After 29 years in business on Tenterfield’s Rouse Street, Sheree Thrift has taken the next step in growing her enterprise and said it is the step all local businesses need to take.
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Breaking into the online market was a big step for Sheree, who said she had been putting it off for some time.
Now, after only a week of sharing her merchandise on Facebook, she said she cannot believe how successful it has been.
“I think we do have to go that way,” she said.
“It has taken us quite a while to get on board with it because I’m not really technologically minded and our accountant has been at us for some time.”
Taking the leap last week to establish a Facebook page, Sheree said her posts have already reached hundreds of local and out-of-town shoppers, with one post boasting Canterbury wares skyrocketing into the hundreds after only a couple of hours.
“It’s unbelievable,” she said.
“I’ve had people in already after things they have seen on Facebook.”
Sheree said her business, which she runs in partnership with her mother Maree Parker, is closing in on the three decades milestone and said that the online market is the way for all businesses to succeed in an increasingly technological market.
“You’ve got to do it,” she said.
Admitting the online world is not as intimidating as she believed, Sheree said she is posting around three new products a week on her page and is focusing on new spring and summer stock set to come in very soon.
And it’s a formula that is working.
“At the moment it’ll just be as I undo new stock, because this is a good time of year because we have all the spring and the summer things coming as they come out of the box, I’ll just do a hit and say this particular brand is in and I know that, if they are really well known brands that people are waiting for them to come,” she said.
“No, now I’ve made the break I’m finding that I want to be on it all the time to see what is happening.”
As her business finds its feet online, Sheree said she has been tracking her hit progress and noted that the site peaks outside of regular business hours, yielding a wider consumer demographic.
“What we’ve found interesting is, we have a graph of when most people are on it and we have most hits between 9pm and 10pm and 5am in the morning,” she said.
Urging all local business to take advantage of the online craze, Sheree said she is already reaping the benefits of showcasing her wares on social media.
“Even though it has taken me a long time, my accountant I know will be happy,”
As local businesses across the state follow Sheree social media merchandising, the Arts Northern Rivers group will be hosting a pop-up workshop event in Casino from Tuesday, September 16, with an online business workshop to be held on Tuesday, September 23. For further details, contact (02) 6628 2120.
