Looking for honest feedback

I'm sorry to say that I've never heard of your business and I've been wet shaving for years. Maybe work on marketing? You've got an excellent site with great products. If I had known that you're business existed I would have definitely purchased from you.

I'm sorry to say that I've never heard of your business and I've been wet shaving for years. Maybe work on marketing? You've got an excellent site with great products. If I had known that you're business existed I would have definitely purchased from you.

I was a paid vendor on B&B for 4 years. I've been a vendor here on DFS for about 3 or 4 years now too. I've had banner ads here on the front page of DFS ever since I first signed up (they just expired but Andrew is adding it back on today). I have Instagram, twitter, I post on Reddit Bazaar for BST. I periodically send out marketing emails for the site as well, and I've been in business since 2012- before many of the other ones out there. The only thing I don't do is paid ads on Google, and I really only see one or two guys who do that.
I'm interested in hearing what other things folks think I should do, as I feel I've done just about all of it to gain organic growth.

I do notice that when people buy from other vendors, they hop on social media/reddit/etc showing their mailcalls and publicly tag the vendor in the post. That rarely happens with my customers. I even went as far as including a little square card in with all my online orders for over 2 years with a hashtag attached to it and a fun little logo- to encourage folks to share their #sotd and mailcalls. I think I only saw it used once.

I hope it doesn't sound like I'm complaining. I really do try to use all resources out there. I honestly think it might be the name of my business that deters attention. When I launched in 2012, I wanted it directly associated with my brick and mortar barbershop, but it sure doesn't have as interesting or memorable of a name as some other sites out there.

I'm sorry to say that I've never heard of your business and I've been wet shaving for years. Maybe work on marketing? You've got an excellent site with great products. If I had known that you're business existed I would have definitely purchased from you.

I was a paid vendor on B&B for 4 years. I've been a vendor here on DFS for about 3 or 4 years now too. I've had banner ads here on the front page of DFS ever since I first signed up (they just expired but Andrew is adding it back on today). I have Instagram, twitter, I post on Reddit Bazaar for BST. I periodically send out marketing emails for the site as well, and I've been in business since 2012- before many of the other ones out there. The only thing I don't do is paid ads on Google, and I really only see one or two guys who do that.
I'm interested in hearing what other things folks think I should do, as I feel I've done just about all of it to gain organic growth.

I do notice that when people buy from other vendors, they hop on social media/reddit/etc showing their mailcalls and publicly tag the vendor in the post. That rarely happens with my customers. I even went as far as including a little square card in with all my online orders for over 2 years with a hashtag attached to it and a fun little logo- to encourage folks to share their #sotd and mailcalls. I think I only saw it used once.

I hope it doesn't sound like I'm complaining. I really do try to use all resources out there. I honestly think it might be the name of my business that deters attention. When I launched in 2012, I wanted it directly associated with my brick and mortar barbershop, but it sure doesn't have as interesting or memorable of a name as some other sites out there.

you've got some great products!!! i can't believe that i've never visited you in TO. I used to live in CA until last year and used to travel up and down the west coast for work. I've got some clients and friends in TO and i used to love visiting there.

drdeemanda Dang! Yeah I've had this store here since May 2012 in Thousand Oaks attached to my barbershop. We're on TO Boulevard right across from PF Changs and CPK near the Civic Arts Plaza. Bummer you missed us, but come visit when you're in town next!

Hi Gareth, I'm surprised I hadn't seen this thread before now and I hope its been useful and informative to you in fine tuning your marketing.  While I have bought items from The Handle Bar in the past, it hasn't been a lot.  The primary reason for that in my case is that I live in Canada and in the past 2-3 years I can pretty much get everything I want from one of the Canadian based vendors in Canadian dollars and free shipping.  While some US based vendors have been able to bring down shipping prices to Canada they've never been able to bring them down to free.

I used to try to buy directly from my favourite artisans in order to help them keep as much of the fruits of their labour in their own pockets but that doesn't seem to matter all that much any more.  For example, I used to buy directly from Barrister and Mann but they stopped shipping internationally preferring to work through a few vendors.  Thats fine, I get the whole time is money and economies of scale - Artisans making tiny samples for practically free and then packing everything and walking to the post office to ship it all isn't the best use of their time.

One thing that I don't care for on your storefront (from a Canadian perspective) is the necessity to send you an email to get a shipping rate.  I know its a small thing to send an email and I know you respond promptly but it is one of those minor nuisances that can interfere with a purchase decision so I will only go there if you have something that I really want and can't get at a Canadian vendor.  

I know that your primary target market is the US and the Canadian and other International markets are not what your business success turns on but I thought I'd give you my two bits.  I have to say, I'm surprised that Amazon hasn't wiped everybody out - now on the other hand I'm not surprised because they carry a lot of garbage, you never know what you'll get even if you buy a "brand" name and the prices aren't all that great.  If they ever got their act together it might be something though.  

One other thing, wet shavers seem to have their personal likes and dislikes - if they started with a certain vendor/artisan and they've been well treated and there is sufficient inventory variety, then there is no reason to try anyone else.  We also hold grudges, there is a certain big US vendor that I had a bad experience with several years ago and I don't care if they were giving away their stuff for free, I wouldn't buy from them.  Not ever.  Not if hell froze over.  But I digress...   Your challenge is to pry customers away from their habitual suppliers.  You could also consider some form of loyalty program  - several vendors use a points system although I'm not sure how those work if buyers don't sign up for an account but just checkout via PayPal which seems more common these days.

I wish you luck.

A 'Down Under' perspective...I wouldn't know what your shop name or logo represented.
Bicycles?
Maybe vintage bicycles by the look of the moustache?
If I was surfing the 'net I'd probably just cruise past your website.
Now I know about you it's a different story.
I'd buy from you but yes, the site needs to be able to work out worldwide shipping. Making the customer jump through another hoop is probably not helping. 'We want it all, and we want it now' sort of thing
Just my 2 cents worth!

DiggaDog Marko Thanks for chiming in guys. The international shipping problem JUST cropped up, and I only learned of it last week when a customer from Israel pointed it out. My site admin is working on it, but it seems to be an issue with the shipping app (Endicia), and not so much on my cart's end. It's still pulling Priority International rates just fine, but those are SO darn expensive they rarely get used. So, in the meantime I have to do international shipments manually.

Marko I do offer a rewards system and have done it for quite some time. The software certainly ain't cheap considering all it does is give out discounts! Haha

DiggaDog I have the same issue regarding the name of my site. My barbershop name is 'The HandleBar' with the logo as a mustache. Without any logo I would too assume it had something to do with bikes. My wife and I have been trying to sort out a new website name, but nothing has stuck yet.

The Cookie Duster 

The Cookie Duster 

Cookie Duster Shave Goods

If I Google "shaving supplies online"
- Walgreen's makes page 5
- Appleton Barber Shop in beautiful Appleton Wisconsin (population 74,263) on page 7
- I still have not see Handle Bar Supply
- similar results with slight search variations

As both a bicycle enthusiast and wet shaver, I never related Handlebar Supply to bikes until this about 5 posts ago