Local company sells baby products all over the country - 13abc.com Toledo (OH) News, Weather and Sports

A new store has opened up at The Shops at Fallen Timbers and it got its start with a bit of a twist. It actually came about because of a very successful on-line business, which is the reverse of a lot of companies. Stores often add an on-line element after they're successful, but the owners of Lullaby Lane say their store is the product of an extremely successful internet business.

Ryan Wright parlayed his background in health care administration and direct marketing into a booming baby business, "When I look around, sometimes I stop myself and say this is incredible."

The idea for Lullaby Lane was born when Ryan and his wife went shopping for their baby,"My wife and I were about to spend a lot of money for a stroller and we had no idea this market existed so it really opened my eyes. The passion of a new baby coupled with a background in direct marketing, it was a good fit."

Lullaby Lane started on a small scale, selling just a few things on-line, "We did well selling those products on line and it bought us enough time to research the baby market."

In order to expand the on-line inventory, Ryan found that a lot of companies he was doing business with wanted to see a store front.  Since the internet side of things had done so well, opening a store was the logical next step, "The on-line business allows us to take some of the pressure off with the store. We are able to offer internet prices and enhance our overall customer experience because we have our on-line sales to offset our overhead."

Although Ryan is quick to point out the store is a very small part of the business at this point,"This is the fun part of the business. I love interacting with customers and I truly enjoy the people I work with, but it is less than five percent of our overall revenue. The majority of our revenue comes from on-line sales."

Wright expects other on-line businesses to follow the same model,"You sometimes hear brick and mortar stores complain about on line businesses, but in today's market I think a healthy model for some companies is a combination of both, you have to have both working."

Lullaby Lane ships things all over the country every day. They are beginning to ship overseas as well. And the growth isn't stopping with the new store. They're now raising capital for further expansion in the on-line segment.