My mom had a retail business for 20+ years. The last 5 or so years of the physical retail location, she started an online store for the same business. The physical location closed it's doors about 8 years ago and she went 100% online. She has tens of thousands of people on her mailing list, had gross sales of about $330k last year and is on track for about $400k this year, and business continues to grow.
She still has the suppliers that would buy from for the retail location who sell to her for the online store. Customers shop her site, buy from her, she orders the stuff from her vendors, and then re-packages and sends them to her customers. The business is run out of her home (it's kind of taken over her home. She knocked out the wall between mine and my sister's childhood bedrooms to make a big "shipping & receiving room"
).
It's a viable business, margins average about 28%, the business continues to grow despite little to no social media marketing on FB/IG/Pinterest/etc. which would be highly effective for the type of business/consumer. She just doesn't have time to do it. It's just her doing it, and she has about 3 retired ladies that come by and help out with packing/shipping/orders a couple days a week.
She would like to retire, what's the best way to try and sell this business? She has been in touch with some business brokers and some free local state small business advocacy groups for guidance. But I don't trust much of the advice or guidance she's been given so far. Someone with a little bit of tech savvy, with a small dedicated office space to do shipping/receiving, and a small staff to do all the day-to-day stuff so they can continue doing marketing/advertising, could see this business blow up.
Any prior experience or recommendations on how to market & sell this type of business?
She still has the suppliers that would buy from for the retail location who sell to her for the online store. Customers shop her site, buy from her, she orders the stuff from her vendors, and then re-packages and sends them to her customers. The business is run out of her home (it's kind of taken over her home. She knocked out the wall between mine and my sister's childhood bedrooms to make a big "shipping & receiving room"

It's a viable business, margins average about 28%, the business continues to grow despite little to no social media marketing on FB/IG/Pinterest/etc. which would be highly effective for the type of business/consumer. She just doesn't have time to do it. It's just her doing it, and she has about 3 retired ladies that come by and help out with packing/shipping/orders a couple days a week.
She would like to retire, what's the best way to try and sell this business? She has been in touch with some business brokers and some free local state small business advocacy groups for guidance. But I don't trust much of the advice or guidance she's been given so far. Someone with a little bit of tech savvy, with a small dedicated office space to do shipping/receiving, and a small staff to do all the day-to-day stuff so they can continue doing marketing/advertising, could see this business blow up.
Any prior experience or recommendations on how to market & sell this type of business?