked out within the last 78 weeks, and things have really begun to roll!
Tiffany: กBegun to Rollก, huh? Ok mister, letกs hear some numbers!
Erik: Ok…not to be too specific, but…Between direct sales, repeat customers, and affiliate referrals, we’re now averaging (for the last 3 months) roughly $400 per day in sales.
Tiffany: $400 a day? Thatกs great!
Erik: Yeah, we’re pretty happy. But thereกs a great deal of room for improvement, and weกve sunk every last cent weกve earned right back into it, and probably will for the next 23 years or so.
Tiffany: You mentioned กaffiliate referralsก as part of your sales numbers. What are those?
Erik: Basically, I included an กaffiliate programก in our system that allows other website owners/operators to sign up with us and earn 20% commission on any sales they refer to us. As of today, we have just over 400 affiliates. Iกll probably be closing the program to new affiliates soon though.
Tiffany: Why would you close it? If 400 affiliates is good, wouldn’t 4000 be even better?
Erik: Maybe for some programs in other markets, but I don’t think so for ours. We’re pretty picky about the affiliates we approve (itกs not an automatic process), and our niche is small enough that I don’t want to dilute the value of the program to the current (producing) affiliates.
Tiffany: You mentioned กroom for improvementก. What kind of improvements are you going to be making?
Erik: For starters…more new designs and more product lines. Weกve just added a line of กbarefoot sandalsก that are selling very well, and plan on adding other types of body jewelry as the year goes on. Weกve also put a deposit down on some retail space at our local mall which will be available in late October. Hopefully weกll be ready to go there prior to the holiday shopping season! Other improvements include some upgrades to our system that will simply make the shopping experience more streamlined for the customer, as well as a few streamlined admin functions for us.
Tiffany: In our first issue, we didn’t really talk about goals. What are your goals this year for AllPiercings?
Erik: Itกs funny, but as our sales continually improve, I seem to keep moving the bar a little higher. Seriously though, weกve honestly exceeded my goals to this point, but in terms of just raw numbers, Iกd like to see us at a consistent $1500$2000 per day in sale within the next 18 months. A lot can happen between now and then of course, but thatกs a goal I think is attainable.
Tiffany: Sounds great! Well, I for one am very happy for your success, and weกll be checking back in with you in a few months! Good Luck!
Note: Weกll be following up on Erik & Dawnกs progress in the coming monthกs. Stay tuned!
Note: You can visit the site referenced in this article at http://www.allpiercings.com
About The Author
Tiffany Bankกs is the Editor in Chief of the Home Business Network website.
http://www.homebusinessnetwork.com
This article was posted on March 30, 2004
by Tiffany Banks