Website Closers® presents an innovative company that developed an at home, Fully Patented Pedicure product along with an accompanying Professional Version. Within 4 years, this company has developed a robust B2B wholesale customer base and equally strong sales on its eCommerce channels, especially Amazon.com. With just 5 SKUs, the company has enjoyed fast-rising sales and an expanding customer base, with their B2B customers having become a solid base for repeat sales. The company’s success should come as no surprise given that it holds a strong Utility Patent, which created a defensive moat against competitors. Based on glowing customer reviews on Amazon, this company has made a strong connection with seniors who say their home pedicure products have become a major convenience for them.
The Beauty Tools Market is a rapidly growing one, now projected at $145 billion globally and expected to experience massive growth in the coming years. This brand not only fits within that niche field, but also appeals to another key demographic: seniors. The global population of people aged 60 and older is projected to rise from 606 million in 2000 to over 2 billion by 2050, an enormous customer base. The elderly have become major consumers within the beauty industry, which markets both anti-aging products and those that improve skincare.
Launched in 2017, the company had a simple and effective pitch to its prospective customer base: what if you could treat your feet to a comfortable pedicure, but have it done at home? The products were family designed to make those home pedicures safe, simple to handle and very effective. Their at home pedicure assistant is ordered as a standard product that includes an LED light for a close up look at the nails afterwards, or the Pro version that adds a magnifier and drying fan. Several accessories are also sold separately.
The products made for this brand come from a supplier in China and are shipped directly to the company’s warehouse. The products have sold exceptionally well, especially on Amazon, which accounts for 35% of all sales. Customer feedback, including from many who point out that they are seniors, emphasize how they initially sought out this product during the Covid lockdowns, that it works really well, and how easy it is for them to sit down, relax and work on their nails. For many, the option to do personal nail care at home and at their convenience has become a major selling point for these SKUs, and the customer reviews couldn’t be stronger.
The products were initially sold through Sharper Image and Hammacher Schlemmer catalogs, and the company benefitted from positive exposure from feature segments on Good Morning America, The Today Show and The View. That enabled this brand to cultivate strong relationships with retailers who were quickly becoming their main customer base, up to 55% of gross revenue. The company was able to build on those relationships to attract sales from major retailers such as Sally’s Beauty, a top site for a host of beauty products.
With prices that are appealing to both retailers and DTC – the main pedicure assistant prices at $29.95 and the Pro version is $39.95 – the company got a major boost from the closure of spas and pedicure salons due to the pandemic. Even as many of those salons have reopened, by now customers have gotten used to doing it at home, where it feels safer from a health perspective, and these products are easy to use.
Today, 75% of sales are from the wholesale market and 25% are DTC. Sales remain strong throughout the year. There is some dip in sales during the coldest winter months, although it should be noted that sales do skyrocket around the holidays. As a simple product to ship, their SKUs have become a popular holiday gift item and an equally popular purchase around Mother’s Day.
The shift toward more online purchasing and customers (particularly seniors) spending more time at home have both helped drive sales much higher in the past year.
With a large B2B base, the company hasn’t utilized a traditional marketing campaign yet. Products sold through their retail partners are naturally advertised by those individual retailers, while Amazon allows this company to take advantage of their in-house online marketing tools. That opens up a wealth of opportunities to expand the customer base even further through a more sophisticated digital marketing campaign.
PPC ads are among the most promising tools and could be divided between paid ads on Amazon to boost the traffic there, and PPC ads on Google to direct customers to their own Shopify site, which remains underutilized as a sales channel.
The company could benefit from optimizing its website for search engines and add an educational blog that would further enrich their SEO marketing efforts. Social media marketing provides additional growth opportunities. While the company has a Facebook page, posts could be expanded to other sites such as Instagram and Pinterest, while educational videos demonstrating how the products are used would be ideal for audiences on YouTube or TikTok.
Since most of the brand’s retailer base are repeat customers, that gives this company a strong expansion option through more careful targeting of additional retailers in the field of beauty care products. That gives this business an exceptionally large field to market to, and their phenomenal past sales and the fact that seniors make up a key part of their customer demographic should both be major selling tools.
The business is highly automated, and the current owner now spends around 10 hours per week running it, with the assistance of two contract employees who handle bookkeeping and sales. A key part of running this business daily is simply making sure an adequate amount of stock is available and that shipments are made in a timely manner.
With an entirely proprietary set of products, terrific customer demographics, and excellent relationships with both suppliers and retail partners, this company has impressive strengths for any buyer to consider.
The fact that their products are becoming a popular gift item is more icing on the cake. With such a strong foundation, a buyer need only use some well-established marketing tools to turn this business into a financial powerhouse.
