We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Scott Davis. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Scott below.
Alright, Scott thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Taking care of customers isn’t just good business – it is often one of the main reasons folks went into business in the first place. So, we’d love to get a conversation going around how to best help clients feel appreciated – maybe you can share something you’ve done or seen someone do that’s been really effective at helping a customer feel valued?
We always go the extra mile for our customers. This starts with great customer service and goes as far as to how we package our products. All orders come boxed with Christmas color confetti paper and a candy cane. This puts a smile on our customers face when receiving their ornament. We started doing this years ago and it was very well received. We like to think we’re selling more than just a Christmas ornament, we’re selling a gift. Even if that gift is to yourself. By using the confetti paper, it gives the customer the feeling that this item is gift wrapped.
Scott, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I started Tree Buddees in 2014. I was trying to find Christmas ornaments that were funny, and different from the traditional glass bulbs that have been dominating the ornament industry for years. During my shopping I noticed something. No one made funny and unique ornaments that I wanted, that someone in their mid 20’s buying a tree for the first time would most likely be looking for. This is where the idea came from.
After this realization, I drew up a few designs. My first design was Celebration Santa. Which was Santa holding up a mug of beer with a huge smile on his face. I had 300 of them made and they sold out within 2 weeks of launching the product. The proof of concept couldn’t have gone any better. I bootstrapped the company from there. Each year adding more and more designs to the catalog. Now, we have over 250+ SKU’s and Celebration Santa is still one of them.
What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?
I had a stable 9 to 5 job when I started my side hustle. After getting home from work at 5;30, I would start working on my company from 6 to midnight. It was difficult to give up this free time, especially in my mid 20’s. But it never felt like work for me, it still doesn’t. I worked two jobs for about a year, at this point the side hustle became my full time hustle and I never looked back. Giving all those evenings was worth every second of it.
Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?
Selling direct to customer via TreeBuddees.com has been very lucrative for us. We do sell wholesale as well, but the margins on D2C and the ability to control and manage the direct customer service has allowed us to keep customers happy and keep them coming back each year. We’re in over 100+ doors, but D2C still accounts for over 85% of our annual revenue. I would highly suggest selling directly to your customers no matter the product type. 
Contact Info:
- Website: www.TreeBuddees.com
- Instagram: @tree_buddees
- Facebook: Tree Buddees
- Linkedin: Tree Buddees
- Twitter: @TreeBuddees
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@treebuddees6599/videos