To Grow Successfully, Stick to Your Knitting Worldwide

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Wife and husband team Laura and Doug Zander own Jimmy Beans Wool, a $7 million (2013), 37-employee, online yarn and fabric retailer with a brick-and-mortar store in Reno, Nevada.  They've been in business since 2002.

Their recent big challenge has been a drop in sales.  How do they boost sales and sustain growth without throwing a ton of money into it?

Here is one option:

They also considered simply continuing to build their brand online, possibly with a greater emphasis on international sales. Jimmy Beans could begin advertising internationally and form cross-border partnerships. But growing outside the United States would entail some of the same lifestyle choices as expanding domestically. In effect, Ms. Zander said, they would be starting a new business that would require travel and money to master.

My suggestion for the Zanders is to go back to basics and purely stick to their knitting.  Focus more on e-commerce and international expansion.  To do this, the Zanders do not need to advertise.  Rather, they need to pump up their social media marketing efforts and partner with e-commerce sites outside their own borders to sell their yarns.

Find out what their other options are and what other experts say.

Read the entire article:  Seeking Even Faster Growth, an E-Commerce Company Stumbles