Nancy Asp and her husband, Kevin, sold garage doors at their family-owned store near their home in Michigan. In 2007, Nancy started selling garage door remotes on Amazon.com—just after Kevin was injured in a car accident. What began as a way to make up lost income turned into a successful company almost overnight. As a featured merchant on Amazon.com, ASPDoors & A Whole Lot More saw sales of nearly one million dollars in its first two years. By adding Amazon WebStore and Fulfillment by Amazon to her Selling on Amazon business, Nancy Asp has been able to run her successful home business while raising a family of five.

When ASPDoors & A Whole Lot More saw a rapid influx in sales, Nancy Asp would work against the clock to ship out orders in a timely manner. “After a while, I realized I was spending nearly five hours a day packing items up and waiting in line at the local post office,” says Asp. “Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) allows me to work much more efficiently, and my business no longer has to consume my life.” Asp has also seen an increase in sales, she believes due to Amazon’s offering of free shipping on qualifying orders of $25 or more.

Initially Asp was worried about her ability to navigate through the Amazon Services system, but she quickly realized how user-friendly the Selling on Amazon platform is. With just a few clicks, Asp can retrieve data that reflects her company’s sales, and she can change the product listings to reflect what is currently in stock. With nearly 1,000 product offerings, the ability to add or remove inventory from the list quickly and easily is invaluable.

By adding eCommerce to their business, the Asps are now able to sell and ship the same remotes that they have been selling locally for years to customers nationwide. In fact, they ship a large volume of orders to west coast states like California, something that would have been impossible without Amazon Services. “Using Amazon is not only beneficial for [the seller], but incredibly beneficial for the customer,” says Asp. “If my customers in California are choosing to purchase a product from the other side of the country rather than down the street, there is clearly an advantage to shopping online; they are able to find prices that fit their need on Amazon.com.”