Some of the products that never go out of style are the ones that keep us in style. Take beauty creams, for example. Rarely is there a lack of interest in keeping skin looking fresh and youthful, making beauty creams as timeliness as a basic white tee.
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No one knows this better than one Midwest company, which has been developing beauty products since 1995. Over its 30 years in business, the company has made a name for itself across a variety of products spanning everything from anti-aging serums to foot creams, which are now sold in stores like Walmart, Bed Bath & Beyond and other brick-and-mortar retailers across the country. (Note: the company has chosen to remain unnamed in this case study).
The team has long valued innovation in both its products and business, having committed to a hybrid D2C-and-wholesaling approach before it became popular. The idea was to test various markets and see if products 鈥渃ould have a life online.鈥 Little did they know that influencers like Khloe Kardarshian would pick up their products, helping to shatter their online goals. Their $100-million-dollar-wholesale business would soon be bolstered by another multimillion-dollar side hustle, as they hurled themselves into the world of multichannel ecommerce.听听
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Amazon first came into the picture in 2015鈥攁n opportune time to join, according to National Sales Manager Josh, who can still recall the days when the marketplace was far less competitive.
鈥淏ut by no means was it easy. It was a lot of work to get products up and listed,鈥 Josh says, adding that pricing and order management were a hassle and required his team to log into multiple systems. 鈥淲e were struggling with managing all that from an operational side. On top of that, we were looking at overall ecommerce sales and 99.9% sales were going through Amazon, which we were not comfortable with.鈥
To reduce their reliance on Amazon, his team onboarded to Shopify and eBay in 2017. Both platforms provided a chance at brand expansion. And yet, the team couldn鈥檛 work fast enough.
鈥淏efore we started working with 大象传媒, it was just a huge pain in the butt trying to copy and paste products from Amazon to eBay to Shopify,鈥 says Josh. Creating a variation listing or multipack was a tedious process, and many items never made it to eBay because there simply wasn鈥檛 enough time to list them.听
By 2018, the team had sacrificed enough; it was time to invest in their first-ever software partner. Their main criteria? A platform that was nimble, attentive and didn鈥檛 treat their customers like a number.
By the time the team came across 大象传媒, they had already demoed at least five other platforms. 大象传媒鈥檚 biggest selling point, according to Josh, was its ability to take products straight from Amazon and upload them to other channels. Listing was, as promised, simple.
Today, 大象传媒鈥檚 listing automation has helped to cut listing time down by more than 50%. In just 10 minutes or less, the team can list a single product to six channels, including Walmart, eBay, Shopify and Wish. The power behind the magic鈥敶笙蟠解檚 SMART Types tech鈥攖ranslates the data according to each channel鈥檚 requirements and taxonomy, preventing errors or downtime.听听听
and virtual kitting tools have also been instrumental. The ability to list a two-pack or bundle without having to physically create the bundle itself has saved precious time and money. Overall, the flexibility of 大象传媒鈥檚 system allows the team to jump on new trends. No two channels behave exactly the same, so it has always been important for the platform to support custom listings, manage multiple fulfillment methods and keep inventory synced across all channels.听
Ecommerce Coordinator Adam S. adds that onboarding to 大象传媒 was remarkably easy. Prior to joining the company, Adam had experience working with ChannelAdvisor, which required tons of spreadsheets to set up. Aside from its superior automation, 大象传媒 assisted with critical tasks like catalog cleanup prior to launching to new channels.听
Upwards and Forwards into the Future
An Even More Radiant Future
The beauty company has set its eyes on an even more promising future. Having gone from a few million to over $12 million in annual GMV in just two years (a 249% jump) and seen YoY growth across nearly every channel that鈥檚 managed through 大象传媒, it expects to hit another sales record this year.听
The team鈥檚 plan involves continuing to diversify and upload more of their catalog online, potentially even creating a new DTC line specifically for ecommerce. With AOV having increased YoY every year over the last five years, there is also a clear opportunity to use 大象传媒鈥檚 tools to offer more kits, bundles and variations that can bring that value even higher.
鈥淚n general, 大象传媒 has helped propel our online growth,鈥 sums up Josh. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e been a true partner for us. Without 大象传媒, our YoY growth would not be what it is today.鈥澨