About once a month we sit down and decide which company we’d like to feature in a success story for our blog. This month one company stood out to us, because well… they’re standing out for pretty much everyone right now.

AceTool.com is a nationally known online retailer of hand and power tools and accessories and have been with Volusion since 2006. We spoke with Maria Polidoro, owner of AceTool.com, about her thriving business. Here is what we learned:

Volusion: Can you briefly describe your business for our readers?
Maria: Ace Tool is a leader in retail tool sales. We also do repairs and carry a huge array of accessories and parts.

Volusion: I understand that you have a retail store, tell us a little bit more about that.
Maria: I founded Ace Tool in 1983 in Wantagh, NY. It grew out of the desire to bring the best quality products and service to this community. We don’t just sell the best tools, we host demonstrations in our store, and repair everything on site. Our online business flourished from there with the help of some great partners like Volusion.

Volusion: Did you start out with Volusion or were you using another ecommerce provider previously?
Maria: Ace Tool actually went live in 2005, so we did move our online store to Volusion from another provider. We made this decision due to the fact that our previous provider charged us a percentage of every sale that we made through them.

Volusion: What role would you say Volusion has played in your success?
Maria: Volusion has made it easier to run our store with the ease of product uploads, the simple search engine optimization, and the abundance of features that make it quick and simple to get our products as visible as possible to our customers. (more…)

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In the 1980’s Wayne Parker’s wildly popular Canadian band “Glass Tiger” won five Juno Awards. (Even if you do not know the band by name you definitely know their biggest hit “Don’t Forget Me When I’m Gone.”) Today the band still plays together sometimes (in fact, Wayne recently picked up his electric bass for a concert Glass Tiger put on in Afghanistan for the troops) but these days Wayne’s biggest passion is managing his online astronomy store. As the owner of SkyShed Observatories, Wayne runs the popular sites www.skyshed.com and www.skyshedpod.com - providing resources and news for astronomers of all levels. His products are even being used in the NASA sponsored Automated Meteor Observatory project! His online store with Volusion (www.skyshedpodcheckout.com) has been incredibly successful over the last year and a half. We interviewed Wayne about the success he has had running an online store. Here are his responses: (more…)

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When Chuck Agol began selling healthy, natural, biodegradable scented products 34 years ago Earth Day had not even been conceived. Over these last 34 years Chuck’s brick-and-mortar store in Oregon found success selling their own Uncommon Scents brand products as well as almost three dozen hard to find brands from all over the world. Chuck’s product line includes soaps, moisturizers, fragrances, oils, lotions, bath additives, lip balms, sunscreens, and more.

In 1996 he opened his first online store (http://UncommonScents.com) with Yahoo! to expand his reach even further. By 2007 Chuck realized he would need a new ecommerce provider- one that integrated all the features he needed, so that he would no longer have to patch together third party services that were essential to running his store. He moved his website over to Volusion and has not looked back. In fact, his online business is going so well that he sold his retail store this past year to allow him to focus all of his efforts on ecommerce!

The Volusion features like shipping integration and an easy to use CRM system have made it easy for Chuck to succeed by streamlining his business efforts. Chuck cites that his favorite feature, however, is the ability to make mass updates to his product database. As he explains, “With previous hosts, adding, deleting and updating products was a one-at-a-time nightmare.” Once the products are added and modified Chuck relies heavily on the inventory tracking tools because his product database is so large. It allows him to easily track the size, color, and scent options for his almost 4,000 products. All of the added features that Chuck has access to with Volusion would not mean anything though without what he describes as “Reliable software and hosting, and responsive and readily available technical support staff.”

Chuck’s customers are benefitting from the move over to Volusion as well. He describes his site with Volusion as easier to navigate and more professional looking. The design services that he purchased partnered him with a member of our design team to create his logo design and also a clean template layout.

Pairing http://uncommonscents.com with Volusion’s shopping cart software has resulted in an online store that is functional, reliable, and easy to manage! The success that Chuck has found with the Volusion platform and the knowledge he has gained has made him a sort of “local ecommerce celebrity.” He is constantly helping friends and family members with their websites and doling out business advice. So what is his best advice to fellow online store owners? “Provide ‘over-the-top’ customer service to your customers to keep them coming back- even when you think they’re asking for too much.”

