Barely over a year ago – in April 2019 – we had finished migrating Minikids to our platform. Cătălin Stancu, the person behind the business, talked about what has happened since the successful migration.

How did the business start?

Minikids.ro began its life as an online store back in 2015. My wife and I own a brick-and-mortar baby clothing store, we had it back then too – my wife was managing it. I was working in television. While doing that, I managed to launch a news platform, which is where I found the taste for online projects. After I backed down from that specific project, I got the idea to take our physical store to the internet.

What problems or challenges were there in the beginning and how’d you get past them?

Beginning in itself was the toughest part. We had to build a website, learn how to upload products, learn how to take product photos and – hardest of all these – learn how to promote ourselves. Back then we didn’t even know there were businesses which took care of that. Yet step by step and year after year we managed to learn how to climb over every obstacle and here we are, still learning, since growth implicitly brings about the need for more implementation.

How did you decide to migrate to this platform? What were your goals?

We had the old e-commerce business set up on Prestashop and administered by a friend. It was OK for the time being, low costs – low demands, since back then we had no idea what a professional website should look like nor what features would put it to the best of use. While we slowly started to grow, diverse errors began making our life hard so the need to implement new functionalities and optimizations arose. However, every time we tried to request something or have a task for the former website’s administrator, we’d hit a wall: the lack of knowledge, or time, and even of work drive. We then changed two more administrators/businesses which managed to do even more damage to the website rather than repair what was broken. A friend who heard me complain then recommended Gremini. We wanted professionalism and to see all the problems and bugs on our website finally solved.

How did the migration go?

It went without issues, there were a handful of errors that got fixed on the spot. The team offered full support to implement the design and to familiarize myself with the e-commerce platform.

Felt improvements in business after migrating?

A lot of things did indeed change after migration. The website works flawlessly, with zero errors and zero server downtime. Also, a bunch of tools which were implemented right after migration have made our life way easier. I really have to mention that every request we had has been solved without problems or negative answers. I don’t think we would have managed to evolve so much as an online business without a sharp website and professional support.

Did the migration reflect in sales, conversion rate, etc.?

Since the migration sales have significantly increased, from about 7-800 euro to around 5000 euro per day!

What kind of marketing tools have you been using?

Just the usual Google Ads and Facebook Ads.

Give us three pieces of advice or recommendations on how to make it in online business.

First you have to choose a niche, then… a lot of ambition and patience.

What are your plans for future development?

Our next step is to find a larger warehouse, then implement your WMS and enlarge our range of products.

If you could once again start with the online shop, what would you do differently?

If I’d go for another website it would probably be much easier this time, given that I’ve accumulated experience. There’s a good possibility I’d do everything differently. The most important thing in an online business is that your partners, especially if they manage the website, are professionals that work within adequate time frames.

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