It takes more than a great idea to achieve success in the ecommerce ecosystem. As Ryan O’Connor will tell you, there have been plenty of hits and misses after he got his ‘lightbulb moment’ four years ago. Ryan is the co-founder of One Tribe Apparel and the guest for today’s Under the Hood segment. His goal is to boost monthly revenue so that he can transition to doing the business full time. He’s also looking for insights on how to launch new products successfully, particularly now that the company is selling on Amazon FBA. He also runs an SEO consulting business.

How Ryan got his start in ecommerce

Ryan and I followed the same trajectory early in our ecommerce career. Playing poker also led him to affiliate marketing and by 2008 he had a small poker site. But it wasn’t until 2014, while leading the life of a digital nomad in Thailand, that he got the idea that has now evolved into a bohemian apparel and accessories company.

Company Profile

One Tribe Apparel is an LLC company that started in 2014. Ryan originally started selling his Thai inspired pants through an online store created on the Big Commerce platform. The following year he moved to Shopify. Today, One Tribe Apparel also has merchandise on Etsy and Amazon, with 25 wholesale accounts. From an initial revenue of $2,500, the company capped 2017 with $200,000 in revenue with 50% net margin.

Goals and Challenges

In the past year or so, One Tribe Apparel has been adding new products to expand its existing line and boost revenue but the efforts have been unsuccessful. Ryan personally would like revenue to reach half a million USD to justify working on the business full time. He also wants to do a serious Amazon launch as there’s potential demand for yoga accessories in the marketplace.

After getting a sense of where his business is at, here are some of my recommendations

• Get on Google Shopping and get those ads to be profitable.
• There’s a huge audience surrounding yoga and the living a holistic lifestyle on Facebook that One Tribe Apparel can capitalize on. Upping engagement on the business page and launching a free plus shipping offer can be great marketing initiatives on this social channel.
• Complement awesome product photography with detailed information. It would be good to talk about eco-friendly materials that go into the product’s construction.

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If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below. Happy selling!

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Under the Hood is a segment where we do an hour-long coaching call with one of our listeners. We take a look at their businesses, provide honest feedback, offer our best business advice, and answer whatever questions they have. In exchange for the free coaching, we will turn the call into a podcast episode so that our community can benefit as well. It’s a win-win!