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How to start decorative cushions selling business?

15/12/2019

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Decorative cushions
Gone are the days when the pillows were used on the beds. Today, we can see them everywhere in the homes and the offices, giving a face-lift to the rooms.

These are in great demand from other reason also as people with neck problems are searching for the right pillow which can give them relief from the neck pain.

If you are a crafty person who has interest in pillow designing then decorative cushions/pillow making business is for you.

You can either make an inventory of different styles of cushions/pillows or you can even design on demand, providing the customized solution. It depends on how much you can invest initially.
​
  • Follow route 1 if have funds and route 2 if you are short of funds.

However, being crafty and deft is one part, making and selling the products is another aspect of the business. You need to create a market place of your product to make your cushions selling to the new drawing rooms.

The Market


According to the survey by Research and Markets, the world’s largest market research store
  • The global handicraft market has reached USD 526.5 billion in 2017
  • It is growing at an average rate of 11% per annum
  • It is expected to reach USD 984.4 billion by the end of 2023
Decorative cushions market
Decorative cushions market
The global handicraft has a huge market and the entrepreneurs can have their pie from this large chunk.
​
Now I’m coming to the micro-level where you have to do certain things before officially launching your business.

Business outline


  • Your budget: Make the budget of your business. This budgeted amount should be within your limits.

Don’t take debt which is beyond your paying capability, the ideal debt: equity ratio should be <= 1 
​
For example, you are investing USD 100 in your venture then USD 50 should be from your pocket and the remaining amount can be borrowings from your friends, relatives or banks. ​
Optimum debt equity ratio
The concept behind making debt: equity ratio <=1 is that you can run your venture with a free mind and take decisions without much worrying about repaying of borrowing as you have enough equity to re-pay all your debt if required.

  • Time allocation:  How many hours daily you are willing to take out for your start-up?

Whether it will be your full-time venture or part-time or you will be doing it as a hobby will decide the growth trajectory of your start-up?

The growth of the start-up is directly proportional to the effort-hours you put in.

If you are starting part-time or as a hobby then I would recommend to invest small and in phases as you can invest more anytime once you decide to devote full time in your start-up.

  • Decide your segment: You cannot serve everyone. It is better to decide the segment, affordable or luxury, in the beginning to get the right start of your venture. 

  • Find your team: Any successful start-up requires a team of sincere and dedicated people as you alone cannot do all the tasks simultaneously and effectively.

For the first few months, you may be able to handle the task single-handedly but you will soon be needing a team to handle the routine task. 

Therefore, start finding one or two good seamstress who can help you in completing the orders.

If someone in your family knows to stitch and crafting, don’t hesitate to take her/his help.

  • Evaluate your design capacity & product liking: How many decorative cushions (size, shape, color), with your existing budget and existing team, you can produce in one month?

The number of cushions/pillows produced will decide your marketing strategy.

First, sell to your friends and relatives and ask them for genuine feedback.

This will help you in designing a better product for real customers.
​
  • Find the cost of your product: Estimate the total cost in making (raw material and labor), storing, packaging and finally delivering the pillows to the customers. The total cost divided by the number of pillows will give you the cost of one pillow.

Understand the Market


  • Read different latest magazines about the trends in cushions designs:  

You can get it from any magazine stand or a stationery shop. Scrutinize the designs and understand the market trend.

ake any latest design from the magazine and try to re-define it with your creativity and then show the sample to your friends and relatives. 

If they react something like “wow”, I can bet your new design is going to rock in the market.

  • Study the fabric & price: Visit a local fabric store to know the price trend of the cushions of your decided segment. The market price minus the cost of the pillow (as calculated in step 1) is your profit in hand.

  • Assess the fabric used: Check the type of fabric is used in designing the pillows and the cushions. This will help you in getting the right raw material which is in demand and the market.

  • Understand your client: Guess their age, assess their income and find their locality. This is going to help you forever as you can then design pillows of their taste and choice.
​
After completing the above steps, now you are ready to take on the next step to decide the presence of your business.

Best places to go online


You can either go for a physical store and can have an online presence. As this business can easily be started from home, I will discuss the 2 best online strategies to launch your decorative cushions making business:

Launch your business on Etsy:

Etsy is an online market place where millions of people around the world buy and sell hand-made and vintage goods.
"Around 33 million buyers around the world shop for unique items on Etsy they love"
You can easily sell handmade goods; craft supplies and the vintage goods like 20 years or older.
sell on Etsy
Please go through the seller policy of the Etsy before listing any of your product on this platform.

It is free and setup an online shop on Etsy, so it is a very good starting place for those entrepreneurs who are short of funds for any xyz reasons.
​
But there are three selling fees for the sellers:
  • Listing fee
  • Transaction fee
  • Payment transaction fee

It will cost you the US $ 0.2 for each listing on the Etsy market place for the next 4 months until it is sold. Once sold, the 5% transaction fee is levied on the sale price of the product.
​

To send the amount to your PayPal account, the nominal payment processing fee is charged.
Etsy pricing
It is quite easy to setup a shop on Etsy for that you need to open an account with Etsy and do the following things:
  1. Set the shop location
  2. Currency
  3. Shop name
  4. Set the payment method
  5. Billing method
They have 3 plans namely:
  1. Standard package (free)
  2. Plus ($10 per month)
  3. Premium (not announced)
Etsy packages
ETSY success stories
Etsy success stories
Link: https://blog.etsy.com/en/featured-shop-yellow-house-handmade/
Etsy success stories 2
Link: https://blog.etsy.com/en/featured-shop-violette-field-threads/
So Etsy has everything which you want to launch your online business.

