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Rovena Kafilaj from Tampa, Florida, USA, always knew that having her own fashion boutique was something meant to happen. It was a dream, and just like every true entrepreneur, she never gave up. Opening a clothing store wouldn’t be possible without Rovena’s family support or factors like finding the perfect retail location, of course, but finding the right clothing supplier was the key factor for her. Rovena found BrandsGateway while searching online for high-end fashion suppliers and, once she established contact with us, she never looked back. Now Rovena is the proud owner of a new but already successful retail store in Tampa, Florida, located in a high-end shopping mall. She is one of the many wholesale customers of BrandsGateway, and her knowledge and experience are a great inspiration to be shared with our community. In the following interview, Rovena, in her own words, explains why BrandsGateway was the key to her store’s success and how she advises others to choose the same route as she did. 1. Can you please tell us a bit about how and when did you start your business? Rovena: I wanted to have a fashion boutique for a long time, but being a mother of four children, I simply had no time to focus on anything else. When I realized that I have the time to start working on my business, the next obstacle was where do I find these nice luxury clothes to sell in my boutique? Obviously, I got online and started searching for suppliers. One of the first results I checked was BrandsGateway. What made me really happy was the opportunity to establish direct communication with you guys on WhatsApp. I was really happy with the initial contact as it was explained to me what you offer, the terms of delivery, brands, etc. I really liked the extensive selection of Dolce & Gabbana items which you offer, and that was it I realized that this was the right partner for me. The next step was to find the right retail spot and, luckily, there was a spot in one of the best malls in the area where I live. Getting into a mall is not an easy task, but I had the patience and, after a small delay in the approval procedure, I finally could start my new business. As soon as that happened, I agreed with your CEO, Michael, to come to Sweden and visit one of the warehouses, to be precise, the Dolce & Gabbana vendor’s warehouse. It meant a lot to me that I was able to meet the people behind this operation and handpick the items I would like to purchase. BrandsGateway is the supplier of luxury clothing for this retail fashion boutique located in a high-end shopping mall, in Tampa, Florida. I started researching suppliers in June 2019 and opened my store in January 2020. As you can see, it took a while for everything to get into the right place so my business could launch. As you know, the Coronavirus hit in March 2020, and the mall was closed for a few months, however, I did not mind it too much as the first two months of my business running were actually really good. It is an advantage for me to have the fashion boutique in a mall as mine is the only store that offers this kind of apparel, the majority of the other stores are brands, which mainly design different styles so that makes my store unique. 2. How are you dealing with the current situation with the Coronavirus affecting the business? Rovena: The situation is not great but obviously it has nothing to do with the products I sell. It’s very tough now, October is one of the worst months that this mall has ever seen in traffic. We’ll see how it will go in November, the holiday season is coming and there is optimism that the situation will get better. It’s also a possibility that people are saving during this month so there’s enough for gifts in November and December. Black Friday is coming, as well, and promotions always increase sales. The business is not in danger right now but we all hope for this situation to go away as soon as possible. 3. Can you describe your experience with BrandsGateway so far? Rovena: The experience with BrandsGateway has been amazing, and I couldn’t be happier that I have found you to be my business partner. The customer support is spot on, the attention of your team to our needs as customers is invaluable, and I feel like this is your company’s biggest competitive advantage. Especially in the beginning when I just opened my store, your team was available to help me any time of the day. I never hesitate to reach out to you guys for anything that I need. I consider you to be my true business partner. Sometimes maybe I ask too many questions, but the support is just great, and all my questions are resolved timely. By selling the products that BrandsGateway has in its portfolio, you can differentiate your clothing store from the crowd. BrandsGateway is the only supplier I work with right now, and I had customers asking for more brand differentiation. I expressed this to your support a few months ago, and I noticed that you have expanded your brand selection which I really like. Additionally, I was told you guys are bringing a few more big brands in the coming period so, even if I never find another supplier, your stock selection is looking great at least to what my customers demand. 4. What are some of the benefits of working with us? Rovena: It is crucial to have a perfect relationship with your business partners. With BrandsGateway, it’s almost like I have had a personal relationship with you since day one. I can rely on you, on the product selection, on the delivery time, packaging, I never have any issues with customs, etc. Sometimes, I even ask for people at the warehouse to show me around on their phone camera so I can see the goods on the video with my own eyes. I am like that, sometimes too demanding but, luckily, the guys at BrandsGateway understand how much this means for my business. BrandsGateway's product selection is ideal for starting an online or retail fashion store. 