By: Tebogo Mokwena
Eleanor Miller learned from early on that being competitive in the hair industry required her to stay calm, be consistent and continuously learn. The owner of Eleanor Xpress now has a profitable wig business which she enjoys as she wants people to look and feel good. Miller told Vutivi News that launching her business required knowledge and experience.
When she started the eCommerce business in 2020 in Lime Acres in the Northern Cape, she initially struggled with an inconsistent supplier of manufactured wigs. She now makes her own wigs. “I took the money I made from stocking and reselling pre-manufactured wigs to start Eleanor Xpress, and I struggled with having a consistent supplier,” Miller said. “I would start on a good foot with the supplier, but the quality of the wigs and the consistency of the supply would drop after some time.
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“However, once I started mingling with other players in the sector, I started gaining more knowledge.” But Miller said this presented another set of challenges. “I discovered that women in my sector do not like to work together and help each other, and they always want to pull each other down,” she said. “Most of the time this type of attitude is redundant because this is a big and lucrative industry and there’s enough for everyone,” Miller said that once she had a steady stream of customers, she started seeing a big difference in her profit margin. Now she manufactures her own wigs from hair imported from China and India.
Her clients are nationwide, and she delivers her products via courier. Miller told Vutivi News that the business, which employs two people, was doing well and she planned on launching a salon soon. “My salon is also ready to be launched, and it will be equipped with quality machinery and great equipment,” she said. “I see myself opening branches in Kimberley and in other areas in the Northern Cape in a few years’ time.”
