It was a pleasure to be invited by Fashion Mamas to sit down last week to talk all things Shopify and Ecomm. Over the past few years, our web business has become our biggest business, and in turn, we've dedicated manpower and resources to making it the best site it could be—optimizing the user experience, creating more content, making it more readily stoppable. All the things.
So when my longtime friend and ardent supporter, Natalie Alcala of Fashion Mamas tasked me with being a Shopify "expert" and sharing my knowledge of the ecomm platform with fellow Fashion Mama members at The Row in DTLA, I was super flattered, and excited to feel the recognition of all the hard we've put into it.
So, if you're a small business owner yourself, or thinking of getting something off the ground, but can't quite figure out how or where, these are some of the tips and insights I shared with the group.
ON ECOMMERCE:
To begin an online store, you don’t need crazy amounts of inventory.
I made my online store in the very beginning, and then I handed it off to someone else.
A lot of my jewelry is custom, made-to-order. It's helped streamline the online piece of the business that I don't do one-of-a-kind items.
I've cut back on offering discounts. A lot.
Shopify was a big part of taking my business to the next level.
When transitioning from walk-in to online, take what you know works and tweak it to the online customer. The two customers are likely going to look quite similar.
ON ADVERTISING:
My team creates ads for Ariel Gordon Jewelry, and it has positively affected the business.
I've doing Google ads for over a year, and thus far, it's been very successful.
I work with someone, who is on a monthly retainer to create the ads, and then they get a commission off the ad performance.
The way we select the images for the ads is using A/B testing.
The difference between Google Ads and Social Ads is that with Social Ads you can target your audience. With Google ads, you cannot.
For Google Ads, we have begun utilizing Sidecar, a service to help optimize ads.
We have separate people running our Google ads and Social ads, but you certainly don't have to, it's just the way it's worked out for us. On average, I spend upwards of $3,000/month on social media ads and $2,000-$3,000/month on Google ads. This is exclusive of any retainer or agency fee.
One of the first things my marketing team did was put my brand’s website above other retailers when you googled "Ariel Gordon Jewelry" so that our site came up first.
I'm a firm believer that, more is more. You have to assume that your website person will never see your Instagram, and vice versa.
ON GROWTH:
When it comes to organic and gradual growth, it’s the sum of all the parts. it’s important to diversify and to touch all the channels.
In regards to scaling, I built the business as I could afford to.
I create two seasons a year, and they’re based around market, so I design six months out.
When it comes to representation, look at your peers and see who reps them. Ask yourself what your customer is also buying, and see which reps and sales agents rep those brands.
