The Challenge
This retailer specializing in home goods, registry, and gifts approached us to help them leverage their strong brand relationships into increased sales by opening an Amazon selling account as an additional storefront. They had successfully convinced 1 brand to allow them to carry their products on Amazon and were selling <$50,000 a year on the marketplace, but were unable to convert more brands to expand their offering.
Building the Brand Portfolio
Armed with a database of products they currently offered in their stores and on their website, we implemented a rigorous evaluation process to determine which products and brands from the database would be a good fit for Amazon. Each evaluation was centered around the brand presence on Amazon including pricing, brand representation, competition, profit margins, and more.
For those products and brands that were determined to be a good fit, we approached the brands alongside the retailer to pitch them on allowing our retailer to become an authorized seller of their products on Amazon.
Planning and Consulting
For each approved brand, we would perform a thorough evaluation of their complete catalog to determine which products should be bought, in which quantities, and how they would be fulfilled. For some brands, we’d only advise that certain products be added to our store. For other brands, we would carry the complete line. Additionally, we would perform an evaluation of the profitability and revenue capabilities through multiple fulfillment options including FBA, FBM from their warehouse, FBM through a 3PL, and dropshipping.
For products where inventory is purchased wholesale and warehoused, we would forecast order quantities, plan FBA shipments, and build the actual FBA shipment plans. For products where we utilize dropshipping, we set up the technology infrastructure for inventory and order management.
Once we were ready to offer the products, we would build the product listings on Amazon and add them to the Amazon store.
With a complicated product mix deploying multiple fulfillment strategies, this retailer desperately needed a process for order and inventory management. After a thorough analysis of their current processes, we were able to identify and implement the ideal technology stack for them to manage Amazon orders and inventory.
Listings Marketing and Catalog Management
Once the products were ordered and added to our storefront on Amazon, we completed our full repertoire of listings optimizations where applicable. This would include optimized titles, key product features, and product descriptions. In some cases, it would even include concepting and executing photoshoots to improve the image galleries of the products.
Driving Traffic and Conversions with Amazon Advertising
After optimizing the core product attributes, we would roll out advertising. This advertising spanned all of Amazon’s campaign types (Sponsored Products, Sponsored Display, Sponsored Brands), targeting types, and placements. Each brand within the portfolio received a tailored strategy for advertising which might incorporate any number of campaign types, targeting, and ad placements.
The Results
This retailer has been able to grow dramatically from less than $40,000/year in sales before partnering with us, to over $1.1 million in their first 12 months with us. In their second calendar year, we were just shy of eclipsing the $2 million mark.
We were so successful with a number of brands that they began developing exclusive products for us to carry in our Amazon store. There are now 11 physical inventory brands in the portfolio spanning across Home, Kitchen & Dining, Outdoors, Sustainability brands, and more. In addition, there are over 50 additional brands offered through this retailer via dropshipping where we create and maintain the listing, take orders, and then the manufacturer ships the items directly to the customer.
To run this operation, they have hired multiple staff members and are now leasing a warehouse to continue to expand the operation. To help educate their decision making on these initiatives, we provided analysis and forecasting for revenue, profitability, and more.
