Andy's Pokéshop: from hobby to hype hit in 3 months
"In the beginning, trust is all you have"
Andy (26) from Purmerend is a data analyst by profession, but since February he has also been a Pokémon entrepreneur in the evenings. What started as a rediscovered hobby, sparked by a rare Pikachu x Van Gogh card, grew at lightning speed into a webshop pokenatics.nl with new orders daily.
"I quickly created a small webshop through JouwWeb. At first I sold to my neighbor boys and fathers in the neighborhood. Now I sell to people from all over the country."
The timing proved perfect: with the craze of the Pikachu x Van Gogh card, demand for Pokémon cards skyrocketed, and Andy saw an opportunity here.
Buy smart, before the hype hits
Andy's strength? He sees trends before the masses and knows where to buy.
"I buy a lot of B2B, from all over Europe. Prices go up every other week. Demand is just times two. When I turn on Google Ads, I go through my inventory immediately."
He also handles pre-orders smartly. Where other shops promise pre-orders where in practice you don't get delivery, Andy takes a different approach.
"I don't allow more pre-orders than the number I get in stock. And I stick to the release date. Does it say January 1 on the box? Then it will be with the customer on January 1. I think that's very important."
Trust is everything
In a market with many buyers and opaque shops, Andy opts for visible transparency. Especially when you're just starting out, it's important to build trust right away.
"I value transparency highly. My name, phone number, KVK are on the site. But also a map where you can see where I'm located. People can always stop by and see the products, and they can call me. Customers need to be sure I'm for real."
But that alone wasn't enough. Andy noticed that real reviews make all the difference. Meanwhile, in two weeks, he had already collected more than 20 reviews, with an average score of 9.9.
"People need to be able to see that I'm legit. Without reviews, I really had to convince people to buy. Now I don't. What wins them over are real reviews. I just see that people order faster."
A key benefit: automatic review invitations
Another important benefit for Andy are the automatic review invitations.
"It's nice that WWK proactively invites customers to write a review. With Google Reviews, you don't have that. I know I have customers who are satisfied. I don't feel like begging for reviews all the time, I can spend my time better than that."
More assurance with the seal of approval
Although Andy was primarily looking for a review system, he also likes that the seal of approval is there.
"My webshop feels more complete now. It took some time to set up the terms and conditions and pages properly. But once it's in place, it's really taken care of and then you just have certainty about that."
"In the beginning, trust is all you have."
Andy proves that you don't need years of experience to start successfully. In three months, he built a webshop that is ready for serious growth. And that's just the beginning.
"What I would recommend to other startups? Focus your webshop on something where demand is growing. And make sure you are transparent. In the beginning, trust is all you have."
Andy's shop shows:
Those who start with the right mindset, respond smartly to the market and choose trust from day one can grow at lightning speed, even as a startup.