Website Closers® presents a terrific, SBA Pre-Qualified opportunity to own a well-established eCommerce company with 20 years of experience successfully marketing its own trademarked brand of swimwear and accessory fashions. Swimwear is a tremendously successful industry, valued at $18.8 billion in 2018 and projected to rise to $29.1 billion by 2025.
In fact, 2021 is expected to be an extraordinarily lucrative year for this industry as families get back to scheduling vacations, particularly to beach resorts. That trend has been propelling exceptionally strong growth in the market today.
Over the years, this brand has expanded its SKUs and now offers 125 products. With an average order value of $86, the brand brought in $450,000+ in gross revenue last year, an impressive figure that demonstrates how effectively this company has built up its loyal customer base.
This company’s repeat customer rate is now at 25% and rising. With sales across multiple eCommerce platforms and a strong social media presence, this brand is perfectly positioned to grow rapidly.
Founded in 2001, the company started out by purchasing from a wholesale manufacturer, then relabeled the company under its brand name. In 2004, a private label company was contracted to exclusively produce their products under the company’s label, and by 2010, the company had started producing its own proprietary brand of swimwear and accessory fashions.
In this highly competitive industry, the company has been enjoying gross profit margins in excess of 80% and return refund rates below 6%, both significantly better than the industry norm.
Their product line continues to expand, and the company added 15-20 new products each year, while 10-15 products get closed out. While the vast majority of their products are designed for women, a small but growing percent are now designed for men as well. The product line is typically released weekly between November and March.
While the sale of swimwear dropped in 2020 due to the lockdowns, this company used a highly effective social media campaign, combined with SEO enhancements to increase revenues by 21% last year. Their customer base rose from 11,200 in 2019 to over 15,000 by August 2021, an impressive figure in a challenging year for the industry as vacations got postponed due to social distancing requirements.
Their customer demographics in 2020 were interesting. Sixty-three percent were between the ages of 45-65+. While men’s products only make up about 8% of the company’s revenues, the majority of their buyers are men, who make 55% of sales and are buying these products for women.
Sales are done across the company’s website, their Amazon platform, and on Etsy. The vast bulk of sales (83%) are conducted on their website, with 12% of Amazon and 6% on Etsy.
Their social media campaign has been a mix of paid and organic traffic. That includes running PPC ads on Facebook and Google.
They have a strong presence on social media and now have 139,000+ followers on Facebook, 15,200 on YouTube, and 3,600+ on Instagram. Their social media posts, along with a blog on their website, have helped to drive organic traffic to their website.
The company had 1.1 million visitors to their website last year, and 4.4 million page views.
Email marketing has also proven to be highly effective. Their email database now has 15,000+ subscribers, and they have been adding up to 1,000 new subscribers each year. The brand sends out bi-weekly email promotions to its subscribers.
To understand how effective their marketing has been, last year the company averaged 18 orders a day, and shipped 4,610 orders throughout 2020. The company has a 950 square foot facility that is used for production, warehousing, shipping, and administrative work.
They also use Fulfillment By Amazon for their Amazon purchases.
This company has a very efficient system that does not require a huge daily workload. The current owners now spend 15 hours per week running the business, with tasks that include website and eCommerce maintenance, production oversight and product design assistance.
They have three employees, including a seamstress, a fabric cutter, and a shipping coordinator.
Weekly tasks include restocking inventory, handling packaging and shipping, and managing customer service inquiries by phone or email. The company typically gets 10-15 inquiries a day, mostly by email.
There are numerous opportunities for a new owner to enjoy rapid growth with this business. Right now, only 15 of their products are listed on Amazon, and sales are likely to rise sharply with an expanded product line on Amazon and Etsy as well as Walmart, which the company is now approved to sell on.
The company could also use Amazon for international distribution, expanding the product line to Amazon’s overseas platforms.
The company could also develop a more aggressive social media campaign that focuses on platforms where their products are not currently being marketed. The company likewise could put a stronger focus on its SEO program and blog and use keyword research to help expand organic traffic to their website.
The clearest option for expanding profitability would be to continue to add new SKUs to the Amazon store, which shows significant growth trends. The company has already successfully used this strategy to balance seasonality. In fact, the company initially tested the viability of this approach by registering its brand on Amazon and introducing a limited number of products to that platform, which rapidly saw adoption and sales growth.
It proved to be a winning strategy, and the company then expanded on Etsy and Walmart. To date, 20% of the company’s 125 products have been added to the Amazon and Etsy platforms, and those combined orders represented 19% of total gross revenues last year.
The company has demonstrated numerous clear strengths over the years, including the ability to continue expanding its line of trademarked products, the appeal to male customers, and their creative approach to social media marketing. The company’s ability to expand sales during an exceedingly difficult year for the industry demonstrated how well grounded this eCommerce platform is. For a new owner, some simple changes just clearly position this brand for a huge growth spurt.
With Americans now eager to get back to traveling and vacation time, it’s the perfect moment to take this brand to a higher level.
