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“The simplest way to succeed in ecommerce today is to start on a marketplace with a built-in audience.”
In this week's Throwback Thursday segment, we hear from Stephen Chou in Northern California, who runs Bumblebee Linens — selling handkerchiefs and linens for weddings and special occasions — along with a blog at MyWifeQuitHerJob.com.
The business began, fittingly, at his own wedding: his wife wanted a handkerchief for the photos, they couldn't find one, and after tracking down a factory that would sell them a few hundred, they used six and sold the rest on eBay — where they moved like hotcakes. Years later, they turned it into a full ecommerce store.
Then came 2020. With weddings and parties cancelled, revenue was cut by more than half. So they pivoted: they published a tutorial on turning a handkerchief into a no-sew face mask, gave one away with every purchase, and then launched their own line of colorful and monogrammed masks — selling out within an hour. The business ended the year up overall.
His advice today: rather than follow their path of starting with a website, the simplest way to succeed in ecommerce now is to start on a marketplace like Amazon or eBay that already has an audience — buy a small quantity, test the demand, and only then build out your own site.
