Published:
11 feb 2022 00:05 GMT
Pink Lily, an online women’s clothing store, became in 2021 one of the largest employers in the city of Bowling Green, in Kentucky, USA.
Tori Gerbig, a 35-year-old American mother, revealed this Tuesday in an article for CNBC how decided to quit his main job in the insurance industry and go about his side business on eBay.
“I was 24 years old and I loved browsing the internet for clothes that were fashionable and affordable. Unfortunately, there weren’t too many options back then. That’s what gave me the idea to start a side business selling women’s clothing on eBay“He explained when telling how he launched his project in 2011: Pink Lily.
At first, she said, Pink Lily was just a fun hobby and she couldn’t imagine that 10 years later she and her husband would be managing the project full time. In addition, she detailed that in 2021 his business generated $141 million in gross sales and now his social media audience has grown to some 3.6 million followers.
How did you start the business?
To get their eBay store up and running, Gerbig and her husband made an initial investment of about $300, which they used to buy clothes and accessories on a wholesale website. “Because I wasn’t familiar with pricing strategies, I priced items at what I would pay as a customer,” the businesswoman said. She explained that during the first years the benefits varied, but they typically earned between $300 and $1,000 a month.
But by 2013, it had loyal customers driving growing demand for its products. “By the end of the year we had saved about $20,000 from our benefits, which we used to Launch Pink Lily Official Website. That’s when the business really started to flourish,” he said. “After three years of running Pink Lily as a side deal, I left my job in the insurance industry to pursue the business full time,” he added.
Gerbig disclosed that in 2019, after reaching a total of $70 million in sales, his company received a minority stake investment to “support the rapid growth of the business.” Currently your website sells more than 11,000 products every day, in addition to having a physical store. According to the businesswoman, with 250 full-time workers, his company is one of the largest employers in the city of Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Gerbig’s ‘Recipes’ for running a successful business
According to Gerbig, to launch a successful business you need to:
- Meet a lack in the existing market. “When I started my side business, I saw an unmet need for fashion-conscious women who wanted to find a dress for $50 or less,” she explained.
- Reinvest all or most of the first benefits In the business. “We worked up to 60 hours a week, lived frugally, and reinvested the money we earned into growing Pink Lily,” she added.
- Discover “fun and unique” ways to engage followers on social mediawhich “will help buyers feel like part of the family.”
- Empower loyal customers to be brand ambassadors. That “marketing” strategy generated about $7.5 million in sales for his company in 2021.
- Meet a niche or product line that you can exclusively own as a company. “This way, we end up with select collections that can only be found at Pink Lily,” he concluded.
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