Bootstrapping a $10 Million E-Commerce Business: Seismic Audio CEO Steve Acree (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: In 2007 when you introduced this new channel, how much did Amazon do?

Steve Acree: Amazon, at the get-go, didn’t do a whole lot. In the first month, it sold about 10 items. By the six-month mark, it was doing about $10,000 a month in sales. After about 12 months, it was doing about $65,000 in sales. After about 18 months, it got up to about $150,000.

Sramana Mitra: In 2008, were those the only two channels—eBay and Amazon?

Steve Acree: In 2008, I turned the website into a place where you could actually make a purchase. I self-taught myself HTML, which I learned from doing eBay. I created the website myself. At that time, it looked like a 5th grader had made it. Around October of 2008, we introduced the website. By then, I had hired two more employees. People were starting to figure out that we were in Memphis and would call to actually come and pick things up. At that time, we started listing on Craigslist. That became difficult and Craigslist started taking our listings down. We killed that in mid-2009.

Sramana Mitra: Interesting. In 2008, you had three really successful channels? One was eBay. One was Amazon, and the other was your website. Is that accurate?

Steve Acree: That’s sort of accurate. eBay and Amazon were both very successful. The website was just trickling along. We weren’t ranking well on SEO. I think, that year, the website alone did $45,000 whereas eBay and Amazon together did $1.7 million.

Sramana Mitra: The website had not kicked in gear yet in 2008.

Steve Acree: Correct. It was still an eBay–Amazon business. Most of the sales came from eBay.

Sramana Mitra: What happens in 2009?

Steve Acree: This whole time, I was self-teaching myself how websites work. I was learning SEO and advertising. The shop comparison sites were used a little bit more than they are today. I spent about $3 a day on Google AdWords. I was scared that I was blowing money because I wasn’t sure what I was doing. By 2009, we got the website to doing $50,000 per month in the first half of the year. By Christmas time, we got it to $150,000 a month.

Sramana Mitra: What clicked? Was it the SEO that clicked?

Steve Acree: It was SEO and marketing to existing customers. For the first six or seven years of doing this, I was constantly trying to get new customers. Then with the website, I was able to gather and have accessibility to existing customers. If a guy bought a speaker, I’d send him a coupon for a speaker stand. If a guy bought an amplifier, I’d send him a coupon for cables that hooked the amplifier up. I learned that once I had existing customers, it was easier to sell to him again than it was to go out and find new customers.

It took me so long to get an employee. That’s one of the things that I regret. I wish I had gotten an employee sooner because bringing in employees allowed me to concentrate on the growth of the business. In 2009, I had six or seven employees. I didn’t have to do the shipping. I didn’t have to answer the emails. I didn’t have to order the supplies. I was able to concentrate on techniques to make the business grow.

This segment is part 3 in the series : Bootstrapping a $10 Million E-Commerce Business: Seismic Audio CEO Steve Acree
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