Name of your website?Indybel
Your name?
Samantha Sintes
Your Location (city, etc)
Malaga
Please give us a short summary of your website?
British, International and Organic products for pregnancy and baby in Spain. Our products are either new to Spain or difficult to find in Spain. Most of our products are award winning and/or recommended by midwives.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
We are two British expat mums who have had 3 babies between us in Spain. Through experience we have come to realise that there are many products for pregnancy, birth, baby and toddler which are not available here in Spain, and so we decided to launch a site selling these products. We are not aiming to compete with the Spanish shops which we hold in high esteem, but to offer a different and complementary service alongside them.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
This is our first website .... http://www.indybel.com was launched in August 2008!
How did you decide on a name for your website?
The name was inspired by our daughters India and Isabella ... it is a combination of their names Ind(ia) Y Bel(la) ....
What makes your website different from other, similar offerings?
We are different to every other Spanish baby website as we offer products from the United Kingdom, America, the Far East and Europe. We also offer Baby Showers which is a relatively new concept here in Spain.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
We hope to expand on our product range, to continue to launch new and exciting products into Spain, to develop the baby showers and to offer them nationally ( currently only in the Costa del Sol ) and to have agents working for us across Spain.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
We have only just started!
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
Order more products, order more own brand products ( organic clothing line etc ) Develop the site ...
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
We are very dedicated and passionate ... we have worked around the clock to launch while one of us were pregnant and would happily do so again. If the demand required it we could easily take on staff.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
Our first website designer 'left us' the week before our launch date with a half finished website. He demanded more money to finish the site which was not in our orginal contract and we found the site he had developed had been done with many faults. We had no option but to cancel advertising, write off the money we had already paid our first designer, put back our lanch by a month and find a new company who had to start from scratch on a new site. Luckily we are very happy with the final results.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Creating a new site ( see above ) .... Everything really as neither of us had a background in retail or pregnancy and baby products. We also had to set up an SL ( limited ) company in Spain ... we have had to learn everything as we have gone along. Luckily everyone has been very helpful ....
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Internet Marketing and targeted advertising ... local radio / local parents magazines etc We also have the support of local midwives and will be aiming to take our flyers to local and national hospitals etc
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
It hasn't ... we thought it would be fun and it is! We wanted to work from home around our young children and have control over our lives and hours and we can do this ... so far we are loving it!
How long have you run the site already, and how long will you continue to keep it up if you don't enjoy big gains in traffic, income or popularity?
The site has been live for 3 months but the planning began 12 months ago. Hopefully we can keep going through quieter times as we have spent most of what we needed to spend to get things up and running. We are offering a unique service to Spain so hopefully that will see us through the impending recession.
How about delivery ?
We deliver throughout mainland Spain and the islands and everything is secured and delivered within 48 hours by courier. We also have a cheaper standard 5 day option. We have worked hard to obtain the most competitve prices for delivery and will continue to search for the best options for our customers. We are not afraid of change and will make changes if better solutions come along!
What is your website address?
Indybel
