THE path forward for Casa Consunji, a home interior retail shop owned by former beauty queens Maggie Wilson-Consunji and Parul Shah, is fairly straightforward: reach as many people in as many markets as it can. And this entails making one no-nonsense decision after another.
“Casa Consunji has not spent a single centavo on marketing,” shared Wilson during EntrepHERneur, a conference/workshop on brand-building hosted by GoDaddy, an Internet domain registrar and Web hosting company, at Casa Consunji’s physical store in Acacia Estates, Taguig.
Instead, they focus on the quality of the materials (which they source themselves), and of meeting their deliverables with little to no details overlooked. The business name should be able to speak for itself, they believe, and true enough, the duo have sold out collections of one-of-a kind furniture pieces after only seven months of operations without the overhead cost for integrated public relations.
Currently, they are looking to expand Casa Consunji outside of Luzon as inquiries and orders come in from Bacolod, Cebu, Davao and abroad. The site www.casaconsunji.com, built using the GoDaddy Website Builder, acts as the company’s storefront to prospective customers in the online marketplace. “We’re focusing on updating the catalog online,” said Wilson-Consunji, adding that they already saw a 30-percent growth in sales with orders coming in from around Asia, the United Kingdom and the United States since the web site’s launch. “A web site legitimizes your business,” noted Tina Shieh, GoDaddy marketing director for Asia. A survey done by eCommerce Foundation, an e-commerce organization and platform, states that 88 percent of consumers will research product information before they make a purchase online or in the store. It also reported that businesses without a web site are seen as less credible, prompting consumers to move onto the next vendor.
Registering a domain, however, doesn’t automatically create a website; it only means that you’ve registered the domain. Web site hosting companies, such as GoDaddy, enable you to lease space on their Web servers where you
can store your web site files and make them available for visitors to view.
“We [also] offer online tools that will help jump-start your creative idea and turn it into a business opportunity,” added Shieh. She explained: “With the Website Builder, people can create a customized, professional looking web site in under an hour, even with a mobile phone, without having a lot of technical knowledge.”
According to Shieh, design draws viewers in and keeps them there. In the case of Casa Consunji, Wilson-Consunji and Shah opted for a clean template.
The navigation menu allows for easy access through pages and more visible content above the fold. Visual clutter are kept to a minimum, and the Casa Consunji logo is consistent and visible throughout for brand awareness.
Shieh said: “We value the customer experience and have a dedicated customer service that will not only assist in your technical problems but will also gladly give input about your web site and share tips, because you’re talking to an actual person and not a machine.”
Having someone that maintains and keep their web site current and running, said Wilson-Consunji and Shah, helps them to focus more on operations. “Since we do everything ourselves—from finding the right fabric, to jumping on beds to secure its stability, to updating our web site—we had to learn new things along the way,” Shah said.
In retrospect Maggie emphasizes that, more than business partners to help your business grow, it is also important that aspiring entrepreneurs have people who will support them in turning their ideas into reality.
“I told my husband Victor just how inspired I was with the beautiful architecture and interiors of hotels, shops and restaurants in Bali. Around the same time, he had asked if I’d be interested in interior decorating four model units he was building for his new development. He suggested that I open up a store because I knew where to source and find unique pieces, and he could see this was becoming my passion. Casa Consunji was a natural progression. When I invited Parul and Janela on a sourcing trip, both of them instantly fell in love with the concept.”
She added, “I’ve always been a ‘yes’ kind of woman. I always say, if it scares you, do it. Business is all about taking calculated risks and doing your market research. Be open to critique and ideas, especially from people with experience. Take a class if you need to. But always remember, you have to be the one to make the first move.”