Seller Success Story: The eCommerce Company that Sold in 11 Days

Sold: $80,000

Watchers: 20

Days to Sell: 11

Sami, a 21 year old entrepreneur from London sold his business on Flippa’s marketplace for $80,000.

When he originally purchased the eCommerce store Shining Style, he had the intention of dabbling in a long term project. Quickly, he came to realize the business’s powerful potential for growth.

With a real estate background, the entrepreneur is no stranger to the concept of flipping. 

In just a few months, he was able to expand the company’s merchandise to include bodycon party dresses, loungewear sets, and other various clothing items.

“I went in with a real estate mentality of producing a steady flow of income each month. What I didn’t realize is the growth potential, ” said the business owner. “The reach with eCommerce is like no other and as soon as we built a solid foundation we just focused on growing month to month.”

About the Company

Shining Style generates revenue from dropshipping women’s clothing to 200+ countries including the USA, UK, Canada, and Australia as the main markets.

73% of the company’s traffic stems organically from its 150K social media following base and 5000+ Loyal Affiliate Program.

Leveraging Social Media for Growth

Social media was the key to the company’s successful growth. 

At the time of acquisition, the eCommerce store had a passionate social media following and email list. Within the first year of Sami taking over the company, Shining Style’s promotion was driven by a loyal consumer base. Influencers took to social media with various pictures and widely marketed the busines’s clothing on social media. 

When it came to paid ads, the business only spent $5 to $15 a day on Facebook advertising.

The company’s expanded clothing line allowed customers to choose from an extensive collection for each season.

A Generous Monthly Profit

Leveraging social media played a crucial role in driving profits for the business owner. With content primarily created by the business’s consumer base, the company was able to generate 4x its original monthly profit.

When Sami first purchased Shining Style, it was generating a monthly profit of $400. 

In just a span of three months, Sami was able to break even on his original purchase and make a monthly profit of $4,000. By Q1 of 2021 he was generating a net profit of $20,000 a month.

Establishing a Team

Shining Style expanded its team from a 1 man team (Sami) to 20 additional VAs (Virtual Assistants) with rotating shifts for full coverage on operations such as order fulfillment, marketing, and customer support. As a result, Sami was able to take a step back and spent 1 hour every week monitoring operations and compensating the VAs for their work.

“I am very proud of the team I built, we were all one big family and hitting figures such as $60,000 a month in sales would not have been possible without everyone’s input,” Sami says.

By the time Sami left, the team was fully equipped and trained to handle all aspects of the business.

Choosing Flippa to Sell

The two-year-old business with a multiple of 0.5x was listed on Flippa and sold within 11 days.

Through the guidance of an account manager, Sami was able to receive support to optimize his listing. 

“It was like getting your own concierge service to assist you with your listing, which was helpful. Speaking with potential buyers, getting the list live, post sale support was all done smoothly.” 

When it came to attracting buyers, the pool was varied. Sami was ultimately able to gain 5 leads and have serious conversations with potential buyers on Flippa’s platform. 

“For me as a seller, it definitely helped that you could communicate with prospective buyers easily. The new owners opted to use Flippa’s due diligence service which was very thorough.”

After selling his business and offering post-sale support to the buyer for two months, Sami was able to use the money to put towards a new family home.

It all came back full circle for the young entrepreneur: invest in digital real estate to purchase real estate.

Today, he’s constantly on the lookout for new digital assets on Flippa’s marketplace. You can buy a business on Flippa too, start searching now.