Another route of starting the decorative cushions business is having your online shop on Weebly
"Weebly is currently powering more than 50 million sites around the world"
Although it will require a little investment you will have more control over your online store in designing and giving it an overall shape.

The first step to start your store is signup with Weebly

  • ​Weebly helps you in choosing the unique online store design matching your business. You can customize the theme according to your requirements. The easy to drag feature of Weebly let its user set up the online store quickly and easily. Try different themes here
Weebly themes
You can use the built-in marketing tools to promote your online store and can drive the sales with the customizable e-mail templates like abandoned cart to connect with your audiences.
  • Weebly has a built-in feature to optimize your online store for Search Engine Optimization.
  • You can track the performance of your store in one go with the Weebly integrated dashboard which includes store performance, e-mail engagement, referral traffic. 
  • You can make your online store stronger with Weebly collection of apps which can be added with one-click integration.
  • The Shipping tool makes sending of goods easy as it has real-time shipping rates based on the type of carrier, weight, location, and quantity.
  • Track your Inventory with Weebly’s advanced inventory management tool
  • Use Coupons to drive sales by offering time bound discount on your products. You can even design customized gift cards for your customers.
  • Weebly offers the feature to display the customer reviews on your store, driving your sales
  • Checkout
  • Product search feature lets the visitors to directly find the product what they are looking for in an online store.
  • The customer care center is ready to help you out in setting and growing your online store through e-mail, chat, and phone. We are here to help

Read success stories of the entrepreneurs and can seek inspiration from their online journey.
Weebly success stories
Weebly comes with three plans for setting online stores:
  1. Pro
  2. Business
  3. Business Plus
PRO
Groups & Organisations
​BUSINESS 
Small Businesses & Stores
BUSINESS PLUS
Power Sellers
12/month
25/month
38/month
when paid annually
when paid annually
when paid annually
Select
Select
Select
Free Domain ($20 value)
Free Domain ($20 value)
​Free Domain ($20 value)
Google Ads ($100 credit)
Google Ads ($100 credit)
Google Ads ($100 credit)
-
-
Email Marketing ($96 value)

Site features

PRO
Free SSL Security
Unlimited Storage
Connect a custom domain
Remove Weebly Ads
Site Search
Business
Free SSL Security
Unlimited Storage
Connect a custom domain
Remove Weebly Ads
Site Search
Business Plus
Free SSL Security
Unlimited Storage
Connect a custom domain
Remove Weebly Ads
Site Search

E-commerce

PRO
Shopping cart
Accept payment through Square
Accept payment through 3rd party providers
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
​-

Business
Shopping cart
Accept payment through Square
Accept payment through 3rd party providers
Product Badges
Product Options
Inventory Management
Automatic Tax Calculator
Coupon Codes
Square Gift Cards
Product Reviews
Shipping Calculator
Integrated Shipping Labels
Good Shipping Discount
-
​-
Business Plus
Shopping cart
Accept payment through Square
Accept payment through 3rd party providers
Product Badges
Product Options
Inventory Management
Automatic Tax Calculator
Coupon Codes
Square Gift Cards
Product Reviews
Shipping Calculator
Integrated Shipping Labels
Good Shipping Discount
Abandoned Cart Emails
Real-Time Shipping

Marketing

PRO
Search Engine Optimization
Lead Capture and Contact Forms
Advanced Site Stats
-
-

-
Business
Search Engine Optimization
Lead Capture and Contact Forms
Advanced Site Stats
Pop-up Notifications
Integrated Facebook Ads
Advanced eCommerce Statistics
Business Plus
Search Engine Optimization
Lead Capture and Contact Forms
Advanced Site Stats
Pop-up Notifications
Integrated Facebook Ads
Advanced eCommerce Statistics

Support

PRO
Community Forum
Chat and E-mail Support
Phone Support

Select
Business
Community Forum
Chat and E-mail Support
Phone Support

Select
Business Plus
Community Forum
Chat and E-mail Support
Phone Support

Select

You can either start from ETSY or Weebly, the choice is yours, as both are very good platforms for launching your online business.

Conclusion

  • Marketing your business is a continuous process. I recommend keeping a blog in your online store which engages your audience with the latest trends and styles of decorative cushions.

  • Keep collecting e-mail ids of the interested visitors and provide a customized solution based on her/his interest.

  • Taking a quiz or a poll from time to time is again a very good exercise to know their opinion and interest.

  • You can integrate vertically into bed-sheets, mattresses, and quilt making in a due course of time.

What are you waiting for?
Create your store on ETSY
Create your store on WEEBLY
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