A family wholesale business with a long tradition of success is embracing new technology with a completely redesigned Web site and back-end system. Under the direct guidance of president and owner Brad Siever, Eros Hosiery has rolled out a brand new online interface for its Web customers.
“We’ve had a Web site for ten years now,” he says, “and in March we unveiled our new Web site, eroswholesale.com. It took us a year to develop. It’s really taken off and has given us that extra edge in the marketplace.”
The 54-year-old company is staying current with the latest tech. “When it comes to Web sites and selling to the public, you have to keep up with the times,” says Siever. “Our old Web site was very one-dimensional. It only had one pricing structure. It didn’t offer the tiers, it didn’t offer as many products. Now there are a lot of new things on the site. It is very easy to operate. It is easy to order things on it. It gives our customers so many options.”
Getting there was not a simple process, however. Siever had to work very closely with a programmer and a designer to revamp the site, and even then, he tossed out his first efforts and went back to the drawing board halfway through. “This is a 100 percent customized Web site that I designed myself over a year’s time. Six months in I didn’t like the way it was turning out, and I scrapped the whole Web site.”
Sievers coupled the new site rollout with an online marketing campaign. “Advertising is a big deal. Google is my number one. My new site has grown 400 percent since I opened it. I’m reaching so many more people because they are seeing it out there. The search engines are noticing it, and they put it higher up.” He also markets to established customers through e-mail. “We do a constant contact e-mail campaign to our customer base, and we offer specials. There are all different incentives all the time.”
One of the biggest incentives offered by Eros Hosiery is flexibility in order size, a feature especially attractive to flea market vendors. “One of our main mottos is ‘small quantities at wholesale prices.’ ” says Sievers. “We break the cases so we can give our customers smaller quantities. We don’t want our customers to have to order whole cases of everything.”
“We sell a lot of flea market vendors,” he adds. “This is basic stuff that everybody needs and wants. So there is a lot of stuff for flea market people. Anyone can shop, there are no restrictions.”
“We’re wholesalers, so we gear toward selling wholesale,” he says, “but anyone can come buy.”
He offers socks, flip-flops, panty hose, and winter items, and the prices are reasonable. “We offer men’s ankle socks. They start at 57 cents,” he says. “If you order from the premium pricing program it goes down to 43 cents.”
Siever explains that his business is far-reaching. “We’re importers, we get in on the latest crazes,” he says. “But our basic business is importing socks, flip-flops, panty hose and winter items. We’re pretty well diversified. We carry a lot of different merchandise, and we constantly add to that.”
For more information, contact:
Eros Hosiery Co.
6909 Rising Sun Avenue
Philadelphia, Pa. 19111
Tel.: 215-342-2121
Fax: 215-342-4886
Web site: eroswholesale.com
E-mail: sales@eroswholesale.com