Soulflower biz blooms online

Business owners Mike Shoafstall and Peggy Rossi used the Internet to change their business to fit the lifestyle they wanted for themselves and their family.

The husband and wife are co-owners of Soulflower, an Internet and catalog retailer selling funky clothing and accessories such as jewelry, handbags, backpacks and bumper stickers with messages like "Support Organic Farmers" and "Arms Are For Hugging."

The couple ran a brick-and-mortar boutique-style store in the Twin Cities area in Minnesota. A shift to Internet and catalog sales boosted sales and allowed them to move back to Des Moines in 2005 to be closer to family and friends.

"We found a niche," Rossi said of the couple's business.

The niche is merchandise with an environmentally and socially conscious message and a merchandising method that's Internet savvy.

U.S. Census Bureau figures show that there are nearly 40,000 retail establishments in Iowa, from one-person operations to major retailers.

Only a fraction, however, fall into the category called "electronic shopping and mail order houses." The number: 758, according to the Economic Census for 2002, the latest year available.

Soulflower takes orders by phone, fax and mail, but most come over the Web from catalog customers or shoppers who have visited Soulflower's Web site, www. Soul-Flower.com.

"The key to going online is to really understand online marketing well," said Lars Peterson, associate state director of Iowa Small Business Development Centers, based at Iowa State University.

Rossi has a background in Web designing. Her expertise helps Soulflower show up high on search-engine lists when Web users type in topics such as hippie clothing. Rossi's career in- cluded Web design. In 2000, she created a Web site for Soul- flower. Sales grew, zooming past revenue produced by the Soulflower boutique.

Soulflower reaches its target audience by mailing catalogs to past customers and likely customers and by maintaining its highly visible Web site.

Drew McLellan, president of McLellan Marketing Group of Des Moines, said marketing on the Internet can be focused to reach likely buyers.

"It's targeting people who actually care about your message," said McLellan.

For example, he said, rather than buying a banner ad on a general-interest Web page, a retailer might buy an ad on a Web site focused on a specific topic, such as the green movement. Or, a retailer might post comments on a blog site on the topic, providing a link to reach the retailer's own site.

Web visibility helped Soulflower clothing wind up on characters on the NBC sitcom "My Name is Earl."

The show's producers found Soulflower on the Web and got permission to use Soulflower clothing in an episode about global warming.

Shoafstall, 42, and Rossi, 35, were born in the Des Moines area. They met through friends in 1988 and got married in 1992. Shoafstall is an Iowa State grad. Rossi graduated from the University of Iowa.

The switch to a home-based business was only the latest part of career shifts that left the corporate world behind so the couple could align business with lifestyle and core values that they believe in passionately - concern for the environment and society.

"When you do that, you're having fun," said Shoafstall.

The couple added a catalog in 2004 and closed the brick-and-mortar store. By then, the Internet business had grown so large that the couple had to rent warehouse space to handle the merchandise.

The merchandise-handling part of the operation remains in St. Paul, where four employees process and fill orders that arrive over the Internet or by telephone, mail or fax.

Shoafstall and Rossi and their two small children moved back to Des Moines in the spring of 2005. "It's great to be back. We love this town," said Shoafstall.

Shoafstall makes weekly trips to St. Paul. Rossi is in charge of the Web site. Both visit vendors to pick out merchandise to sell through their catalog and Web site.

Soulflower sells to customers throughout the United States and in countries such as Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom and other European nations. Some customers are tree-huggers. Some are into yoga. Some are mainstreamers, they said.

Shoafstall and Rossi practice what they preach. Seven percent of revenues go to charity. Soulflower contributes money to off-set its "carbon footprint," a term for the impact of human activities on the environment through the use of fossil fuels. Donations go to an environmental fund that uses the money for wind power, reforestation and biofuels development, said Shoafstall.

Peterson said working at home has challenges. Work and family time need to be separated "so you're not always feeling like you're doing both," said Peterson.

The couple, however, are thinking of starting another brick-and-mortar store. They think the operation could find yet another niche in the Des Moines-area retail market.

And, a disadvantage of home-based retailing is the absence of face-to-face contact with customers, something that Shoafstall and Rossi miss.

Reporter William Ryberg can be reached at (515) 284-8104 or bryberg@dmreg.com