Name of your website?Bettz Designs - Knitting & Other Bags & Belts
Your name?
George Koppel
Your Location (city, etc)
Newton
Please give us a short summary of your website?
Bettz Designs manufactures and sells retail on the internet and wholesale to stores, bags, totes, accessories, belts and hair accessories. We have all types of bags and accessories, including knitting bags, knitting needle cases, cosmetic cases, messenger bags, totes, etc in many different fabrics. Our fabrics include patchwork madras, seersucker, tapestry, corduroy, velvet, silk, etc. We can trim our bags and accessories with many different ribbons. We have ribbon, seersucker, corduroy and ribbon belts in all sizes from extra-small to extra-long.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
At first we sold only at craft fairs throughout New England and then we branched out selling wholesale to stores. Our customers at craft shows keep asking if we had a web site, so finally several years ago we started a web site to sell retail on the internet. We still sell wholesale to stores and also do some craft fairs.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
We launched our first web site in 2002. It is the same web site we have now - www.bettzdesigns.com.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
It the same as the name of our company - Bettz Designs. The company is names after my daugter; it was her nick name when she was younger. Her name is really Betsy.
What makes it different from other, similar offerings?
All our bags, totes, accessories, belts and hair accessories are hand-made in the U.S., actually in Massachusetts.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
The eventual goal is to keep the business for income.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
The business has been very successfull. My wife and I have been doing it full time since 1994.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
If we had an unlimited development budget we would expand the business to many more stores throughout the U.S. and internationally. We would probably set up a factory, instead of having our bags made, as they are now, by sewers in their home.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
If the site got really big we would be able to keep up with demand. The main thing is that we would have to hire more sewers.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
Recently the main headache has been that a number of our U.S. fabric suppliers have gone out of business due to competition from overseas suppliers, such as from China. These suppliers had really unique fabrics. Because of this we now have to buy many fabrics from overseas. The costs of the fabrics from overseas have risen due to the falling dollar.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Our biggest challenge in general is keeping up with whats popular in fashion. A good example is the current popularity of madras in clothing and accessories. Before last year we had no madras in our line, now it is our most popular fabric. But fashion changes all the time, so we must keep up with it.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
We have listed our web site on many directories and search engines and have used search engine optimization to make sure that in certain categories it come up near the top.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
The running of the website has not really differed from our expectations.
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?
The site has been running since approximately 2002. We expect to keep it up - not only for the income, but it's fun.
Replace this with a question of your own
For anyone who reads these answers, I would be interested in hearing their stories about starting a small business on the internet.
What is your website address?
Bettz Designs - Knitting & Other Bags & Belts
No trackbacks.
Comments