Website Closers® presents a nearly decade-old eCommerce company marketing American Made Leather Products across 3 Brands on multiple Online Platforms. The use of 3 brands has enabled them to attract two distinct audiences upon which they leverage for marketing.
With all products handcrafted entirely in the U.S., their custom-made SKUs appeal to customers who love the look and feel of hand-crafted leather, while they also appeal to buyers interested in personal safety, drawn to their leather-crafted gun belts, holsters, and concealed carry products.
With products sold on 2 branded websites and on Amazon.com, customers can find their brands easily across multiple search methods. This has allowed them to keep the advertising budget down to a bare minimum. They have also historically enjoyed strong responses from their email marketing campaigns to their 57,000+ subscribers. An SEO program actively drive organic traffic to expand their customer base.
The result has been a growing number of impressed buyers who are coming back for more, giving the company a strong 35% Repeat Customer Rate and nearly 17,000+ rave reviews for their products. The company has an added advantage over their competitors in that their SKUs can be fully customized, giving buyers a degree of personalization in their product selection. Because the products are handcrafted specifically for this company, they can customize any order, often times with customers sending in their own hunted or purchased leathers for specialized requests. That also includes collaborations with customers on designs. This has increased the number of customer requests they receive and continues to boost their Repeat Customer Rate.
The quality of their products is considered very high, as their positive reviews demonstrate, and that is owed to the company’s strong relationship with Amish craftsmen who make their handcrafted leatherworks products. Having built trusted relationships with these craftsmen, the company can offer specialized products that help them stand out in this profitable but competitive field.
Several other factors have given this company a competitive edge. Their products are premium and stand out when compared to cheaper imports. While the quality of its SKUs is high, the company makes its products available at a wide range of price points, appealing to an increasingly diverse customer base.
All their products are sold under their own brand name, and all belts are stamped on the back with the logo from their website. In fact, the company now has 25 trademarks on its products and logos.
This highly profitable company was launched nearly a decade ago, and with three sales channels offering distinct products, they maintain an Average Order Value that ranges from $42 and $102. Many of their products evoke a feeling of nostalgia for the days when leather products well handmade and did not come off a manufacturer’s conveyor belt. Their exotic and non-exotic leather goods are priced far more affordably than many high-end brands, giving them a substantial edge among consumers looking for both attractive and affordable leather goods.
This well-structured operation is run by three owners, who do not have any employees at this time. Sales are so strong now that in 2022, the company shipped 35,240+ items or an average of 138 products per day. Many of these products are conveniently shipped by Fulfillment By Amazon. To keep up with the high volume of orders, the company ships 16,670+ products to Amazon’s warehouses.
For those products not ordered through Amazon, orders are Drop Shipped the same day they get manufactured, with no need to maintain additional inventory.
As the company’s reputation for quality and brand recognition has grown, the business has been able to expand its customer base without relying on a costly ad budget. Their best return on investment has been email marketing. Their 57,000+ email subscribers frequently receive product launch announcements, special sales, and limited runs for certain products, which help drive up their Repeat Customer Rate. Each of these promotions has resulted in thousands of dollars in new sales.
While the company has run PPC ads on Google and Facebook, they rely more on an SEO program that effectively uses link-building campaigns to boost their organic search rankings. The company is also working with a content-based SEO agency to take advantage of pages on their websites that are prime for higher organic traffic.
The company could grow at an even faster rate if it expanded its digital marketing campaigns to include engaging with buyers on social media platforms, launching an influencer campaign on these platforms, and seeking out collaborations with complimentary businesses.
The company’s partners each had unique skills that were invaluable as the business was first being launched since that enabled the company to reinvest profits from the start rather than contracting work out to others. Any missing skills that a buyer has could either be taught by the current owners or contracted out in the short run.
However, the owners believe there is nothing overly complex about their operations that can’t be learned, and the owners are also open to discussions on maintaining a strategic or advisory role during the transition period.
