Peppy Parents launches dream business and dream life
Setting up the basics of our store was really easy: we could have been ready to go off the bat in ten hours if I didn't go in and customize the code.
Eric Mindel, Owner of www.peppyparents.com
Peppy Parents launches their dream business with ProStores
Eric Mindel and his wife had just had their second child, and wanted to start a home-based business that would give them flexibility and let them spend more time with their kids. Their love of parenthood led them to the perfect business concept to achieve their dream and help other busy parents. They launched Peppy Parents, their ProStores Web store, in late May of 2007, selling strollers, child carriers, and other carefully selected products that make life easier for parents and kids alike. Eric Mindel shares his company philosophy: "We're only interested in carrying the best options at different price points. Rather than offering the full lines from various manufacturers, we weed out the products we think are best. Parenthood is a busy time. When customers shop with us, they can be confident that we've done the groundwork to select the choices they're most likely to be happy with."
A great combination of flexibility and ease
Eric had a technical background, so he wanted a Web store that let him put his skills to use without reinventing the wheel. ProStores had the perfect combination of simplicity and flexibility he was looking for. "Setting up the basics of our store was really easy: we could have been ready to go off the bat in ten hours if I didn't go in and customize the code", says Eric. "I like that all the templates are ready to go, but you also have the flexibility to get into the source code and change or customize whatever you want. Whenever I had questions, I was always able to get through to tech support right away to get the answers I needed. The discussion boards have been a great help as well. "
Search Engine Optimization tools boost rankings fast
Eric knows the value of high natural search rankings from professional experience, so finding a Web store solution that let him maximize exposure was a top priority. "The tools for Search Engine Optimization are great," says Eric. "I have a background in Search Engine Optimization, and ProStores has the advanced functionality to let me make the most of that. I'm really happy that Yahoo and Google have fully indexed our sites and we are appearing in search results after only 6 weeks."
Simplicity, value and easy integration make ProStores the best choice
Starting a new business is a major undertaking, and can represent a big investment of time and money. The Mindels wanted to minimize their risk and maximize their options. ProStores offered an appealing mix of ease, opportunity, and value. "We did a comparison of the various Web store options out there. We chose ProStores for the ease of setup and ease of integration with PayPal–and with eBay in case we decide to open an eBay Store later. We also liked that ProStores synchs with QuickBooks, which saves a lot of time and hassle. ProStores made the best financial sense for us as well. ProStores has saved us about $50,000, when you look at what it would have cost to create this website from scratch with a Web designer. It's been invaluable to be able to pay just $75 a month and have all this as a starting place."
A bright future for Peppy Parents
Peppy Parents is at the beginning stages of what they hope will be a large and successful business, and things are starting out great. "Our first full month of sales was in June 2007," says Eric, "and we beat our sales projections by eightfold. We are now projecting tremendous growth, and hope to upgrade to Enterprise once we've established our momentum. We're very satisfied with ProStores so far, and would recommend it to anyone."
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