'Nosing' Online Sales
"Smelly things" sell successfully online.
By Jane Kitchen -- Gifts and Dec, 1/1/2010 12:00:00 AM
For the past 11 years, Bet Law has run a successful niche business selling home fragrances, bath and body products, and other "smelly things." The unusual part about Law's Fresh Bet store is that everything is sold online, via the Internet, where you can't actually smell all those heavenly "smelly things."
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Law combats that problem by stocking reputable brands that many of her clientele know and re-order year after year. But she admits that finding that sweet spot is tougher than it looks.
"It's a fine line between finding a product well known enough that customers recognize, but that isn't oversold on the web — or undersold," says Law.
Catering to the Brand Loyal
With brands like Aromatique, Green Leaf, Claire Burke, Enchanted Meadow and Woodwick as the core of her business, Fresh Bet caters mostly to women in their 50s and 60s who generally have extreme brand loyalties. Law has succeeded in establishing herself as an expert of sorts with her clientele through her freshbetbits.com blog site.
Informing and Relating
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Through the blog, Law informs her customers of soon-to-be discontinued scents that she's stocked up on, newly released fragrances from trusted brands, as well as shipping specials and other deals.
"My customers love the blog site — they respond to polls, and leave comments," says Law. "I try to maintain a real personal relationship."
For example, a recent blog post alerted customers about a scent that had been on the market since 1955 that was being discontinued — and Fresh Bet had done its customers a favor by stocking up on as much of the merchandise as it could.
A Shop on Main Street
In 2006, Law opened a small store on her small town's Main Street, where customers could actually smell the "smelly things."
"We loved having a retail store," says Law, but the timing couldn't have been worse. In the fall of 2009, Law decided to cut everything that wasn't her bread-and-butter and focus on her core strength: her website, which is where Fresh Bet continues to succeed today.
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