Twin Cities Business - Twin Cities Business | Entrepreneurs of the Year | Doug Nielsen
Just browsing thru a local biz trade mag and came across this profile of one of the entrepreneur of the year choices.
A dot-com entrepreneur from the early days of the Internet, Doug Nielsen has perfected the art of creating websites for niche products. He started with Hammocks.com in 2002, developing a micro-niche model that involves taking an under-the-radar item and building the best place to buy it online. “We have a mission to bring customers the perfect find,†Nielsen says. “Customers are looking for the right product, and we can deliver the right product at a great price, shipped accurately and on time. We’re there to serve them if they have issues or problems along the way. That’s a great recipe.â€
After Hammocks.com, Nielsen branched out into patio umbrellas and benches, cribs, and bunk beds—almost anything anyone would want for home, yard, work, or play. Nielsen and his two partners ultimately grew the company, then called NetShops, to include more than 250 specialty e-commerce stores. They rebranded the business as Hayneedle in 2009. In addition to its niche sites, the company also runs Hayneedle.com, a central destination for home goods from kitchenware to furniture.
In just six years, Nielsen grew Hayneedle into a $200 million company.
His overall sales are listed at $350million plus, and grew the centralized hayneedle marketplace to 200million, so his 250 niche sites are doing $150 million. Sounds like they have a nice process/system down.
Here is a shot of the various niche sites/stores
Hayneedle, Inc. » Specialty Stores
Just browsing thru a local biz trade mag and came across this profile of one of the entrepreneur of the year choices.
A dot-com entrepreneur from the early days of the Internet, Doug Nielsen has perfected the art of creating websites for niche products. He started with Hammocks.com in 2002, developing a micro-niche model that involves taking an under-the-radar item and building the best place to buy it online. “We have a mission to bring customers the perfect find,†Nielsen says. “Customers are looking for the right product, and we can deliver the right product at a great price, shipped accurately and on time. We’re there to serve them if they have issues or problems along the way. That’s a great recipe.â€
After Hammocks.com, Nielsen branched out into patio umbrellas and benches, cribs, and bunk beds—almost anything anyone would want for home, yard, work, or play. Nielsen and his two partners ultimately grew the company, then called NetShops, to include more than 250 specialty e-commerce stores. They rebranded the business as Hayneedle in 2009. In addition to its niche sites, the company also runs Hayneedle.com, a central destination for home goods from kitchenware to furniture.
In just six years, Nielsen grew Hayneedle into a $200 million company.
His overall sales are listed at $350million plus, and grew the centralized hayneedle marketplace to 200million, so his 250 niche sites are doing $150 million. Sounds like they have a nice process/system down.
Here is a shot of the various niche sites/stores
Hayneedle, Inc. » Specialty Stores
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