The Ribbon Retreat

Seven years ago, while selling her homemade ribbon hair bows on ebay, Lanae Hale could never have dreamed that she would one day be running her own large scale online business. As she transitioned from crafting the bows herself to offering paid instructions on how to make them, Lanae realized just how much ribbon she was indirectly selling.

“I decided that it would be worth looking into selling the ribbon myself,” she says. “I started researching wholesale outlets and thinking of a creative way to offer it.” A year later, The Ribbon Retreat opened up for business online.  Attributing a great product, a loyal customer base, and a clean, easy to navigate website, Lanae says her business has grown much faster than she anticipated.

“The first web designers I talked with didn’t have the skill I knew it would take to make The Ribbon Retreat function the way I wanted,” says Lanae. A local business with a website she liked referred her to Manwaring Web Solutions. “I’ve never taken a single idea to Jarom that he hasn’t been able to implement. Our website is user friendly and runs quickly, and I think that’s a big reason customers keep returning.” Recently, the Ribbon Retreat expanded into the fabric market. “I was worried that it was going to overwhelm our customers to have to sort through fabric when they actually wanted ribbon and vice versa. But Manwaring Web came up with a great solution and set up our website up like two distinct stores operating off the same web address. We’ve had a great response to it.”

When asked what she loves most about running the Ribbon Retreat as an online business, Lanae says, “In a traditional business, I would be very limited to the amount of people I could reach. With a successful website, I get to stay in my small hometown where operating costs are low; I get to create jobs locally; and all while being able to reach an international market. There’s nothing bad about it!”