Name of your website?All the Makings - Discount Ribbon, Tulle and Craft Supplies
Your name?
Tom
Your Location (city, etc)
Hawkins
Please give us a short summary of your website?
We are a wholesale supplier of ribbons,tulle and craft supplies.We offer deeply discounted pricing to our customers no matter how large or small the order placed. Small home based businesses can now have the opportunity to make larger profit margins by buying at a discounted price. We have great pricing for florists,wedding planners and tutu and bow makers.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
We have had over 17 years experience in this industry, but it has become very expensive for salesmen to travel on the road. This web store greatly simplifies buying for our customers because orders can be placed 24 hours a day and they always have access to our new items.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
We opened our first web store in 2003 but it was really only geared to our larger volume wholesale customers. We opened this new store in January of 2009 and we are still adding new things weekly. This new store was made to also accomodate our smaller home based businesses who can't buy in case packs, but do order on a regular basis in smaller quantities.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
That's what we carry...."All the Makings". We offer tulle,ribbons,sewing embellishments,craft supplies (i.e. butterflies,flower petals,ribbon roses etc)as well as wedding accessories,vases,centerpieces,organza bags,organza chair bows and so much more.
What makes your website different from other, similar offerings?
We try to offer a large variety and we know that our prices are mostly unbeatable.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
We have been in this business for 17 years and it is a family owned business so we anticipate it will continue for another 17 years at least.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
Business has been good for us because we fill a need for the small business person. They can now buy supplies at a discounted price, from a large variety of styles and colors and have the ability to increase their profit margins substantially. Usually to get great discounts, you need to buy large quantities of items...with us, you just need to be a legitimate business person.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
There are always new things that we would like to add to our product mix. It would be great to add them all at once instead of a few at a time.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
Absolutely, we have a huge warehouse and lots of merchandise to sell.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
Growing pains, with each new type of ribbon we try to offer all of the colors available. Our 100%polyester satin ribbon comes in 38 colors, 144 pc of a color to a case, the space to store them and the initial cost is mind boggling!
What has been your biggest challenge?
The transition from traveling salesmen to web store is slower in growth but eventually we hope that it will lead to a much larger worldwide business. Fortunately we already had a good wholesale customer base in place.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Email marketing and google adwords
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
Shipping out of country is sometimes more challenging, with weight and box size restrictions. And attracting people to view the web store is not quite as easy as having a salesman walk in a door.
How long have you run the site already, and how long will you continue to keep it up if you don't enjoy big gains in traffic, income or popularity?
We have had placement on the internet since 2003 and although the growth is not lightning fast, we add new customers all the time and they tend to stay with us as repeat customers. Its rare to have just a one time sale. People like the fact that they don't need to travel all over town to find the right color of ribbon or tulle, and if you're looking for orange butterflies you just need to enter it in the purchase order and 3 days later they arrive in your mailbox.
What is your website address?
All the Makings - Discount Ribbon, Tulle and Craft Supplies
