Intuitive Mac POS System Gives Startup 'Absolute Control'

Reprinted from the Apple Small Business site. For more Macintosh small business profiles, go to http://www.apple.com/business/profiles/.

"I'm not really a business person," says Susan Bing, with a sincerity that belies her success. The founder and president of Trixie + Peanut, the premier purveyor of luxury pet products, still seems genuinely amazed by her company's rapid growth over the past six years.

In that time, a project that began as her personal creative exercise — "all I wanted to do was design my own beautiful catalog," says the lifelong art director — has evolved from a surprise direct-mail triumph, to an e-commerce site with a global clientele, to a Manhattan boutique that caters to the likes of Uma Thurman, Diddy, and Paris Hilton (and, of course, their poodles, pugs, and retrievers).

Ahead of the Pack
The secrets to her rapid rise? "No secrets, really," says Susan. "The name came from my dogs, two rescued boxers. Of course, I did my homework; I knew this was a market with potential. But a lot of it was being in the right place at the right time," she says, referring to the recent boom in designer-sweater-clad Pekingese. "And certainly a lot of it would never have been imaginable without our Mac computers."

"We've used nothing but Macs from day one," says Mark Edwards, Susan's husband and business partner. When the catalog moved to the web, Susan insisted on maintaining absolute control of the site's look —photography, retouching, and layout — on her Mac. When it became clear that the burgeoning online brand merited a bricks-and-mortar flagship, Susan worked closely with a design/build firm to create a store design reflecting the Trixie + Peanut website and incorporating Mac computers.