How a commercial importer of sinks and vanities grew more than 200% a year on Amazon, Wayfair and Lowe's for three years running
A Canadian importer of sinks, bathroom fixtures and vanities sold mainly to hotels, condominium developers and cruise ships and had no online channel. Looking Glass Group defined a full ecommerce channel plan and then ran it, and every managed account grew more than 200% year over year for three straight years.
The situation
The company’s business was large commercial projects with long sales cycles. A hotel refit or a condominium tower is a big order and a slow one, and the revenue arrives in lumps. The products themselves, sinks, fixtures and vanities, are exactly what consumers buy online for renovations, but the company had no marketplace channel, no listings and nobody whose job it was to build one.
The question was not whether the products would sell online. It was whether a company built for project sales could run a retail channel without distracting the team that won the projects.
What we did
A full ecommerce channel plan
We defined the channel plan first: which platforms fit bath and plumbing products, in what order, and what the economics looked like on each. Amazon, Wayfair and Lowe’s each have their own buyers, their own fee structure and their own rules, and a plan that treats them as one “online” bucket fails on the first promotion.
Then we ran it
We set up and managed the accounts. That meant building the listings and content, setting pricing that protected margin across channels and against the project business, and managing promotions and inventory reporting on every platform with one set of numbers. On the retail-first platforms the buyer relationship is part of the job, and we managed that too.
One set of numbers
Every account reported against the same net-sale model: retail price less commission, advertising, fulfillment and logistics. That is what let the company see which platform was actually making money and where to put the next dollar.
The result
More than 200% growth year over year on every managed account, for three straight years. When the first phase of Covid stopped hotel and condominium projects, the ecommerce business kept the whole organization afloat.
Why it worked
A channel plan before a listing. Pricing set across channels rather than per platform, so the retail channel never undercut the project business. A single accountable person running all of the accounts, so a company built for project sales did not have to build a retail team to get retail results.
This is the work described on our Beyond Amazon services page. If you sell through commercial or wholesale channels and your products belong online, the marketplace assessment is the place to start.
Related: Beyond Amazon services · Amazon services · Marketplace assessment
Key facts
- Client: a Canadian importer of sinks, bathroom fixtures and vanities (anonymous)
- Category: bath, plumbing fixtures and vanities
- Customers before: hotels, condominium developers, cruise ships
- Platforms: Amazon, Wayfair, Lowe’s and other accounts
- Service: Beyond Amazon marketplace management, five-year engagement
- Growth: more than 200% year over year on each managed account, three years in a row
- During Covid: the ecommerce business kept the whole organization afloat in the first phase