Name of your website?The Uncommon Garden
Your name?
Kristen Graves
Your Location (city, etc)
Hermitage
Please give us a short summary of your website?
Our website is a place where people can come when they are looking for the perfect, unique gift. We specialize in monogrammed and embroidered gifts for babies, children, pets, and adults. We also have a full line of bath products, personalized note cards along with gourmet candles in over 100 different scents that are made right in our shop! We also carry beautiful candle warmers, tea light holders and gift boxes for the candles. It truly is a wonderful place to find that perfect gift!
What inspired you to launch your own website?
I wanted to give my customers a place where they could view all of our different candle warmers, note cards, bath products, purses and choose all of the different options we have for our monogrammed gifts.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
My first website was www.makingscentscandles.com launched about six years ago. It was a site dedicated to my gourmet candles and candle accessories. I have since expanded to a larger line of gifts, therefore needed a new name.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
I always liked the word "Garden" because I felt my store made you feel happy like you were walking through a garden of unique personalized gifts. I needed a word to go with Garden and simply put all of my gifts are "Uncommon" so that is how it became "The Uncommon Garden"
What makes it different from other, similar offerings?
Being in the customer service field for 18 years prior to opening my store, I feel I have the extra edge of knowing what it takes to make a customer happy. I respond to emails within 15 minutes and I am always happy to accomodate a customer on their special requests.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
Absolutely to keep my store and to be the first place someone thinks of when looking for a special gift for someone else.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
I have had my internet business for six years, but have only had my brick and mortar store for five months. It takes a lot of time and money to keep new fresh items for your customers, but I have no doubt it will all pay off!
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
Probably the only thing I would do differently is offer a few more products. I am already out of room in the store, but I want every customer that comes in here, to say "Oh that is exactly what I wanted to get him/her."
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
I would probably have to hire out help, and would love to be at a point where I could do that.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
I haven't really had any unexpected costs, the one thing that I hate is the large minimums that wholesale suppliers make you purchase. I might need only 3 of one item from a particular supplier, but am forced to buy 20. That can really hit the cash flow of a small business owner.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Putting out things early enough for the holidays! I have always been a procrastinator and in the retail world you have to decorate for the next holiday months before anyone is thinking about it. That is tough for me to do. I don't even like to think about a holiday until it is almost here!
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Advertising with www.citysearch.com and a local newspaper did a full color 3 page, front page story on me. That generated tons of new business. Plus simple word of mouth from happy customers has had great results.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
It is a full time job almost to keep it updated with new products. I feel like just about every week I am updating or tweaking something on my site.
How long have you run the site already, and how long will you continue to keep it up if you don't enjoy big gains in traffic, income or popularity?
I have had it about six years and hopefully it will only continue to gain popularity. I don't even think otherwise.
What is the best part about your business?
Meeting new customers online and in person and helping them find the perfect gift, and then have them come back and tell me how much they loved it! That makes it all worth while.
What is your website address?
The Uncommon Garden
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