So, you’re looking to start your own epic side hustle business and don’t know where to start? As founders of an eCommerce store business that turned over $10 million AUD in less than two years, here are five need-to-know tips for any budding entrepreneur.
1. Look for gaps
Understanding what consumers are looking for is the utmost key to brand success. For us, we noticed the consumer market shift towards an increased desire for quality, one of a kind goods, so we modelled our entire brand around creating the best, personalised pieces that consumers would need for protection and want because it could be made personal to them.
2. Be the best in the business
After identifying your gaps, you then need to look for any competitors within your concept and simply, do better. For us, bringing back quality leather goods was our biggest stand out feature across the market. We are also huge advocates for a quality customer experience, so by providing a fast response time and hand packaging our products, each and every buyer feels special shopping us.
3. Explore influencer marketing
Attributing much of our success to the organic growth of our Instagram account, we’ve worked with some seriously influential Instagrammers that have been great for drawing engagement across to our page. I guess the biggest thing to understand when working with influencers, is do your research!! If your target markets aren’t aligned it can be a waste of time, and while driving engagement to your brand is great – you need quality product to back up a purchase and encourage repeat business.
4. Set your brand presence
Vibe and culture is THE best way to set your brand apart from other competitors. In a world flooded by mass consumerism, you need to give consumers a reason to buy from you and not anyone else. Quality is our biggest push, so everything we do, from branding, to marketing, even our social content, has an air of luxe and class about it.
5. Hire like-minded staff
Staffing is another massive make or break when it comes to running an e-commerce business. It made the utmost sense for us to hire a team of like-minded millennials who’ve grown up understanding social metrics to help push our brand to the best of its ability online. Our team constantly seek to innovate the marketing game and we wouldn’t be running so smoothly without them! Simple!
By incorporating these tips, we have managed to make our mark on the online business community and rapidly grow our eCommerce store as we continue to innovate our brand presence and product line to our international audience.
Dr Omar Sabré and Dr Zane Sabré, Founders, Maison de Sabré