5. What makes us unique as a supplier? Rovena: I think that what makes you unique is the product selection and the amazing prices you offer. This makes it unique for anyone with not too high of a budget to purchase stock from you and start selling clothes, regardless if it’s online or in a retail fashion boutique. It’s crucial to take advantage of the prices and the discounts you offer, which are almost impossible to find in other places. Anyone can buy your products and start their business, it’s not simple, the road to success is hard and takes a lot of work, but this is an opportunity which you must seize. 6. Who is your typical customer? Rovena: My fashion boutique is attracting a younger audience, mostly in their 20s or early 30s and the majority are men. The most popular items I sell are T-shirts and shoes. Luckily you have a huge selection of really nice men’s t-shirts and men’s shoes, so that’s being sold like crazy. 7. What was the best day in sales which you’ve had with our inventory? Rovena: I won’t take as an example a single day but a few days around Father’s Day and I think that from your stock only in those few days I sold about $6.000 worth of stock. Those were a really nice few days. 8. How much time does it take you to sell the goods which you purchase from BrandsGateway? Rovena: It depends on the items which I purchase. The t-shirts, especially the demanded models disappear from the shelves in a week or two. Some items can take a month to be sold so it all depends on how good a product is and the season of the year. That’s where your expertise comes in hand and that’s why I take advice from you when I purchase stock. When I say customer service is important this is one of the key features which makes BrandsGateway special for me. That’s why I like calling you my business partner, not just my supplier!

Oleg and Stacy started their business as a kind of hobby. They decided to get rid of their old clothes and shoes online and it was their go-to place when something was not going to be worn anymore. They had no idea that this was just the beginning of a successful business venture. Today they are at 10.000€ in revenue just from selling BrandsGateway’s products. 1. You are fairly new to BrandsGateway, you just started dropshipping our products recently. Is this something which you do full time or just as a part-time job? Oleg: This is my full-time job and this is my main source of income. My wife Stacy is also part of the business on a full-time basis. We actually started selling our own clothes online, we found a way to get rid of old clothes and at the same time generate some income.  2. As you started selling on various online marketplaces initially, are they now your only sales channel or there are other places where you are dropshipping clothes as well? Oleg: I would say that online marketplaces are our main sales channel. Our own website is in the process of creation at the moment.  3. How do you manage your online marketplace stores, how do you manage all of your inventory? Oleg: We use a few third-party tools like Shopify, then InkFrog which is a great Shopify tool that is doing a great job when working with online marketplaces. Also crucial to us are Instagram, Pinterest, and Mailchimp for marketing and redirecting our leads to our store.  4. From your point of view, what is the best way to start a dropshipping business? What would you suggest to new dropshippers starting out now? Oleg: First and most important, choose the right and easiest platform to sell on. In our experience, those were online marketplaces, easy, and simple to start even with no or low inventory.  Stacy: People who want to get into dropshipping should invest time in researching a bit and learning about which niche to get into, which supplier to choose, where to sell etc. It is crucial to have at least some preparation for the business. 5. What made you both decide to focus on luxury clothing and accessories? Stacy: As I am a woman, I had a lot of excess shoes and clothes so I decided to try and sell them online. That worked for us and I guess it was the trigger that made us get into dropshipping clothes. Also, Oleg had some previous experience with e-commerce where he gained initial experience. We then used that experience and decided to start a business together, initially from our own wardrobe. Dropshipping was a natural decision as we did not want to mess around with inventory and the ability to work together from homemade this a great opportunity for us.  6. From a dropshipping point of view, how much would you say one needs to get into dropshipping? Stacy: Just a few hundreds of dollars and you can kick off your dropshipping journey. Oleg: It’s crucial to have an overview of all the expenses including tools, fees, memberships, etc. Even sometimes with lower capital, it is possible to take advantage of the tools that marketplaces offer and use them for free. It is even possible to start without using any third-party tools and marketing expenses because online marketplaces offer so much.  6. What would you say are the biggest challenges in the dropshipping business? Oleg: Every day is kind of a challenge just like every other business. It is crucial to create your own daily routine and just stick to it and follow it. It is also a challenge to build successful communication channels and relationships with all the stakeholders but it is an obstacle that is achievable.  7. How would you rate your experience with BrandsGateway so far? Overall, the experience with BrandsGateway has been great! We have stumbled on some minor issues but we are very satisfied with the cooperation so far. We are also working with some other competitors of yours, they are also doing a good job but what stands out with BrandsGateway is the inventory, you are providing some exclusive luxury items which we can not find anywhere else. Also, the content - pictures, descriptions, etc. are on a higher level at BrandsGateway which helps a lot when you are selling clothing items.  