Products That Stand out From the Competition

From mom-and-pop to big box stores, the Internet has been so inundated with eCommerce merchants that it can be hard to differentiate your store from another.  If you carry a product how can you ensure shoppers will purchase from you as opposed to your competitors? 

Starla Allen makes sure that her store, the Good-Earth Store, stands out by concentrating on products that are harder to find.  “When I first started my health products business, there were so many products out there,” she says, “so I went to trade shows specifically looking for special products that no one knew about—unique items you couldn’t find all the time.” 

Starla doesn’t even consider big brand products.  “There’s no money in it because everyone is cut throating everyone else,” explains Starla. 

At trade shows, she first approaches small booths that sell two or three handmade products.  “We know those products aren’t going to be at Whole Foods or Target,” she says.  Starla gathers samples of those new products and for the next month, she and her family and friends try them all out.  If they like something, they contact the manufacturers and find out where and how the product is made and where they purchase their ingredients.

Starla prefers to buy directly from the manufacturer, as opposed to a distributor.  “It’s faster and the manufacturers take better care of you,” she says.  “I’ll research a vendor and look at its website and reviews.  I look at where it's located, so that I know how expensive shipping will be.  It’s always best to buy locally.”   For Starla, it’s also important that everything she sells is made in the U.S. 

From Passion to Product

Some of our most successful featured merchants didn’t take long to decide what type of store they wanted to open.  They created businesses from hobbies or products they were already passionate about.

Take Heather Gray of Shop Suey Boutique.  A fashion aficionado and self-proclaimed shopaholic, she started shopping for friends.  Word got out, and other people started showing up at her doorstep as if her home were a retail shop.  “People liked what I was wearing, so I thought I’d sell it,” she recalls, particularly handbags, jewelry and accessories.    

Heather lives near the LA fashion district, so she started sourcing product locally.  Her proximity gave her “a first look at everything."  She then sold at home parties. Eventually her hobby and home party business turned into a popular boutique web store that’s now featured in fashion magazines like Self, People and Redbook as the go-to site for looks for less and celebrity inspired fashion.  "My collection is completely based on my own taste,” she says

Although ProStores merchant Starla Allen of Good-Earth Store deals with an altogether different industry--health products--she was just as passionate about the product that first established her store  She had debilitating carpel tunnel when she started taking Terramin, a type of clay with healing properties.  Her condition went away within a month, and she was so impressed that she became a product distributor.  Now her store has diversified into other products she and her family use and love. "Every product we carry has gone through the ringer with us," says Starla.  "We’ve used and tried everything.  If we find something unique that we like, then we can sell it."

It’s always easiest to sell something you’re passionate about.  People trying to get started in eCommerce often rack their brains for “the” product they want to sell when sometimes the answer is close to home.