13 Lucky Monkey’s Skull Rings Featured on Style Bible

Dante Dizon and Noli Coronado, co-founders and designers of 13 Lucky Monkey, were recently interviewed on Style Bible, a leading fashion website based in the Philippines.  My brother-in-law Dante and his buddy Noli are my partners in an ambitious new ecommerce business specializing in biker jewelry and accessories.  The cornerstone of the line is skull rings, which apparently is considered a biker’s lucky charm.

Since 2009, Dante and Noli have been designing custom skull rings for clients in the Philippines and abroad, and have recently begun selling their capsule collection at a few high end boutiques in Manila.  My main challenge is to carefully grow 13 Lucky Monkey from what is essentially a bespoke business to one with the right level and range of inventory to support a full ecommerce website.

13 Lucky Monkey’s Skull Rings on Etsy:  Testing the Waters

I’ve begun investigating a handful of ecommerce platforms and I’ve narrowed the field down to two:  Etsy and Shopify.

Etsy, as most of you know, is an online marketplace where crafters and hobbyists can sell their handmade items, including jewelry.  Although I don’t think our target customer necessarily shops in Etsy, this website is probably the best place to test the waters and gain valuable customer feedback.  I intend to start with just a couple of pieces to see how Etsy customers respond.

What I like most about Etsy is the insane amount of traffic and, with its affordable advertising options ($5 for 5,000 impressions), it’s a great place to get discovered.  I did a quick search for the keywords “skull rings” and found over 3,000 results, so there’s obviously a lot of competition out there.  But I believe in my designers and the products they’ve created, and I’m convinced our skull rings have a shot at grabbing a decent share of the market.

13 Lucky Monkey’s Skull Rings on Shopify:  My Preferred Ecommerce Platform

The next phase of our strategy is to build a full ecommerce website under the Shopify platform.  This is a very affordable and convenient option for budding online merchants, with packages as low as $26 a month, including hosting.  Shopify has numerous free and premium templates, and an active community of designers who can create custom sites using the Shopify platform. I see a lot of similarities between Shopify and WordPress (my blogging platform, of which I’m a diehard fan), so I’m hoping Shopify will turn out to be just as scalable and easy to use. Google Adwords will be my primary traffic generating tool, supplemented by a new blog that will focus on all things related to biker jewelry and accessories.

Slow and Steady Wins The Online Race (I Hope)

Based on my experience with Franchise Chatter, I feel very strongly that when it comes to any online project, it’s best to move slowly and deliberately because course corrections are inevitable.  I want to use the data gleaned from our Etsy experiment to shape our ecommerce strategy going forward (in terms of product line, inventory, and pricing).

The goal is to have a fully functional and rigorously tested ecommerce website in time for the 2012 holiday shopping season.

This coming week, I’m going to learn everything I can about Etsy.  I’m treating myself to a new Kindle (finally!), and will download a couple of ebooks on the subject from Amazon.  Please check back next Saturday to get an update on my progress and to keep me accountable.

To Order a Limited Edition 13 Lucky Monkey Skull Ring Today

Please check out the photo gallery on Syle Bible to view the latest pieces from 13 Lucky Monkey. You can order any item from the skull ring collection or collaborate with Dante and Noli on a custom design by emailing me at franchisechatterblog@gmail.com.  The skull rings retail for USD$350 to USD$420, plus shipping.

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