Stylish AF Fitness Co

Stylish AF Fitness Co was started as a way to supplement my income through the first Covid-19 lockdowns. Most of my consulting contracts dried up in early 2020, so I had the time and money to run a Shopify store. There is also significant interest and sales volume in the women's gym apparel market so it makes financial sense to spend time and money growing a brand in this space.

Time. Now the worst of the Covid-19 crisis has passed, I am back working full time as a consultant. I don't have time to manage customers, orders and advertising for the store. This is reflected in the current sales volume. There are regular organic sales but these could be much greater with more time and attention. The store deserves better than the effort I am putting in currently especially since it generates sales worldwide.

As a dropshipping business, orders are easily processed through DSERs and AliExpress. There is an excellent relationship with the main supplier who regularly releases new ranges; free samples are provided every month. The store owns some stock so where possible, orders are shipped using existing inventory. To achieve ROI and revenue growth early after purchase, a buyer should focus on social media posting, user generated content, influencer outreach and shoring up partnerships (3rd party stores selling Stylish AF ranges). The existing customer list should respond well to email marketing focused on new releases since customers tend to order on average 2-3 times after the initial purchase (Stylish AF product is high quality). Paid advertising will easily bolster revenue and profit but it is recommended to find 5-10 best sellers and do this with real customer reviews (i.e. user generated content). That's why influencer relationships and/or partnerships (e.g. local gyms, health spas, yoga studios, etc) will be very important near term since these also create content for paid marketing. At it's peak gross margin was around 28%; costs were split between advertising (around $0.52 of every $1 earned) and product (around $0.26 of every $1 spent). The net margin averages 16% but has improved considerably more recently as sales are largely organic. The key to successfully running the store is increasing organic sales with a focused content strategy and paid marketing to support brand awareness and sales.

Stylish AF Fitness Co is an established women's gym apparel store with existing customers, supplier relationships and organic sales. The store has grown through dropshipping and there is significant scope to increase revenue and profit by focusing on social media/user generated content, influencer relationships and partnerships alone. Regularly refreshing the ranges offered on the website and/or adding proprietary ranges would create significant growth because the owner can not only target existing customers but increase prices as well. User generated content created on TikTok can create a flywheel that pushes websites visits; those impressions in turn can be monetised on Facebook and Instagram through retargeting.

The store generated $250k revenue mostly through pay per click advertising, so having a good idea how Facebook, Instagram and Google marketing works will ensure the new owner sustains high revenue. New content will be essential to the smooth functioning of paid advertising. The store owns a proprietary range but did not launch it so having experience with production and fulfilment would create a significant advantage.