35-year-old mother works full-time on eBay, with annual sales of $141 million!

There are many examples of entrepreneurship. Today we will take a look at the story of Pink Lily, a well-known American women's clothing brand, and its co-founder Tori Gerbig.

Pink Lily was founded in 2011 by Tori Gerbig, a 24-year-old insurance salesperson earning $25,000 a year. Tori, who loved looking for fashionable and affordable clothes on the Internet, found that there were not many clothes to choose from on online platforms at the time.

So she came up with the idea of ​​selling women's clothing on eBay. Tori herself didn't expect that 10 years later, she would go from an insurance salesperson to a full-time eBay practitioner. In 2021, the annual sales of her Pink Lily clothing business reached 141 million US dollars, and the number of fans on her social media account reached 3.6 million.

At the beginning, Tori was not familiar with pricing strategies, so she set prices according to her expectations when shopping. In the first few years, her profits ranged from $300 to $1,000 per month. Later, Tori continued to participate in trade shows, expand products, and build communities, and her development gradually became smoother.

Currently, Pink Lily sells more than 11,000 products on its website , has offline physical stores and 250 full-time employees, making it one of the largest employers in Bowling Green.

Talking about Pink Lily's operating experience, Tori summarized the following points:

Finding a market gap: She saw that the demand for fashion-conscious women to buy a skirt for $50 or less was not met, and used this as a breakthrough point to capture user needs.

Reinvesting profits: If you want to grow quickly, you need to reinvest all or most of your early profits back into the business. In the first few years, you may be very short of cash, which is not easy.

Find unique ways to engage fans: Staying active on social media platforms is a key part of success. Tori mentioned that she regularly asks fans what they would like to see on the Pink Lily website and in shelves, which makes fans feel that they are fully valued.

Make loyal customers brand ambassadors : Pink Lily’s program offers paid positions — 10% commission on each sale — to an exclusive group of long-term customers who can provide authentic endorsements for the products.

Find exclusive products: You have to carve out a niche or product line that you own exclusively. Tori said that when they find a special product, they usually buy out the supplier's entire inventory so that other retailers can't sell it. In this way, they have a curated collection that can only be found at Pink Lily.

Product Selection

operations

eBay Platform

Women