Sage & Sill

Hello! I created this plant enthusiast-focused home décor business in April of 2021 because I had spare time outside my 9-5 career and wanted to test dropshipping on Shopify. I've spent 3 years working at Amazon and 2 years at Microsoft, so I have extensive experience in e-commerce and site merchandising. I leveraged my career learnings to build an online store using all the best practices in the industry. It's well designed, clean, fast, and has a catalog of 400+ products.

I recently joined Salesforce, and I don't have the time Sage & Sill needs me to put in anymore. If I wanted to build another store when I have more time in the future, I could, but it'd be a shame to shut Sage & Sill down while it's growing so steadily.

Sage & Sill runs itself in a lot of ways. It's well-integrated with DSers AliExpress Dropshipping, and the business has solid relationships with reputable suppliers. Orders need to be fulfilled 1-2x per day, which DSers can do in batches of 100.

Because I'm strapped for time, Customer Service and Social Media are currently handled by a US-based agency for $2600 per month, but if you have time to answer 30-40 customer queries per day, you could easily cut that cost and manage these yourself or use a VA.

Social media posts are automated through an app that posts a random product daily with a 20% off flash sale code valid for 12 hours to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. This service is free.

Sage & Sill has a dedicated advertising specialist at Google and is currently enrolled in their Accelerated Growth Program, which means they test and optimize Google Ads on my behalf. We have a call every 2 weeks, and Google provides this partnership for free (except the cost of the ads, of course).

Returns and exchanges are managed automatically through Happy Returns. Normally, Happy Returns costs merchants $500 monthly, but it is free if you continue to accept PayPal.

Customers can opt into shipping protection and carbon offsetting through our partner agency. For 1-2% of their purchase price, the agency will pay the full retail price to replace or refund any orders that are lost, stolen, or damaged. This costs Sage & Sill nothing, though the fees we collect on the agency's behalf are reconciled and paid to them regularly. This requires no work on your part.

Chargeback management is also automated through a partner agency. Any disputes through Shopify Payments or PayPal are automatically responded to. If we win the dispute, the agency charges 10% of the funds retrieved for Sage & Sill.

Upsells and cross-sells are managed through a post-purchase app that costs $15.99 per month. The revenue generated by this app far exceeds its cost.

The primary daily responsibilities you would need to take on are:

• Fulfill AliExpress orders 1-2x daily through DSers.

• Monitor social media (if you choose not to proceed with the agency).

• Respond to customer support inquiries (if you choose not to proceed with the agency).

• Monitor returns and chargebacks weekly for anything out of the ordinary.

• Research new products and trends in the home and garden industry to add to the store's catalog. (I'm willing to share my list of competitors in the space.)

I'm more than happy to walk you through the ins and outs of running this business as you onboard. Much of the daily operations are automated or outsourced today, but if you're willing to put some time and effort into managing the business yourself or hiring assistance, you could easily cut the costs of some of the agencies and increase your profit margins substantially.

The major growth opportunities for Sage & Sill lie in cost-cutting and scaling. If you replace the customer service agency currently in place with a cheaper, more efficient team, you can increase profit margins drastically. Moreover, if you're willing to experiment and optimize online ads across social and search, you could skyrocket ROAS far beyond what I've been able to accomplish.

While it wouldn't hurt to have e-commerce or marketing experience, I think anyone willing to put in the time and effort to learn and scale Sage & Sill could be massively successful with this business.