Website Closers® presents an eCommerce business that has performed exceptionally well by marketing vaporizers and other vaping accessories Direct to Consumer via its branded Website. This is a booming industry that’s grown tremendously in the past few years as cannabis use has become legal across a growing number of states. This company has benefitted from those trends, and within the past three years, sales have grown tremendously.
The company’s product line has continued to expand; they now offer their customers more than 200 SKUs that have an average order value of $120. With an expanding customer base, this company is poised for dramatically accelerating success within the next few years as the Global Cannabis Vaporizers market is projected to grow considerably over the next decade.
This company was launched 7 years ago as an eCommerce site to market vaporizers and accessories such as glass wear, mods, glass pipes and other smoking accessories. The company developed relationships with multiple distributors, and as sales increased, the brand was able to continue expanding its SKUs, offering a wider variety of options. That includes convection vaporizers, desktop vaporizers, e-liquid vaporizers, and portable vaporizers, among many others. Other products launched by the company include glass water bongs and pipes, glass bubblers, vaping mods, CBD moonrocks, CBD remedy oils, and many more.
Sales have been conducted entirely on the brand’s website to date, and have not been expanded to include listings on eCommerce sites such as Amazon. Sales have remained vibrant year-round, with sharp increases during the holiday season in November and December. Their customer demographic has tended to be men between the ages of 18 and 34. While their repeat customer base is now at 5%, their repeat order rate is showing signs of increasing at a healthy rate.
Having chosen to operate entirely on their own website, this brand has effectively used digital marketing to connect with their audience, resulting in a nice growth of their customer base. Their top marketing effort has been an SEO program, which has included a blog that educates readers about the products offered. As more and more states and countries around the world have legalized marijuana, the number of Cannabis-related products continues to increase, and the blog focuses on which new products are likely to be more beneficial to their customers. Their SEO program has paid solid dividends: the brand’s website now averages 33,000+ average visits each month.
The other key tool in their marketing efforts has been their affiliate channel. Over the years, the brand has developed strong relationships with many of the top industry affiliates and have used their social media accounts to help promote products. Affiliates are paid a 10% commission on sales.
Two other aspects of the brand’s marketing campaigns are noteworthy. The company has an active presence on social media, with 1,800+ followers on Facebook, 1,060+ followers on Instagram and 700+ followers on Twitter, all accounts where they make weekly postings. These accounts have been an integral part of their affiliate campaigns and as a method for boosting their organic traffic.
The brand has an efficient system for maintaining a high rate of customer service, which includes making fast deliveries. The company now stocks up to 75% of all products being sold, and sales have been solid enough that the company makes up to 15 shipments per day.
Since they purchase their products directly from multiple suppliers, they also use multiple distributors as drop-shippers. They now have a 500 square foot garage where products are stocked, and where they maintain about two weeks’ worth of inventory at all times.
Right now, the company does not have any of its own trademarked or proprietary products, which offers one of several unique options for scaling this business. The company could develop its own branded vaporizer, giving them the ability to market something totally unique that no competitor has. With their successful affiliates program and top sales, the brand clearly understands its audience and what their customers are looking for, and as their blog has made clear, they also know this industry. That gives this company the ability to determine which unique products they could start developing in-house and at higher margins.
The company could also expand its SKUs, since the number of new vape products keeps increasing as marijuana sales rise in various states. In fact, this company could develop its own vape product line that makes it impossible for any competitor to match their sales.
Similarly, this brand has started to receive sales requests from wholesalers due to their competitive pricing and higher number of 5 Star ratings from customers. So far, the company hasn’t taken up the challenge of expanding into B2B sales but the wholesale market offers a huge growth opportunity for this business.
A more aggressive marketing campaign would also lead to increased sales and a much higher level of profitability. The company’s 60,000+ email database is a clear example of that; the company could easily leverage those numbers of a weekly email marketing campaign that would include upsells of new products to their existing customers.
The company could use its social media accounts to put more focus on the CBD and glass products, which are fast becoming top selling items. There are also some great options for use of video marketing on sites such as TikTok and YouTube, including videos that follow the same pattern as their blog and educate viewers on how these products are used and which ones offer the best value. The final element of an expanded marketing campaign is to launch the company’s first PPC campaign on Google and use those paid ads to expand their customer base even further.
This is a smooth and effective operation that does not require a lot of manpower to keep it running. The current owner now spends between 10 and 20 hours per week running the business, with a focus on tasks that include packaging and shipping, and responding to customer inquiries, mostly by email. The company now averages about 10 email inquiries per day. The owner has one full-time employee who serves as the company’s business manager and handles all customer service issues.
It hasn’t just been the trend of the legalization of marijuana, both for recreational and medical use, that has given this thriving eCommerce business a strong boost. In recent years, vaporizing has also become extremely popular, often for its health benefits. Numerous studies have indicated that vaping is generally believed to be a safer and healthier alternative to smoking, which is why so many people have made the switch from cigarettes to vaping e-liquids.
Likewise, vaping has become popular among cannabis users. Vaporizing doesn’t burn the cannabis but heats it to a certain temperature so it can be inhaled, but those who are vaping are not inhaling smoke, so this practice is considered healthier than smoking.
Both of these trends have helped make the vaporizer industry a highly profitable one, and since the trend toward legalization is expected to continue, this brand is well positioned to dramatically expand its customer base. Introducing its own brand line products, leveraging B2B sales and a new digital marketing approach are all certain to double or even triple this company’s profits moving forward.
