Name of your website?Soapies Supplies
Your name?
Kelley Perea-Shafer
Your Location (city, etc)
We are located in Scottsdale, Arizona
Please give us a short summary of your website?
Soapies Supplies offers a vast array of Soap and Toiletry and Candle making supplies on a wholesale level to both home artisans and handcrafted soap, toiletry and candle businesses.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
I started out making my own soap and toiletries and found that the supplies were hard to come by and usually from across the nation. To help avoid high shipping costs, I started searching out manufacturers and distributors to help defray my costs and to bring supplies to other local soap makers....Then Soapies Supplies was born!
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
Soapies launched our site in March 2001 and it is going strong today. We have expanded our inventory greatly over the years.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
Well...I believe that Companies need to have a distinguishable and memorable name that tells the consumer exactly what the company sells or provides. Soapies Supplies came to me and seemed like the perfect name.
What makes your website different from other, similar offerings?
Our site is clean and fresh, easy to navigate and is a "one-Stop" place to get most all of your soaping needs. We offer a vast array of soap/toiletry/candle making ingredients and packaging along with the equipment and tools the crafter or business needs to make their products.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
Our goal is to grow Soapies to be one of the top soap making supplies companies on the western and southwestern corners of the USA.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
Well very...Soapies has grown tremendously over the past eight years and we expect it to continue to grow.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
I would secure a much larger warehouse and add to my inventory.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
Absolutely!
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
The headaches would be expensive shipping/freight costs and searching out sources for new products as well as better pricing on current products.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Getting the word out that we are right here in Arizona, local here in Scottsdale.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
I place Sale Ads daily on Yahoo Groups and also try to keep a good Google Search Ranking.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
It really hasn't. We are very proud of the success we have be afforded.
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 Soapies site has been up since March 2001 and I do not foresee it not being up for many years. The handcrafted soap and toiletry arena used to be a "cottage industry" but has gained HUGE popularity in recent years and I believe it will continue to grow.
What is your website address?
Soapies Supplies
