Australian entrepreneur Tessa Hartnett is the owner of a successful online store, Vurge Jewellery, and several other online stores – 8 of them – mainly wedding-focused, such as Bridal Jewellery HQ and Bowties Inc. She shares her story, as well as some valuable tips on how to establish an online store which sources products to suppliers overseas, such as those listed with Alibaba.com.
Ms. Hartnett joined as Alibaba.com‘s ambassador because when Vurge Jewellery was started about 6 years ago, support was really scarce. Nobody can help her on various issues in running an online business, such as how to accept payments, how to send products, what the products’ quality is going to be like.
As an ambassador, Ms. Hartnett wish to help others start a successful online business and answer the big question of how sourcing products from China will work, especially in term of quality.
Similar concerns were also voiced by Vurge Jewellery’s customers. Ms. Hartnett ensures that Vurge’s products are quality ones, due to the fact that she sources to several suppliers and give guarantees to customers.
Tips on how to establish successful online store(s)
Go mobile!
Ms. Hartnett shares that the rising trend she uncovered while analyzing Vurge’s analytical data is the fact that more traffic is coming from mobile phone.
So, what Ms. Hartnett do in response to the trend is by adopting responsive web design principles, which allows Vurge’s website to be mobile-friendly.
Go social media!
Ms. Hartnett also explores potential social media where she can showcase her online stores’ products. The obvious place is Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. However, going social won’t guarantee you any leads to your online store.
In order to make your social efforts worthwhile, Ms. Hartnett suggest online store owners to start looking at other social media pages, especially from smaller companies so you can learn what works or not from them.
Bigger companies could give you a hint or two, but it can be misleading due to the different in fan base size.
Learn when updates are published, how the followers response via comments, follows or likes, and then start developing your own formula to work with your online business.
Don’t rely on one supplier
Ms. Hartnett explains that when opening an online store, you should not source from one supplier, as your business continuity will highly dependent on that supplier…
But how to pick the right suppliers?
Ask questions – a lot of them
Ms. Hartnett chooses suppliers based on several steps she takes: Shortlisting for candidates – 5 to 10 of them – from AliExpress.com. She then interviews the potential suppliers about their listings on AliExpress.com; how long they reply when she contacted them; how well they response to her questions; how well the communication goes….
Then she chooses the best three candidates to which she will make test orders (one product each from one supplier.) She looks at the quality of the products, the packaging quality, the delivery time,… such things will help her to choose the right suppliers.
Takeaway
As one, last advice, Ms. Hartnett advises those who are still looking for the right suppliers (but worry about taking action) to start negotiating. There’s no harm in asking questions.
If you want a successful online store, you need to do your homework. Ms. Hartnett has shared her valuable insights, particularly in how to choose the right suppliers. Following through her advice means you are halfway to success as we all do know that products are keys in retail, whether it’s off line or online.
