Website: http://www.childtherapytoys.com/

Description: Childtherapytoys.com was founded by psychologists Gary Yorke, Ph.D. and Jane Yorke, M.A. to provide therapy products to mental health professionals who work with children. Gary from childtherapytoys.com states, “we have an extensive collection of books, games, puppets, dolls and other toys for child and play therapists. At this time our selection is the largest on the internet for child and play therapists.”

Technologies Used: Gary continued, “Our only ecommerce software is ShopSite and we do not have a storefront. We use Facebook, our blog, and a resource website to promote childtherapytoys.com. On Facebook we post best sellers, motivational and inspirational quotes and pictures, and links to relevant articles. We use our blog (http://www.myplaytherapypage.net/) to highlight recent developments, provide suggestions for interventions, and publish short articles. We offer free merchandise to customers who have their suggestions published on our blog. We use our resource website (http://www.myplaytherapypage.com/) to provide information about products, research, and child therapy resources.

The primary way that we use email is for specials and sales, and we use iContact for email creation and distribution. Stone Edge Order Manager is used to manage inventory, integrate with QuickBooks, and fill orders. It integrates nicely with UPS Worldship and Dazzle. Recently we began offering a limited range of play therapy specific products on Amazon in order to increase the visibility of our name, and clear out discontinued items and slow movers.”

Advice / Tips: Gary finished, “Our customers tell us that they appreciate our selection, quick turn around on shipping, and our quick response to any complaints or product issues. I also recommend watching shipping costs and to keep pushing on your UPS rep for discounts. We also try to pay close attention to USPS shipping rates so that we can ship the least expensive method possible on items where we offer free shipping.

We recycle everything we can, including boxes and packing material. We sticker recycled boxes indicating that we recycle and we use biodegradable peanuts. Many of our customers have commented positively on our recycling policy and biodegradable peanuts.”