Internet, meet Erica Luo and Mark Fuqua. They are the faces behind the online New York-based candle shop Emme Essentials, which specializes in scents based on Asian flavors like mochi, lychee, and calamansi guava.
Like many small businesses that found success online in the last year, Emme Essentials debuted at the beginning of the pandemic. "It was our first year living in New York City — across the country from our families — and we had no idea when it would be safe enough to see them again," Erica told BuzzFeed. "At this point, we really started to miss home, but not just the people or the places we were used to. We missed the feeling of home, our heritage, and being able to connect to our culture as Asian Americans."
"Burning candles was our way of indulging in self-care, but we realized the scents we grew up with weren’t represented in the home fragrance industry," she continued. "With that in mind, we set out to create Emme Essentials, a full collection of candles dedicated to Asian flavors...as our way of sharing our culture with the rest of the world!"
Proud of their work and wanting to relate to other business owners online, Erica and Mark decided to share their story on TikTok, which was met with an outpouring of support, especially from other Asian Americans who struggled to find comforting, authentic fragrances that reminded them of home.
After going viral, sales exploded. In a video of the couple packing one third of the orders they received, Erica shared the length of their full shipping label roll, which trailed across the room.
Personable and well-crafted videos on TikTok can be as awarding as a commercial. Top tags like #SmallBusiness, #SmallBusinessOwner, and #SmallBusinessCheck have amassed over 31.8, 2.7, and 9.9 billion views, respectively. These numbers demonstrate the massive presence of businesses on the app who promote their products, owners who share their tried-and-true advice, and a genuine, growing interest in both.
By showing their faces, their process, work ethic, and relationship, fans of Emme Essentials' business and TikTok account root for their success...
...which inevitably turns into spending.
Since starting their account, "We've been able to reach an organic audience that helped us maintain a steady flow of daily orders," Erica shared.
As someone who buys from other business owners on TikTok, she understands how important having a social presence online can be. "I always cross-reference information and social presence before buying anything," the 28-year-old said. "TikTok gives small businesses the opportunity to reach an engaged audience we otherwise would not have access to."
While viewers debate their preference over being an employee or businesses owner in the comments, the video's engagement continues pushing Erica's clip out to new eyes, and the growing 700,000 views are bringing in customers.
Since going viral a second time, Mark and Erica's sales have increased by 326% and sales exceeded $11,000 that same week.
