ProDryers opens three web stores with ProStores solution
Now my monthly sales have grown to $200,000.
Tony DiCicco, Owner of ProDryers
Three In One
In November 2008, Tony DiCicco opened his first eCommerce storefront. By the following year, he owned three ProStores web stores. If you're doing the math, that's a new store every six months.
It all started when he was selling odds and ends on eBay and an unlikely partner came to him with an idea. "My mother worked for the hand dryer manufacturer American Dryer and wanted to know if we could sell on eBay," Anthony recalls. "Initially it wasn't so successful, so she asked me to create an online store."
Anthony had been a web developer for 12 years, but he needed an easy, customizable eCommerce solution so that he could design and build a quality web store quickly. A friend of his owned the online storefront BiggSports and suggested he use ProStores. Soon after, Tony opened the web stores ProDryers, ProRestrooms, and eXtremeAirHandDryers, all selling commercial restroom hand dryers and washroom accessories.
From the First Sale to the Last
Tony says he has ProStores to thank for his success. "I can build a website in hours and make it beautiful in days. It would have taken me months to do that on my own, and I'm a professional web developer."
He also signed up for ProStores' premium package. "Big thanks to the premium support team," he says. "Without the great support, I don't know how long I'd be winging things. Those guys helped me execute strategies that I had in the back of my head for a year, but no time to do it."
Of all the ProStores tools, Tony appreciates the built-in SEO functionality the most because, he says, "it helps me get listed high on Google and other search engines." It helps him save time by automatically generating site maps, page titles and descriptions, and then giving him the flexibility to customize them with his own keywords.
"If anyone tells you that they can place you higher in Google search, I would tell them to buzz off because ProStores makes it nice and automatic."
Besides the SEO tools, Tony also takes advantage of ProStores' shopping site feeds.
In addition to driving new traffic, ProStores helps Tony nurture repeat customers. "The most important sale is the second sale because once someone buys twice, you'll get that customer over and over again. ProStores makes it easy to download a report of all your contacts so that when a shopper makes an order, it registers the email in your system." And since Tony attracts a lot of customers through direct marketing, he also creates promotion codes through ProStores.
ProStores Pays Off
Tony used to run his stores out of his home, but in June he moved to a new 2,500-square-foot office and warehouse. It's enabled him to expand his inventory. When he first opened, he only sold for one manufacturer. As his company evolved, it became the first in the hand dryer industry to carry a large variety of brands. He's now one of the top distributors for American Dryer and Excel Dryer, and he's expanding to drinking fountains and water coolers.
He and his wife recently quit their careers as a web developer and accountant, respectively, so they could run the business fulltime. Since then, they've more than tripled their sales and employed seven other family members.
"When I first started out, I grossed $8,000 a month if I was lucky," says Tony. "Half a year later, I grossed $26,000 in one month. Now my monthly sales have grown to $200,000."
Last year, his goal was to gross at least $750,000, but he surpassed it by over 50 percent, bringing in $1.1 million. He's projecting that his stores will hit $1.5 million to $2 million in sales this year.
"I bought a second home, and I'm only 34. I couldn't do that without ProStores. It offers me so much potential. I truly believe that I can sell just about anything online if I put my efforts into ProStores."
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