Realizing that we weren't keeping up with the rapidly changing world, we shed the leaves of paper used to print Earth Garden for 42 years. No more printing the magazine like a newspaper. We spent four months dreaming up and then creating a new style of Earth Garden journal, launching the new look on March 2 2014.
We wanted to enhance that special feel: making each issue a publication worth keeping. A durable, individual, and worthwhile publication that stands out as a reason to value the printed word.
If our journal looks and feels beautiful to hold and read then it becomes a tactile experience to own and share, and a valuable record of Australian culture that’s worth keeping and passing on to younger people.
How did you earn your first sales? Which channels are now generating the most traffic and sales for you?
Our old website was clunky, tired. It did the job - but not very well. Building a new store with Shopify, we were ready to help readers explore the myriad resources Earth Garden has sifted, edited, and presented to readers over more than 40 years of continuous independent publishing. A new website that reflects not just the values and philosophy of Earth Garden, but which also complements the wonderful look of our revamped print journal.
Our site is content rich and has enabled us to present our complementary products and books in the style befitting the new journal. Our online sales have rapidly increased and our workflows have smoothed out.
Tell us about the back-end of your business. What tools and apps do you use to run your store? How do you handle shipping and fulfillment?
We don't have a bricks and mortar store front, but we use Lightspeed retail POS system to run our inventory and mail-order sales. It integrates with Shopify for online sales through the Channels connector, seamlessly downloading orders and managing inventory between Lightspeed and Shopify.
We also use Bold Apps Product Options to enable user entered text and photo uploads for magazine content.
What are your top recommendations for new ecommerce entrepreneurs?
Build relationships. Our business is based on a community. A community of like minded people journeying along the Earth Garden path to a satisfying and less-consuming lifestyle. One which considers the Earth’s resources, treads gently, and seeks to help those humans and other species with less ability to benefit from the massive range of resources Westerners often take for granted.
We actively nurture this community through engagement and communication, offering resources and responding individually. A customer that feels included will come back! That will keep us strong, and make sure Earth Garden is still around, encouraging and inspiring, in another 42 years.