Featured Listing: 6-Year-Old Trendy Jewelry Ecommerce

About the business

Tell us a little about yourself. What’s your background? How did you start the business?

In the summer of 2016, my husband and I, with our four children, moved 1300 miles to pursue our dreams in Orlando, Florida. What’s crazy is starting an inspirational jewelry company wasn’t part of my dream, but somehow this dream found me.

It started with a random thought, “I wonder if people would like to wear Disney-inspired stamped bracelets.” I knew nothing about building an inventory-based business, but I couldn’t let go of the idea. I obsessed over it.

My husband and I didn’t have the money to purchase inventory to get started, so we decided to launch Lillian & Co. with one pre-order bracelet. With one bracelet on pre-order with a four to six-week ship time, we opened for business.

I decided if we could sell 100 bracelets in a month, I had a business. We sold over 300 in the first 24 hours and in 18 months we were a seven-figure business! Our community showed up in a colossal way, and almost six years later, our customers continue to show up.

Lillian & Co. now has over 100 different quotes on bracelets, necklaces, and rings. We’ve branched out to journals, bags, and home goods.

As an eCommerce business, where are your products made?

We manufacture most of our products overseas in China and some are printed locally.

What can you tell us about your Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) and Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

Our Customers are extremely loyal. We have a 36% customer return rate and an LTV of $249 among the top 50% of our customer base.

How have you marketed the product and where are your customers originating from?

We have primarily marketed through word of mouth and influencers. We’ve also dabbled in FB ads and google ads.

Is the asset on your listing owner-operated, how much time does it take to run the business, who else is needed on the team, and what is automated?

Yes. It is owner-operated and we have one part-time employee that takes care of shipping social media and email campaigns. We typically spend about 4-6 hours per week on the business.

What does someone need to do to continue operating the business in its current form?

To continue operating you would just need to set time aside each day to answer customer emails and assess marketing.

Growing the business

Can you list a few opportunities for a potential new owner to continue growing the business?

We are not experienced with either inventory or e-commerce businesses. We have figured it out along the way. The profit margins have been a huge help and have allowed us to easily fund inventory purchases as needed. The cash flow has been great. We feel a few things could help Lillian & Co. really takeoff:

An expert Digital Marketing Manager

Optimized SEO

New product creations.

Adding other channels (Amazon, eBay, etc.)

Finding wholesale accounts

Could be transformed over to dropshipping to cut down on overhead

What has been the evolution of this asset since its launch?

We’ve had steady year-over-year growth since the beginning and nearly every product launch has been successful and well-received. Our Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales continue to soar as well as our customer base grows since our product is so giftable.

How does this business make money? What are the current revenue streams?

Currently, 99% of our revenue comes through our e-commerce site. With a few small wholesale orders added into the mix here and there.

What marketing channels are most profitable for the business?

Our most profitable marketing channel has honestly been our email list. It continues to drive our most sales. A close second would be FB ads.

How does the business currently acquire customers and what is your breakdown for marketing costs?

We have primarily marketed through word of mouth and influencers. We’ve also dabbled in FB ads and google ads.

How big is your current team? How many people does it take to run this business?

We have one part-time employee. that’s all it takes 🙂

What’s the reason for selling your business on Flippa?

We are selling because we have reached our limit with growing the business and our recent attention has been on our kids and new ventures in our lives. We’ve truly enjoyed our six years of launching and growing Lillian & Co. In a lot of ways, she is very very personal to us, but it’s time to let someone else take the reigns and grow this into the business we know it can become.