When the pandemic outbreak started around March 2020 and the students were forced to hide at home, Deva (184214062) lost all of her monthly stipends since she had to return to her hometown. Thus, with her minimum availability of money, she started to think of any possible strategy to turn the situation around. Departing from her very own hobby in fashion, she decided to open a thrift store in Instagram – well, the batch 2018, actually, aspires to open her own fashion brand, but “That’s a future shot” as Deva said.
With now more than 21k (yes, twenty one thousands) followers and monthly income surpasses 6 – 8 millions rupiah, Deva’s thrift store, @neyrooms in Instagram (you have to follow and check them out!), has now developed massively in comparison to its starting point a year ago. It’s not exaggerating to say that the business is a beautiful success. Deva’s struggles, in the midst of her juggling between academic responsibilities and personal lives, are truly paid – especially in addition to the fact that every effort (connecting to supplier, doing marketing & promotion, conducting photoshoot for online catalogue) in the business are being done fully by Deva herself, independently. Really cool, right?
Luckily,
For whoever is inspired and interested, Deva is generous enough to share with us further about some of her prominent tricks in doing online thrift shop – based on her real experience as a digital businesswoman:
- Rebranding
A constant rebranding is important for whoever turns themselves into the fashion business. The key lies in trend awareness! One day, sweatpants were a mad hype, and the other day it might be sweaters. In this case, staying updated on the fashion market is very necessary. While it’s also okay to change your collection from time to time. Accordingly, you need to fully recognize your customers and markets.
- Patience
As an online-based business, handling the customers as well as courier service could be tricky and challenging at some points. It needs a whole lot of patience. One time, Deva’s goods were lost during the delivery and she didn’t have much of an option, but to declare it to the customers. Choosing the right courier service and maintaining good communication with the customer are very important.
3. Starting from smalls
Many people, fatally, aim for a big shot when they just start their own business. Deva chooses to disagree. She believes that a good business has to be initiated from scratch and small steps. Do not ever hoard goods stocks, because it will be much more difficult for you to sell later.
4. Last but not least, resilience
“It might be cliche, but do not ever give up!” Deva said. You have to keep going when you encounter challenges along the path. Certain negative thoughts might kill your will, and they are something that you have to dismiss since the very start. At the end of day, if you truly put time, effort, and patience into doing your business – in whatever it is – it shall work!
Journalist: Nathaniel Alvino Risa Prima
Editor: Michael Tan