In addition to a street address, any ambitious brick-and-mortar adult retail store needs some sort of home on the web as well. Consumers do not simply pop through the front door as if by magic. More likely they learn about a business online—where they can browse the inventory in private, at their leisure.
Eldorado Trading Company owner Larry Garland understands this need, and he also recognizes that some of his clients may not be prepared to launch their own sites. He’s answered their prayers with StoreExtender.com, an online service that allows retailers to shape a site that fits their own needs. It’s more affordable than hiring a web designer, and it permits the store to track sales and dictate pricing.
“Lots of our customers have come to us and expressed interest in having their own website, and we have certain web designers to work with, but it can be a pretty expensive process,” Garland explains. “A designer could run anywhere from $5,000 to $15,000, where for $99 a month you can have a completely sophisticated website where you control all of your pricing and organize by product or manufacturer. It’s been in the works for the past year and a half.
“Basically Store Extender is a subscription-based system where you can get a website for a small monthly fee that offers our entire product line. A store can monitor and offer their customers the high-end line—maybe they didn’t want to invest their money into [stocking everything], but they still want to sell it,” Garland adds. “This is a perfect way to do it. It costs no money for inventory, and between wholesale and retail is much more profitable than a regular affiliate program.”
It’s strategies like these that keep Eldorado at the top of the industry, despite the economic downturn.
“There are lots of different markets available now. It’s not just novelty anymore. Our focus has broadened; the new markets are more diverse. We’ve now penetrated the lingerie market,” Garland notes. “We work with the best products available. We always have the top sellers and keep our finger on the pulse of what are the hottest new trends. We help our customers to find the most popular merchandise.”
And, as Garland emphasizes, “Customer service is the key. They’re the ones that pay our paychecks, so we want to make sure that they’re happy.”
Garland does admit to seeing evidence of the current economic woes. “There has definitely been an effect on accounts because of the recession. People are being conservative and are reluctant to try new things. They’re sticking with what they know works,” he admits. “But obviously there are new products, and we’ll continue to carry them because we offer stores all the fresh new items. Eldorado keeps its foot on the gas, so to speak. We’re not backing off on anything. We’re careful, but we know the economy will turn around. Our marketing campaigns are still as robust as ever.”
Eldorado Trading has come a long way with Garland at the helm. The business began trading Indian jewelry throughout the Midwest in the ’70s and then moved to smoking paraphernalia before becoming one of the leading suppliers of novelty and adult merchandise.
Through telephone sales, catalogues and trade shows, El Dorado grew its business and made its product line available to retailers. The company has continued to expand, fueled by ambition and fresh ideas—and Store Extender is the latest on that list.
By taking advantage of the StoreExtender program, retail sites benefit by having access to Eldorado’s full inventory without having to stock everything onsite. Eldorado will drop ship directly to any address, host the site, charge customer credit cards, house the inventory, handle customer service, and mail out margin checks all for a one-time $75 set-up fee and $99 a month thereafter.
For more information on the StoreExtender program, call Eldorado at (800) 525-0848 or visit StoreExtender.com.
This article originally ran in the November issue of AVN.
