Paola & Ricardo

Our first profile is of Paola Navarro of DeliciousCrochet.com. Paola is from Argentina and has a successful online store selling PDF files of her crochet doll designs.

Also known as amigurumi, crochet dolls are the “Japanese art of crocheting small animals or toys.” The dolls are made in a single crochet worked as a spiral, then stuffed and sewn together. The craft might have originated in Japan but it’s now a very popular art form across the globe, which makes it perfect for an online store selling digital products.

Paola’s designs are not only masterful, they’re also funny, with plenty of references to movies, celebrities and pop culture. For example:

The Monkey Wears Prada

Freddy Krueger Tux

The Good, the Bad and the Tux

These playful and original designs put  DeliciousCrochet.com at the top of the industry and generate a welcome flow of income.

Take a look at the site and notice how well it’s put together. Paola had a little help there: she’s married to Ricardo Corai, a CMS expert who runs our forum and handles our customer support. Ricardo helped her to put the site together and she adds the products and the content.

An Interview with Paola

Tell us about what you do?

I’m an independent crochet doll designer and housewife. Currently I’m managing two online stores where I sell my designs.

When and how did it all start?

In early 2007 I wanted to have my own blog where I could show the world all my crochet work. My husband was thrilled with the idea and helped me to put together my website. I received an amazing response from the very beginning and this made us decide to transform my website in an online store.

Why did you choose Joomla as your website platform?

DeliciousCrochet.com Store Created with iJoomla DigiStore

We wanted to create a website which allows me to show my work and sell it online. My husband found on iJoomla Digistore a dependable application which allows the administrator to easily manage files and is super intuitive for buyers. So I guess iJoomla Digistore made us choose Joomla! as my website plataform.

What was the initial amount of investment you put in this business?

The initial budget was very small. We hired a basic hosting, subscribed a club template and bought an iJoomla Digistore license. Shortly after we official opened the online store we got back our initial investment and started to get profits.

Was there a point where you knew “this is a great idea and I think I can make a living doing it”? Tell us about it

Since the very beginning we thought this was going to work out. We acted positively in this project and are very pleased to see the buyers satisfied with our products. All the time we receive the kindest comments from all over the globe and knowing my designs have reached so many places still surprise us, because all started as a very small project.

What kind of customers do you have? How do they find you?

Most of my buyers are women who just love crocheting and trying new techniques, it doesn’t matter if they are beginners or super experienced crocheters.

They first buyers found us through search engines and websites related to this particular craft. And fortunately, they went satisfied and recommended us to their friends and relatives. That’s how the chain was made and nowadays we had many return customers and fans of our products.

What do you like the most about selling digital products?

The most I like about selling digital products is they allow buyers from all over the world to receive what they’ve bought in just a few seconds, without delays or complications. Moreover, if you can count on an excellent tool as iJoomla Digistore, which shows the product, completes the transactions and delivers the product automatically, you can devote your time into creative work and customer care, knowing the operational tasks are taken care efficiently.

I think you’re a great example of a business that make a good living from selling digital products. Do you have any tips for creating a successful online store?

Well, I think an excellent customer service and having dependable tools taking care of operational tasks are keys to build a successful online store. Buyers must feel there are people behind the website which are responsive to their needs and concerns. And having the proper tools will help you to administrate better your time in a constructive way.

I heard Martha Stewart wanted you on her show, what happened?

Shortly after I started on this business and because my designs were different from those are usually found in the market, I received a message from one The Martha Stewart Show´s producer saying they needed to contact me in person because they were interested in my work. But, since I don’t live in US, unfortunately this could not be realized.

What’s your most popular product? Why do you think it is?

Nowadays I have many designs and among them there are some very popular. But there is no relation among these more popular designs, so it’s hard to find out the reason to explain their success over other products.

****

Great job, Paola and Ricardo!

Do you have an interesting business or website that uses Joomla and iJoomla? Drop me an email, I would love to talk to you!

Told you it was cool. Here’s how it works:

Subscription Plans Manager

The Subscription Plans Manager lets you create the type of subscription you want to offer. Subscriptions can be:

• Unlimited – The subscription has no expiry date.
• Limited by number of downloads – The subscription expires when the product has been downloaded a set number of times.
• Limited by time – The subscription expires after a set period based on:
  • Hours
  • Days
  • Months
  • Years

Subscription Plans Manager

Editing a subscription plan

Subscription Renewal Plans Manager

When a subscription expires, your customers will also be able to choose a renewal plan. Like the Subscription Plans Manager, you can create different kinds of subscriptions and even offer a discount for renewal based on a fixed amount (such as $10) or a percentage of the sale (such as 10% discount of the original price).

Renwal Plans Manager

Editing a subscription renewal plan

Email Reminder Manager

Email reminders can be sent automatically to your subscribers, a vital way to increase your conversation rate. You define the “trigger” for the email, sending it a set number of days before the subscription expires or after it expires.

You can use any of the provided variables to construct your email. You’ll only need to create one email for all of your products, although you can create individual messages too.

Email Reminders Manager

Editing an email reminder

Assigning plans and emails to your products.

Choose the subscription plans, renewal plans and email reminders when you create or edit a product. You can set the price for each plan separately, giving you complete flexibility to assign any plans and emails to any product.

Assigning subscription plans/renewals/email reminders to a product

We think that’s all very cool but there’s even more to come. We’re also working on front end subscription integration and automatic subscription renewal. But let us know if there’s anything you’d like to see included and what you think of the improvements so far.

I will be posting more screenshots in Part 2 as soon as we have something new to show.

Interested in iJoomla DigiStore? check out our demo site, or buy it here.