1. Take us through the background of your online retail business? Was there was a specific moment when inspiration for Duckprint struck?
I was back in year 10 and just couldn’t find any doona cover designs in the stores that appealed to me. I’ve always been into art and design so I told my Dad that I would design my own bed linen. I never really believed that I would do it, but since that day the idea remained in the back of my head. Over the next few years I would always check the bed linen stores to see if there was anything of interest to me, but there never was. When I left university I worked with an online furniture store, Milan Direct, before taking the plunge to turn my idea into a reality. It’s been interesting journey getting to this point, with many obstacles along the way, but we are now finally open for business, and I couldn’t be prouder of the product that we have on offer.
2. How would you describe your e-commerce business model?
Duckprint’s main goal was to target 20-35 year olds with fun, unique and colourful doona cover designs. This age group makes up a large proportion of online shoppers so it made sense to sell our product online. Selling over the internet rather than via a bricks and mortar store front allows us to target a niche group of consumers yet still be able to attract a large customer base and we can effectively sell our product Australia wide. It also gives us the opportunity to build a direct relationship with our customers and learn and respond to their needs. The internet makes it so easy to receive feedback and it helps us best select our product range and provide a superior level of customer service.
3. What were the key challenges in setting up Duckprint? And how did you manage to overcome these?
The hardest thing was finding a supplier that could provide us with a great quality product. When we first started approaching producers we weren’t aware of all the intricacies of different fabrics and the various types of cotton so our first supplier did us over in a big way. However we sat down and did the research, spoke to people within the industry and we eventually struck deals with several high quality suppliers in China. It took some persistence but it was all worth it in the end. The fabric used to make our doona covers sets is truly stunning and we’ve been getting some amazing feedback from our customers confirming this.
4. What do you believe are the key features of Duckprint that differentiate your offering and improve conversions?
The four key things that differentiate Duckprint bed linen from its competitors is:
- It comes in a 5 piece set
- It is made from top quality fabrics
- It is reversible
- It comes beautifully gift wrapped
A major feature is our decision to break away from our competitors and include European pillowcases with all our sets. Buying these separately can really jack up the total price, and finding ones that match the design can be a real struggle. Having the matching European pillowcases really makes the design pop, so we think that including them in the set is a nice little bonus for the customer which helps Duckprint stand out from the crowd.
One of the things that annoyed me when I looked in stores is that the fun and colourful designs would always be made out of terrible materials. It’s like they thought that young people didn’t care about quality. So when I started Duckprint I wanted to bring to the market unique designs made out of top quality materials. Most bed linen sets sold in stores have a thread count of between 200 and 250. Our linen has a thread count of between 300 and 400. This not only makes them beautiful and soft to sleep under, but it also means that the colours in the design are more vibrant, and the finer weaves allows the colour to bind to the fabric a lot better.
All our designs are reversible, which is great because you effectively get two doona covers in one. Feeling like a bit of change? No problem. Just flip over your doona and all of a sudden you’ve completely transformed the look of your bed and your whole room. We thought this product would make a fantastic gift as it’s something that people don’t buy for themselves regularly. You can also select a design that you think really matches the person’s personality, making it a thoughtful and unique present. For this reason we went to great effort with our packaging to ensure it was something that you would be proud to give someone. It’s certainly a lot better than the vacuum packed PVC bags that most doona cover sets are normally packaged in.
5. What marketing and website initiatives do you believe have been the biggest contributors to your success?
When I first created the website I put up several blog posts discussing what I’d learnt about thread count and the different factors contributing to the quality of fabric. People were really interested to hear the ‘real story’ and it brought quite a few people to the site. By the time I placed my first order we were already pulling in a significant amount of traffic to the very basic website that I had at the time.
Since launching the full e-commerce website I have focussed a reasonable amount of attention on the different social media channels, namely Facebook and Twitter. The capabilities of Twitter have been a real eye opener to me. It has such broad reach, whilst also giving one the ability initiate one-on-one conversations with potential customers as well as journalists and bloggers. Our first few sales were not to friends and family but rather to people that I was friends with on twitter. It really is an amazing piece of technology.
6. What options do you use for fulfilment and logistics, and how do you manage your processes?
We have an account with Australia Post to use their eParcel system which allows us to easily track orders and provide tracking numbers to the end customer. The system allows easy control for us to set options like “authority to leave” and whether we require a signature from our customers.
Currently we use the Australia Post online system to put together consignments for orders, however we are currently in the process of simplifying this by creating a direct connection to our e-commerce software. This will automatically create the consignments in Australia Post’s system from customer shipping information and allow us to print off the mailing labels ready to go on the item for pickup by Australia Post.
7. How does/will mobile commerce influence your e-commerce practices?
Smart phones have really changed the e-commerce world. Currently 15% of visitors to our site are accessing it via a mobile device and I’m sure that this figure will only continue to grow. It’s great because it essentially means that we can interact with our customers whenever and wherever they are. I think people really value this flexibility in today’s often chaotic world.
8. What technologies and solutions do you use to power your e-commerce business?
We use Magento, which is a system built for the purpose of e-commerce. There are many systems out there and we had quite a few different products recommended to us. We looked for a system which was in mainstream use by both existing companies and web development firms.
In the end our final decision was between using WordPress with an e-commerce plugin or Magento. We found WordPress to be a simple to use system built for content with plugins for adding the store. It would have allowed us to quickly get up a very content rich site using an e-commerce plugin. On the other hand, Magento has a much greater focus on e-commerce, but it is more difficult to work with to create good content. Magento’s main advantage is that it allows us to improve our backend processes by connecting our store with other systems, such as the accounting system Xero and Australia Post’s eParcel system.
9. What do you believe are the biggest challenges for Australian e-commerce businesses, and what could be done to address these?
The biggest challenge for Australian e-commerce businesses is that they are no longer competing on a national level but a worldwide level. This can create a huge opportunity for growth down the track, but when starting out many companies can easily become crushed by large international corporations.
Bedding is an interesting product because the sizing varies between nearly every country across the world. Even New Zealand’s king size doona cover is different to ours! This will become frustrating when we decide to expand internationally, however right now I think it’s a blessing in disguise.
10. What are some of the things you know now that you wish you had known prior while you were setting up your e-commerce business?
The first major challenge for me was trying to get my head around textiles and how to determine the quality of different types of cotton. There were just so many elements that contributed to the overall quality and some measures varied between countries. It was so confusing. I thought I’d got my head around it, but when my first sample came back from a supplier in China I knew that I had to learn more. So I hit up Google and spoke to people within the industry until I felt like I had a good knowledge of what I was looking for. It was really important that I acquired that knowledge so that I could seek out a high quality product for the brand to sell. It was a big job but it was all worth it in the end.
The other major challenge for me was learning how to effectively work with Chinese due to our differences in culture. I was lucky enough to be introduced to a great contact who grew up and continues to live in China and she taught me a lot of the ins and outs of doing business there. However it wasn’t all smooth sailing. Australians approach business relations in a much more upfront manner and I was often perceived as being too pushy in the early days. The last thing you want to do is put the people you’re trying to work with offside, so I quickly had to learn to tone down my approach without turning into a shrinking violet. It was a hard balance to strike.
Article by Samantha Youl
Sam is a content creator for The Media Pad. She was never sure what type of media job she wanted to settle for after studying media and communications at University, but being a bit of a shopaholic and a mobile phone junkie, The Media Pad seemed to be the perfect fit. When she isn’t watching the online retail space she spends far too much time playing netball and investigating her next trip abroad.
