We all have those beauty products and body care items that we never use. They sit in a box or a drawer forgotten until one day we find them, and then throw it away because it’s too old or put it back for another year unused. Sometimes we buy the wrong shade of foundation or lipstick or make a poor impulse-buy.
Thanks to Hannah Way, TheBeautyStall.com is our answer. This newborn site allows users to sell their own unused or like-new health and beauty products to others, marketplace style. Whether it was the wrong shade or a gift, this site allows users to resell it to others that want to buy their favorite products at an affordable price.
Way, an 18-year-old from South Wales, fueled this project with her passion and ambition to learn as much as she could about creating a business.
“I’ve tried my very best to do everything myself. I try to learn as much as I can from networking and reading into other entrepreneurs’ experiences for advice,” she said.
Way was first drawn to this idea when she herself bought an expensive bottle of foundation that wasn’t the right shade. “I knew it would never be any use to me, but it was a full bottle that had only been swatched once, I thought it must be of use to someone else,” she explained.
Way recently finished working as a freelance Welsh translator and used money from that job in order to fund this business endeavor. She’s able to keep costs down by completing a lot of the work herself. “Everything to do with the site was done at my kitchen table,” she said.
But the biggest concern for her business now is getting the word out there. “I’d love to have an unlimited budget for advertising but unfortunately that’s not the case. I’d definitely say advertising and marketing so far is the hardest part, especially considering I want to launch in the USA as soon as possible,” Way said.
“I prefer to get to know people and have a conversation with them … I think it’s much better to develop a bond with your customer base rather than to harass them via the phone,” she added. “I’m trying to do it all myself to keep that bond with the customer base.”
Though Way is focused on building up TheBeautyStall.com now, this isn’t going to be the only thing we can expect to see from her. “I’m always writing down ideas and thinking of what to do next. I’ve got another two or three ideas I’m looking into at the moment so hopefully I’ll have some news on those soon,” she added.
Her advice to others looking to start up a business is to just go for it. She supports young entrepreneurs like herself to stick with their ideas.
Way noted, that there have been struggles, citing that she didn’t get the assistance she was looking for to pursue business while in school. “They didn’t know what to do with me because I didn’t want a job I wanted to start a business. I spent hours in the career office trying to explain that I didn’t want a 9-5 and basically they couldn’t help me,” she added.
She empathized with others struggling in the same situation saying, “I’ve noticed especially in the area I grew up, that there is absolutely no encouragement for entrepreneurs especially young ones,” Way said. “I often heard a lot of ‘why can’t you just get a normal job’ and ‘ha-ha good luck with that,’ which is really frustrating.” She hopes to be an inspiration to other young entrepreneurs in the future.
TheBeautyStall.com is focused on the U.K. market right now, but it is worldwide for everyone to use. Way has also created an app for mobile phones and tablets.
For more information about her site, start shopping at thebeautystall.com.
Shannon Phillips is an intern at Lioness. She is a senior at Western New England University and is a Creative Writing major. The 20-year-old is also the Assistant Editor of her campus literary magazine and aspires to be a professional writer and author. She enjoys, horror movies, fiction writing and soap-making.
Add Comment