PayPal Stories Archive

Katie Luttmann: The Mason Jar is a clothing boutique geared towards young women. We were founded as an online store in 2014 and have since expanded to two physical retail stores in Arizona and South Dakota, which is also where our warehouse is located. The push to open our physical stores was really about boosting our online sales. We hired our first full-time employee in 2016 and currently employ 26 staff – so we’re certainly growing!

 

KL: My dad was an entrepreneur, so I was inspired by him growing up. I also always knew I wanted to be my own boss, and as a mom, I wanted the flexibility to set my own hours so I could spend time with my kids. For these reasons, starting my own company was a no-brainer. In addition, I have always loved fashion and was at one time even considering attending the Fashion Institute in Los Angeles.

 

KL: As a boutique, it’s so important to get into the market at the right time to be successful, and fortunately we did that. I think the biggest challenge we have faced as a business has been keeping up with demand as we experienced rapid growth. We realize now that there really is such a thing as growing too fast.

 

KL: It’s interesting to see that while a lot of the traditional big box stores are struggling, smaller, family-owned businesses are experiencing success. While consumers are obviously going online more for certain items, they also still value the experience of shopping at a boutique store. In fact, I recently read that each month there are something like 500 new boutiques opening, so the demand is definitely there.

 

KL: Technological shifts in retail mean we are spending a lot more time and resources on social platforms like Facebook, and every sale is costing more. We are also dedicating more resources to advertising and new types of content, like video and text message marketing.

 

KL: One of the key steps we took to differentiate ourselves was to build a new website, designed to make sure we stood out from other similar boutiques. Given the industry we’re in, we’ve also been smart about hiring a professional photographer and having a graphic designer on staff to make sure all our visual assets stand out. We’re constantly experimenting with new marketing techniques to see what works.

 

KL: PayPal has proven extremely popular on our site, in part because it makes the checkout process easier, and also because our customers like the comfort of a trusted brand when they pay online. We tried other wallets, however we had a poor experience. With PayPal it really is just a few clicks and you are done. In addition, being able to access our funds right away has also been huge for us as a small business owner. PayPal Working Capital business loans have been super helpful as we’ve grown our business since we haven’t had to go through the traditional bank loan process, and we’ve always found the interest rates to be low.

 

KL: Yes, we use Shopify and it’s a really great platform for businesses just starting out. The customer service experience with Shopify has also been first-class, in particular the help they’ve given us in the point-of-sale area.

 

KL: I think it’s really important that small business owners always stick with their brand. Creating a unique and identifiable style is what helps create loyal customers. I would also say that small businesses need to constantly experiment with new marketing strategies – what works for one business won’t always work for another.