Today we’d like to introduce you to Ronii Bartles.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Our Founder and Owner, Rick, spent his career in the manufacturing business in the Northeast. Rick and his family have traveled all over the world and had vacationed in Charleston so after retiring they moved to Charleston. While living in Charleston he became friends with many local businesses. As a traveler, he knew that when people visited Charleston, they liked to buy local goods and products but when they went home had a hard time shopping for many of those local products. As well as, small local businesses didn’t have the resources to widely sell their products. And the idea for Buy Way of Charleston was born. The vision was to have one place where people who live in or have traveled to Charleston can get local products and at the same time provide local small businesses with an opportunity to sell their products to a wider audience. We built a website and started small but knew that the way to reach people was through strategic digital marketing. The first year we had a couple of orders a month and slowly grew in product offerings and client base.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
We definitely have had struggles as we’ve grown and still do. They are just new struggles. Our website is our business so having a website that is beautiful and functional is our #1 priority. That first year was a struggle learning about how customers want to shop online and creating a web experience that balances an easy online shopping experience with the hospitality of Charleston. We still work on this every day. Working with local artists and suppliers is always an adventure. We work with people that make their own products and with them, we can only get a limited supply of one of kind items. We also work with local businesses that are larger and have specific ordering processes. So, working with vendors is going from one extreme to the other so we are always on our toes. Then, we’ve had to figure out our digital marketing formula, which is constantly changing. Keeping up with changes in platforms and creating engaging content while maintaining the brand voice is always evolving.
We’ve been impressed with Buy Way of Charleston, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We are a small but mighty business. Rick Magee is our Founder & Owner, in addition to his leadership role he and his wife work with all our vendors on merchandising managing operations, and shipping of all our orders including corporate gifts. Ronii Bartles is the VP of Marketing and she manages everything with the website and marketing activities as well as helping with shipping. The holidays can get a little hectic with shipping so it’s all hands on deck. At Buy Way of Charleston, we are known for, of course, our selection of local products but we get messages every day about our great customer service and hospitality. Even though we are an online store, we want everyone to feel the elegant and friendly experience of Charleston, so we put a lot of effort into our packaging.
Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Starting a business is risky. Especially a retail one. In the first years of business, there is a lot of capital outlay without a lot of sales. It’s a big risk to spend a lot of money on the stock, website development, and marketing budget. There is a lot of money put into operations without evidence that your concept will work. While you can do research and talk to people about your idea, that’s all talk. People like to tell you that you have a great idea but many times never actually buy. The proof is in sales, which you just don’t have when you start. It’s like the chicken and egg, which comes first. The risk is putting money into an idea that you hope will work but you don’t really know it will until you do it.
Pricing:
- Most products range from $10 to $100
Contact Info:
- Email: info@unitedbuyway.com
- Website: https://www.buywayofcharleston.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buywayofcharleston/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/buywayofcharleston
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPdX2ZX8v4M8s5a_zG7ZhEw
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/buywayofchs/_shop/
Image Credits
Buy Way of Charleston