8. Well that’s great to hear! Do you remember your biggest sale of an item from BrandsGateway? Oleg: Yes, definitely. Recently we sold a bag for €2.500 and our margin on that item was about 40%. 9.  What are the numbers you are making with BrandsGateway’s inventory per month? Oleg: I would say we are at around €10k per month with BrandsGateway products. It could be much higher but because of the current Covid-19 situation in the world, we are noticing a decline in our growth which is affecting our bottom line. Our sales decreased at least 30% during this coronavirus time and we started with BrandsGateway just as the virus started spreading so I think that our numbers could have been higher. What is worth emphasizing is that we have not listed all of your inventory so we are basically just starting out with BrandsGateway’s catalog. 10. So you make about €10k EURO per month in sales with about a 40% margin and you just started a few months ago. Are you happy with the results you are seeing? Stacy: We are happy with what we have achieved so far even though the economy is not in the best shape. It’s not the best time to sell but we actually have some great sales. Considering that we just started you can still consider us in the research phase of starting out a dropshipping business, we are still figuring it all out. It is also a challenge to track all the sales, margins, etc. 11. What are some of the most important features you look into when selecting a supplier? Oleg: The main criteria is the items they provide to be branded, and secondly, the worldwide shipping option. Third and also extremely important, the suppliers have to have great customer support which is crucial in this business and you are doing a great job with your support.  12. Are there any learning or motivational resources that you could recommend to future entrepreneurs and dropshippers? Stacy: There is one book that we can recommend to everyone. It’s the book “The Goal” by Eliyahu M. Goldratt. We both read it and it is a great source of knowledge and guidance for both of us through our business. Additional books worth mentioning are: “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey, “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck”  by Mark Manson, “Never Eat Alone” by Keith Ferrazzi.  We are also following a few youtube vloggers( Ralli Roots, Paul J Lipsky who are in a similar business category like us and share useful and motivational information.  Oleg: My advice is to use the customer support that the marketplaces offer. The customer support offered by the online marketplaces can be very helpful sometimes, the same goes for the marketplace's Help Centers. Also, dropshipping communities like forums or Facebook groups, people are always happy to answer questions in these communities. 13. What is your opinion about our dropshipping subscription which we charge? Oleg: That’s an interesting question. Looking from a customer’s perspective, we always want to have things as cheap as possible. On the other side, in developing a subscription service like yours, we are fully aware of the resources which are necessary for software development, round-the-clock customer support, order fulfillment, etc. That certainly justifies the price, in the end, good service can not be free.  14. What are some pieces of advice you can give to future dropshippers? Stacy: Choose the niche wisely, our advice is to start selling items, which you like and know about. For example, we started with our own clothes, and then selling branded clothes was a natural follow-up. It is very important to have knowledge about the items you are selling. The next most important piece of advice I can give is to just start working on it. Don’t waste your time thinking about it or just planning, go and dig into it, learn by working on it, and learn from your mistakes. Literally, everyone can get into dropshipping, it is easy but you have to figure it out and you have to invest your time, nothing comes overnight. Do you want to be the next successful luxury clothing dropshipper? You can check BrandsGateway's dropshipping program and start your journey of dropshipping luxury clothing and accessories today.

Being the leading online business-to-business (B2B) luxury fashion marketplace we are always working on improving our offering. Our team has the task to efficiently connect wholesale vendors, retail buyers, and dropshippers from around the world. Our system is set up in a way where our website relies heavily on the information and data of our customers. Therefore it is necessary to make sure that the server level communication (hosting) during this information exchange runs flawlessly and our clients’ websites are operational around the clock. Over the past years, we’ve experienced that many of our dropshippers pick up hosting companies that might not have the expertise or resources to support so many synchronization calls that BrandsGateway requires. For example, during the initial synchronization, there could be around 6,000 products that you are importing in the store. That can result in tens of thousands of API calls being sent to your WooCommerce hosting. Many companies simply fail to support this as they are not optimized for this type of load. This is why we felt there is a need to help our dropshippers to make better decisions when choosing the hosting provider. And we did not wish to offer more confusion as during these times there are so many options available - and to really tell what is the difference between them, it takes time and effort. But we have made it simple for you - we don't want to overwhelm you with this information, so we have chosen the partner that we know well and that knows how to cater to our needs.