Volusion Software- Try it Free!

-Kate Pierce eCommerce Specialist

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Five years ago Nancy Jaeger started selling bridal and wedding accessories online. With everything from wedding dresses and jewelry to attendant favors and cake toppers on her site www.shopforbridal.com essentially the only thing Nancy does not sell to help achieve the perfect wedding is the groom! Nancy stays ahead of the competition by going to bridal shows nation-wide and making sure she stays at the forefront of the latest trends and styles. This dedication has paid off! Since switching from Miva to Volusion about three years ago Nancy has had almost 12,000 orders. As Nancy explains, “We needed more functionality, inventory features, ability to customize, and reporting. Every function you want with Miva is a plug-in.  Every time I installed a new plug-in (all from different developers) there was a fear that something could go wrong; and there is very limited support.”

She made the decision to move her site over to Volusion and has fallen in love with the product editing features, ease of adding new products, ability to set up discounts/coupons, the advanced phone order page, and customizable shipping options. Her favorite features, however, are the quick and easy reporting features like the Return on Investment (ROI) tracker.

Nancy’s brides also benefit from the Volusion software. As she explains “Customers love the reviews- being able to read what other brides think of the products. The one page checkout is a great feature also. It makes it very easy for them to buy.” These benefits to her customers are more than icing on the cake though- they are essential. A reason many online businesses like wedding sites fail is because the more important a purchase is, the more reassuring customers need before they feel confident enough to purchase. A bride-to-be is not going to go online and order just any dress or accessory, she needs to know that that product she is choosing is going to be everything she ever imagined it would be. Nancy is there for her brides every step of the way- offering free expert advice before customers even purchase and promotions like “super sale” items and free shipping when they are ready to make their selections.

With about 14 years of experience in the industry Nancy certainly knows what she is talking about when it comes to wedding fashion, but after these last five years running her online store she is definitely getting a reputation as an online business guru as well. Satisfied customers all over the country are offering up a toast to Nancy and www.shopforbridal.com. So what is Nancy’s advice to other online store owners?  She offers two suggestions:

• “Look at all of your options before you choose your online store hosting. Remember that the quality of your hosting will reflect the quality of your business. The last thing you need is your entire website going down due to cheap hosting.”

• “Get a professionally designed web site.  I have used the designers at Volusion to customize the look and feel of my web site and they did a fantastic job. The prices were reasonable and the design was absolutely beautiful!”

-Kate Pierce eCommerce Specialist

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Like most new online store builders, Andrea Bridges went through some trial and error before finding the right solution for her online business. “I started with a web company that couldn’t deliver the right backend and had no way of tracking inventory. All products needed to be input by the web builder. I wanted more control and needed a website that performed like a large company’s would. ” She found Volusion’s all in one solution by chance and built her online store using the Gold plan which she notes “was the perfect way to start for a beginner.”

RepeatPossessions.com was launched in August of 2007, and with her Volusion store sales have doubled in 2008. The busy mother of four teenagers has proven that you don’t need to be technically savvy to successfully start and manage your own online business. “I was impressed with the ease of inputting products, tracking inventory, order capability and especially the customer service. I am not the techie-est person, but Volusion made it much easier on me. I would probably go further if I spent time reading the manuals online, but sometimes I do trial and error and when all else fails, I call customer service who have been wonderful!” Andrea offers her own excellent customer service and a 100% satisfaction guarantee on her online store to keep customers coming back for more. “I have more and more customers coming to my site and “repeat” business is a big part of that. Friends refer friends, and continue to come back for my products.”

What advice can Andrea offer new store owners? Find your niche, continue learning, and use the tools you have available to your advantage. “I am finding my niche of products and am creating the site to reflect that. There are many features that Volusion offers that can increase my sales, and I learn something new almost daily. My site has grown so much since conception. I continue to learn about blogs and SEO, and with Volusion’s support I have been able to further market my store.”

What future plans does Andrea have in mind for her online store? “Because of the success of my website, I am re-designing the look to make it even more customer friendly. I am off to a wonderful start and look forward to the upcoming holiday season!”

You can browse Andera’s collection of fun, fashionable and affordable clothing now at www.RepeatPossessions.com.

-Stacie Leonard, Ecommerce Marketing/Copywriting

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