Website Closers® presents an 8-year-old eCommerce Brand that’s truly worth crowing about. Based within a highly evergreen niche, they market their products to families that have invested in raising their own backyard chickens. While chicken husbandry is historically associated with small, rural and farming communities, the industry has expanded to over 150 of the top metropolitan areas in the US, which have all seen a rising percentage in the number of families raising chickens.
This trend has surged within the past few years, given that many more people have realized how useful it is to have chickens readily available whenever they need them. These customers can freely grow their own food, enjoy fresh eggs (and avoid the high cost of eggs in the supermarket today), and if so inclined, even make a profit by selling what their chickens produce. The company has hatched a following that spans the entire nation, generating them a strong 18% sales growth between 2021 and 2022 – something pretty amazing given that most eCommerce Brands were flat or down in 2022 versus 2021.
Their main product line, in-house designed chicken coops, are made specifically for them to be sold under only their brand name. They offer multiple proprietary coop variations, and their sales have risen to an Average Order Value of $1,200. The profit generated from sales has given them the fodder needed to diversify their SKU line, adding supplementary products such as chicken accessories, automatic chicken coop door openers, and other related items. Many, many more items can be added and sold on a number of platforms other than their website.
Though most of their business is conducted on their Shopify Website, the company has also created an Etsy Storefront for the purpose of selling chickenthemed merchandise, like hand-sewn egg aprons, t-shirts, and tote bags. Their brand has garnered more attention from budding chicken farmers everywhere. This wave of interest has brought with it no shortage of scale opportunities, which the right buyer can use to make the company an undeniable leader within their niche.
They have the benefit of operating within a highly profitable industry, indicating that there are plenty of possible consumers that they could access in time. Out of the entire global food market, the poultry sector is the fastest-growing agricultural sub-sector, having been worth $322.55 billion in 2021. It is expected to continue carrying this momentum in upcoming years, with projections stating that it will be valued at $422 billion by 2025. Chicken also happens to be the main breeding area globally out of all the poultry species, making up for over 90% of the poultry sector.
There has been a growing demand among large and small-scale chicken farms, as well as individual farmers, for effective chicken shelters, turning suitable chicken coops into one of the top products within the poultry industry. This has caused substantial market growth and made businesses such as this one vital for these consumers.
Launched in 2015, the company started out with 3 proprietary chicken coop models, which were provided by a factory that manufactures them from the company’s in-house designs. These coops are perfect for both urban and rural backyards and feature nesting boxes and other details that are highly desirable among consumers.
Customers are also happy to buy from this company because they understand that they are supporting a small family business that puts far more dedicated love and care into their products than most bigname corporations, which are prone to mass production and a general quantity-over-quality approach. This also means that their coops are of higher quality than those of these bigger brands, benefiting both the company and the customers alike.
Another reason why many consumers prefer them over their competitors is the fantastic customer service that they provide. Their coops are carefully packaged and sent through expedited shipping, which keeps them safe, secure, and delivered as swiftly as possible. This quality assurance sets them apart from the resellers of more generic coops and marks them as a leading provider and manufacturer.
In the past, the company’s sales usually peaked around the spring season, but they have seen a sharp jump in scale since then. Their sales have steadily increased with time, to the point where, in June of 2022, they enjoyed a healthy 33% from prior year’s comp.
Their typical customer is a family or individual who has just recently gotten into the world of backyard chicken-keeping and is hoping to find coops reliable enough to protect their livestock from predators, sickness, and any drastic weather conditions that might harm them.
Their growth has been bolstered through the consistent addition of new, desirable products and novelties, including- but not limited to a gift card, an iPhone case with original chicken pattern artwork, socks with chicken artwork, and artificial wooden eggs. These whimsical products make it easy for them to upsell to their audience, making sure that customers keep coming back for more even after they have their own coop.
The strength of this strategy is shown through their over 14,100 subscriber-strong email database, along with a rising Repeat Order Rate of 13%. The company ships up to 50 products a day from their 5,000 square-foot warehouse, in which they keep up to 70% of inventory levels during their peak seasons.
Along with their Shopify and Etsy platforms, the latter of which predominantly features clothing products, they have also expanded their sales channels to include PayPal.
The business has done extensive research to determine that many customers in search of coops typically spend weeks, or, in some cases, months, studying all the options available to them on the market. They might look into styles, designs, or any other specific quality that best suits their purposes. The company has successfully been able to attract these prospective buyers through PPC ads, which lets them better catch the eye of consumers during this process.
Their social media accounts have worked excellently in generating organic traffic, with their Facebook having over 16,000 followers, and their Instagram having over 26,000. They use these sites to showcase their chicken coops in outdoor settings, which helps customers see the difference between their products and those of competing brands.
They have also established a blog on their website, which strengthens this flow of organic interest and contributes to the nearly 19,000 unique visitors that they see every month on average. This is an improvement from 2021, where they saw an average of over 12,800 every month instead.
The company consistently upsells third-party chicken doors to their customers during the checkout process, which helps offset the cost of their PPC marketing plan and brings in additional revenue. These doors are DropShipped from their third-party company at no cost to them, saving them no small amount of money on PPC.
Management has been automated and streamlined enough that the current owner requires no more than 10 hours per week to run the business, which are spent largely on customer service and fulfillment. There are many ways that a buyer could use this time to scale the business, such as adding B2B sales on top of their existing DTC, and by marketing to wholesalers and retailers.
Expanding business onto Amazon and Walmart, both highly popular eCommerce channels, would bring in more revenue than ever before. Another promising tactic would be new digital marketing strategies like starting up an email marketing campaign and utilizing an affiliate program to promote their products.
They could also improve sales by negotiating with FedEx and other carriers to reduce their shipping costs, which they could achieve by redesigning their shipping boxes to be smaller and more costeffective.
The future of the company is certainly something worth looking forward to, as with the rising number of consumers in the US expressing interest in backyard chickens, the coop market will quickly grow alongside the demand.
