By Paul Lang, Editor, Sell It!
May 23rd, 2002

See Also   Terrence Sherry and 1 World Sarongs   Andrew Bridgeman and eART-originals   Mark Annett and Scruplestore.com   David Sabot and Cheaphumidors.com   William Waite and Nemmelgeb Murr   Mary Lu Wason and LampLink   Michael Campbell and Cellwest   Bob Rankin and Flowers Fast   Louis Jay and Health4Her.com   Jeff Swearingen and TheGift.com   Bill Broadbent the T-Shirt King   Jim Goodbody and PlanetLearn   Todd Mogren and coastaltool.com   John D. Einhorn and CapShack.com   Beverley Wood and the Gift Ship   Sgt. David Hack and US Wings   Brenda Do and MindFood Media.com   Rory O'Connor and Shopirish.com

I regularly receive correspondence from people who are keen to start their own Web business, but simply can't think of a product or service they could sell. One piece of advice that I always give them is to simply open their eyes as they go around their daily business and they are bound to spot an opportunity. That's the process the subject of this interview - Terrence Sherry - followed. He'd been looking for a business idea for almost two years when he finally stumbled across the answer on a trip to Indonesia. And the rest, as they say is history. 1 World Sarongs has been open for just over a year now with sales steadily growing at 20% per quarter.

In this interview Terrence explains how he set about building his online business.

Lang: Why did you decide to open a Web store? Why did you choose your particular product line?

Sherry: 1 World Sarongs officially opened in April of 2001. However, I had dreamed of having a Web store since 1998. I decided to open the store so that I could "be my own boss" and run a business that would reach a world market with little start up money.

My main products are sarongs. I choose sarongs because I had just come back on a trip from Indonesia and found that the prices there were very attractive. Plus the sarongs are beautiful and sell themselves.

Lang: Did you have much previous e-commerce or Internet experience?

Sherry: I had no experience with e-commerce or starting a Web site except for being an Internet surfer/consumer myself. I started from scratch. It took many months of research and preparation because I like to take things slow and make sure I'm making moving in the best decision. I researched a lot of Websites and SellItOnTheWeb.com really helped me with research and ideas. I also was able to talk with an e-commerce entrepreneur who helped with lots of ideas and suggestions.

Lang: What shopping cart software are you using and why?

Sherry: After speaking with an e-commerce guru he suggested that I try out "Yahoo! Stores". The reason being it's a complete solution and it's easy to use. Plus it gives you access to participate in "Yahoo Shopping" which is the online shopping mall of Yahoo and has one of the biggest customer followings on the Web.

Yahoo! Stores turned out to be the right choice for me and I would recommend it to ecommerce newbies. It has enabled me to manage almost all aspects of Internet ecommerce with very little knowledge and experience. Plus they have a great technical support line to help in the rough spots of Website development.

On the downside, Yahoo's! design tool is a little basic and some what limited. It would be nice to add more creative functions for a novice Internet user to incorporate. However, there are companies that design strictly for Yahoo! Stores and can make the basic template look very nice and professional with lots of bells and whistles.

Building the store took me around 50 or 60 hours a week, for about 3 or 4 months. I spent most of my time planning, fine-tuning, building and researching. Monthly fees for Yahoo! Stores have changed but when I started it was about $300 dollars a months just for the service.

Lang: What were your goals when you were designing your store?

Sherry: My main goal was to build a very basic Web site that was simple to use, fast loading, easy to navigate and maintainable. To achieve this goal I read a great book by Steven Krug called "Don't Make Me Think" describes the best way to design and build a Web site. I consider this book to be essential reading for anybody thinking of building a Web site.

Lang: What were the major challenges you faced?

Sherry: Getting qualified customers to www.1WorldSarongs.com was, and still is the biggest challenge. Other challenges are customer service, record keeping, taxes, and organizing daily systems.

A good tip is to start early on your accounting package and get in the habit of using it regularly. I use "QuickBooks" and that serves all my needs for accounting and taxes. Another system that I use is just keeping a "To do" list on a piece of paper and then prioritizing it according to task.

Lang: Are you pleased with the way your store has turned out?

Sherry: I'm especially pleased with the ease of navigation and the simplicity of the site. I'm constantly hearing positive feedback from customers about how easy the site is to use. I do think the site needs a little more dressing up, but the most important thing is keeping it clean, easy and fast. As the site grows this will be more of a challenge. Essentially my philosophy is to keep the store plain looking and have the products bring the color and dressing to the store.

Lang: What are your plans to develop the store?

Sherry: I plan on introducing new products and product lines, for example shoes and more jewelry, which customers have requested. I also plan to launch other sister Web sites specializing in other unique products. And I'll be looking to automate as many processes as much as possible, for example shipping and order tracking.

Lang: How have you promoted your store?

Sherry: In the beginning I mainly used pay per click search engines such as Overture to generate qualified leads. I've also submitted www.1WorldSarongs.com to the search engines and looked for affiliates to place links on their sites linking back to me for a commission.

My experience with Overture has been good. The ROI was better in the beginning when bids were lower but now that everyone is using it some of my keywords can cost as much as $1.00. I know that each visitor to my site is worth about 15 cents, so I base my keyword bids on this amount.

Of course, the best way to generate sales is to build relationships with your customers and prospects. To do this I started an opt-in mailing list where people can volunteer to receive information about new products etc. This builds trust with customers. Currently I'm using an excellent service called "Great Big Noise" which enables you to manage your opt-in email lists, manage mailing campaigns, keep track of statistics, and make professional eye catching mailings. Bottom line is email marketing allows me to stay in touch with my customers at a very low cost and with great results.

Lang: Finally, what are your top tips for anyone considering opening their own Web store?

Sherry: Work hard, research thoroughly, consult experts, find a market full of buyers, be unique, and never stop improving.