Bootstrapping a Niche E-Commerce Company: Modded Euros CEO Sean Dawes (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: The transition from dropship to inventory, how far did you get to dropshipping in terms of gross merchandise volume? Sean Dawes: We did over a million in annual sales before we had to inventory anything. Sramana Mitra: That’s terrific. What did you learn about the customer base? Were they auto shops or were

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Bootstrapping a Niche E-Commerce Company: Modded Euros CEO Sean Dawes (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: How long did you do the marketing services before you were able to switch full-time to the online retail car purchasing? Sean Dawes: About two years. We spent some time investigating markets because we weren’t sure if we were going to go in the automotive market. We were exploring a lot of different

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Bootstrapping a Niche E-Commerce Company: Modded Euros CEO Sean Dawes (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: I try to trace the journey chronologically. Tell me what you did after coming out? Sean Dawes: Towards my senior year, panic set in about what I was going to do. I realized that I was going to be making $12 an hour and have student loan debt. I ended up working in

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Bootstrapping a Niche E-Commerce Company: Modded Euros CEO Sean Dawes (Part 1)

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.  This conversation is a comprehensive discussion on how to bootstrap a niche e-commerce venture with a lean team and effective use of inventory financing. Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in

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Bootstrapping a Category Leading E-commerce Company: Tony Ellison, CEO of Shoplet (Part 7)

Sramana: I would imagine you are using the private label strategy to drive margins up, correct? That is one of the levers that you can push. Tony Ellison: Yes, that is correct. Sramana: What categories offer you the best levers for your private label strategy?

Bootstrapping a Category Leading E-commerce Company: Tony Ellison, CEO of Shoplet (Part 6)

Sramana: You have crossed a lot of categories that are not traditional for your market area. What was the strategy behind that decision? Tony Ellison: We are the first in our industry to cross the traditional lines of office supplies and offer many unconventional products that businesses need. This is important because we cater to

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Bootstrapping a Category Leading E-commerce Company: Tony Ellison, CEO of Shoplet (Part 5)

Sramana: Tell me a bit more about merchandising. Outside of the core office supplies, what else belonged in your product portfolio? Tony Ellison: Today, we have close to 600,000 items with a mantra of social responsibility. There is no reason why businesses should not purchase eco-friendly products, especially since the prices have dropped and the

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Bootstrapping a Category Leading E-commerce Company: Tony Ellison, CEO of Shoplet (Part 4)

Sramana: In 1996, you added more people and secured an office. Was there any difference in your distribution or customer acquisition strategies? Tony Ellison: There was a lot of change in 1996. The biggest expansion was in terms of people and our margins started to erode because of that added expense. We also started adding

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