By 
The founder of The Laughting Tree Organic called on the eCommerce site creation agency Scrowp, through the internationally renowned expert Marouane RHAFLI.
Marouane who has an unprecedented experience in eCommerce and more specifically on Shopify, since he was the first to design a theme adapted to speed, SEO and conversion rate.
The founder was able to see her “Success Stroy” thanks to the expertise of Scrowp.
Introduction
E-commerce is not easy, it requires a lot of hard work, investment of time and money, and many online stores shut down their business in the first year, however, we would like to hear real stories of success story, today we are featuring the success story of Bonnie Burns Giangrande
Could you introduce your company? How did you decide what to sell and how did you source your products?
The more I read about the dangers of the chemicals that go into our personal care and beauty products, the more I knew something had to be done. I was simply horrified to learn that some of the most common chemicals found in our shampoos and skin care products today, such as Cocomide DEA, Lauamide DEA, Sodium Lauryl/Laureth Sulfate ( SLS/SLES) and Parabens, which create this rich frothy lather, are absorbed through the skin where they have been found to form carcinogenic nitrates and impair normal brain and nervous system function over time.
Researchers have found evidence that these chemicals can interfere with the body’s hormones and cause early puberty in young girls. Early pubertal development in girls can have adverse social and medical effects, including the development of cancer and diabetes later in life. The study was published in Environmental Health Perspectives.
After reading this, I felt strongly that this was not acceptable and that we could do better for ourselves and our families! We all need to be more concerned and aware of what we put into our bodies. But these studies affect me personally because I have young children who live in a time when they are exposed to far more environmental toxins than we ever grew up. I realized that if I wanted change, I had to be part of it; and this positive change will not only be good for ourselves, but good for our planet and our families. And so The Laughing Tree Organics was born.
Founding The Laughing Tree Organics allowed me to formulate a family of face, skin and body care products that I could use for myself and my family, and wholeheartedly recommend to others. The Laughing Tree Organics line contains only simple, clean and pure natural ingredients infusing the important healing properties of fresh, hand picked, organic and/or wild BC herbs. These products are GMO-free and cruelty-free. Our uncompromising pursuit of quality means that all creams are handcrafted and blended in small batches.
The Laughing Tree Organics wants to be a catalyst for positive change in this world, one botanical product at a time. There is only one earth, and we are all in it together.
Was the road to success smooth?
Let’s just say if it comes easy, you’re probably not doing it right. MDR. I can honestly say that I was unprepared for some of the pitfalls I encountered.
When the line was taken over by 2 distributors, I thought to myself “Oh my god, how am I going to manage all these orders?” But the truth is that stores will only carry a minimum number of your products to begin with and will run tests to see if they perform well on the shelves. So the old adage “Build it. He will come” from the film Field of Dreams is not necessarily true in this market.
Once your products are on the shelves, the real work begins. You should do everything in your power to let people know about them and explain to them why they should buy them! Making people understand the advantages of using natural products rather than synthetics is a real educational element. The latest social media trends and the ability to connect with your followers has really helped us communicate those beliefs, which has helped us grow over the past two years. People want to hear from you today and they want to build a relationship with the brands they use.
I was also unprepared for the lack of FDA oversight in personal care products. You can put just about anything in a product and claim “Natural” if you only use 1 or 2 natural ingredients and fill out the rest with synthetics. This was a real eye opener for me, I wasn’t ready to see so many companies making false claims about their products. The FDA leaves it up to consumers to educate themselves, read labels, and understand the ingredients that go into products and whether they are safe for your family or not.
The past two years have been the most successful to date for LTO. We were really starting to sell regularly to spas and small Mom & Pop stores across the country. We were gaining ground on wholesale portals like FAIRE and TUNDRA and we were seeing organic growth. And then COVID hit! We lost one of our biggest accounts we were negotiating with to get our brand known internationally, and all wholesale sales have pretty much stopped. Not to mention my site at the time, which was created in WordPress and managed in the Philippines by someone I hired, got hacked! I knew very little about how to run my website. And my programmer was nowhere to be found. I couldn’t reach him and I couldn’t do anything! I had to regroup and think about what I could do to get my website back up and keep the few online orders coming in.
The success story of e-commerce on Shopify
I contacted Shopify and thought this would be a good opportunity to make the switch. I spent 4 days rebuilding my entire website in Shopify and was pretty proud of myself. I was getting orders again and they were starting to come in again. But it wasn’t enough. I was not recovering my wholesale orders as retail stores were not reopening due to the virus and I had to make up for this loss with my online sales. I knew I needed a more robust website. So I started looking at the different themes that Shopify offers. But I knew it didn’t just need to look pretty, it needed to perform. And it had to be faster and better than my competitors. So after doing a lot of research, I settled on the PLAK theme and haven’t looked back! PLAK gives your website visitor an experience, not just a visit. “I am so amazed at all the special features of my new site”! And since I didn’t know anything about how to improve my website ranking, PLAK helped me set up the right “tags” and “content” that help websites rank better on Google. It really was a game changer for me! I can now sit back and watch the orders come in! This was my eCommerce success story
Conclusion
More than 95% fail in e-commerce, however with determination, knowledge and perseverance, and above all thanks to the advice and professional work of Marouane RHAFLI you can increase your chances of success.
