Housethings

This is well branded a high ticket online home furniture dropshipping business. We are mainly selling Beds, Bar Stools and Rugs. We also sell Outdoor furniture which is seasonal but very high ticket value in the summer months. The total average order value is around $500 - $650.

I started this business with the goal of working from home without inventory or the need for warehousing.

My goal was to build it up so I could appoint a Virtual Assistant to run the business operations without me being involved in the day to day running. I have achieved that goal in less than 18 months.

I am now looking into a new non related challenge which will take all of my time and may require investment funds for my next venture.

My main task is to answer any questions my assistant has. I also spend about 1 - 3 hours a day managing our FB ads and product range.

I currently answer the phone from customers which is only up to a few times a day. If I don't answer the phone it will ring through to my assistant in Philippines who will attend to the call. It is possible to have the phone ring to the assistant full time.

As I add a new range of products which it can take a few hours to a few days to set it up properly depending on the products.

This is a well branded Australian based furniture store. The store currently sells only within Australia but can be easily duplicated to open in other countries.

We sell beds and mattresses, outdoor furniture, stools, chairs, rugs and more, House Things is well positioned to become a huge online business if guided in the right direction.

The current business model is drop shipping.

The benefits of the drop shipping is that no warehousing or stock is required.

Our goods are all shipped from within Australia so can be immediately shipped from supplier to customer.

The business can be operated from anywhere in the world.

housethings.com.au is a premium domain name which attracts a considerable amount of organic traffic and ranks along side some of Australia's largest and well established branded furniture stores.

The business began in July 2020. I was originally running dropshipping stores importing from China but wanted to find locally sourced products to improve shipping times and customer service. We now offer next day shipping on most of our products.

The business is predominantly managed by a Virtual Assistant from the Philippines. The assistant deals with customer enquiries, order processing, returns, dealing with suppliers and tracking orders with couriers.

My main role as the business owner is marketing and sourcing and updating our products and website in Shopify.

How to grow this business

This business has seen amazing growth in its first 12 months. Going from $0 - $1.2 mil in 12 months was beyond my expectations.

I have now set up the business to a point where is has become virtually autonomous although I still keep a close eye on operations daily.

I had spent countless hours and energy into establishing and automating the business. I currently spend only a few hours a week working in the business. I have built it to a stage where I can now focus my attention elsewhere. This business has outstanding potential for growth. This could be achieved in a number of ways;

Expanding and refining the product range and pricing. Improving marketing such as: Refining and Improving Facebook Ads Growing Instagram and Organic Facebook channel Adding a Youtube channel Tik Tok Influencer Marketing Improving Google ads Adding sales channels - eg, Ebay, Multiple Marketplaces, Amazon etc Ways to grow the business

Improve the conversion rate currently around 0.4 - 0.5% Scale the ad spend on the areas which are profitable. Sourcing products for exclusivity and higher margins. There is also an opportunity to expanding the business into other countries including USA, UK, New Zealand and more.

I have registered the domain name housethings.net with the view towards replicating the store in the USA. I would be willing to transfer that domain name to the new store owner. It is also important to note that one of our main suppliers is based in USA and UK.

There is also a huge opportunity to find individual winning products exclusively and focus on marketing them. Products could be imported from China or elsewhere for higher margins if you decided to warehouse products.

House Things has strong logo and branding which has the opportunity to add any products which are related to the home. There is opportunity to add new product categories such as cookware, bed sheets, linen, homewares, kitchenware, home appliances and much more to create more repeat business and build loyalty from our customer base.

Massive growth Potential

It is important to note that several of the biggest competitors in our industry are turning over hundreds of millions of dollars per year, which shows the huge potential of growth which can be achieved by growing the store. It is easy to find this information as these companies are public listed companies which provide this information.

Marketing

Online Marketing skills would be most helpful to grow the business. There is huge potential to improve on what I have started. An understanding of Shopify is helpful. Facebook and Google can be managed in-house or outsourced.

Marketing skills would be helpful to grow the business quickly. There is huge potential to improve on what I have started. Basic understanding of Shopify is helpful. Facebook and Google can be managed in house or outsourced.