How Fellowes Brands Overcame a Sales Plateau with Fresh Content and Hyper-Efficient Advertising
Prominent home and office technology brand doubles year-over-year sales with a full-catalog content audit and sponsored advertising blitz.
A passive approach to Amazon caused Fellowes Brands to stagnate.
Their once dominant presence on the Amazon platform leveled off as competitors made gains and increased market share. With a complex array of options in front of them and a large catalog in need of attention, Fellowes Brands was unsure of where to focus their efforts.
After Orca Pacific took over advertising and content for Fellowes Brands
They saw a 120 percent increase in sales with a staggering $29.22 return on advertising spend (ROAS). The home and office brand also reclaimed their market share with 80 percent of all new sales coming from non-branded product searches.
To get Fellowes out of their slump, our team decided to develop and implement a complete front-to-back Amazon strategy driven towards holistic growth. After taking a deep look at the options, our experts came together to construct a three-part solution specifically designed to increase conversion, correct operational issues, and ultimately drive sales growth.
Full Catalog Audit
When it comes to selling on Amazon, nothing should be done halfway. So we parsed through Fellowes Brands’ entire catalog to 1) update content and 2) correct costs. During our audit, we discovered that a number of items sold by Fellowes Brands were either listed incorrectly, listed only under 3P sellers, or not listed at all. We corrected this by adding in all missing selections.
Advertising and Promotions
Amazon is more than a retailer; it’s an advertising platform. Therefore, taking full advantage of various advertising opportunities was imperative for Fellowes Brands to stay ahead of their competition and, ultimately, to drive their sales. Our advertising strategy featured both 1) sponsored brand ads and 2) sponsored product ads. To work in tandem with our new advertising efforts, we began listing 3) promotions on select products and featuring them on the Amazon Deals page.
Operational Initiatives
Driving sales is only half the battle. Optimized operations on the back-end allows for those sales to become sustainable growth. Starting with 1) Pallet Offers, we cut the cost for Fellowes Brands to ship their products to Amazon and encouraged larger purchase orders. Next, we pursued 2) Drop Ship as a method for Fellowes Brands to ship certain products directly to consumers, allowing them to take more control over their inventory and ensure that products never went unavailable to customers.
“Amazon continues to rapidly evolve and require a continuous mindset of testing and learning to stay ahead. Fellowes’ willingness to consider ideas outside the box and embrace creative solutions in programs like Amazon Dropship allows them to remain nimble and stay ahead of the curve. That’s a huge factor in their success on the platform.”
– Kyle Olson, Business Manager, Orca Pacific –
In only a few months’ time implementing their new strategy, Fellowes Brands CA shredded through their sales goals.
Halfway into 2019, they had increased shipped units by 70 percent year-to-date, year-over year and projected cost of goods (PCOGS) by 120 percent year-to-date, year-over-year. Behind that monumental growth was their successful advertising strategy which brought back a staggering $29.22 return on advertising spend (ROAS) with 80 percent of total ad attributed sales coming from non-branded search campaigns, or shoppers not actively considering Fellowes Brands in their path to purchase. These total advertising sales made up almost 50 percent of their overall cost of goods (COGS).
Beyond traditional sales and advertising metrics, improved content significantly reduced Fellowes’ product return rates and revised shipping methods reduced their “out-of-stock” occurrences.
“I find Orca Pacific to be extremely knowledgeable and willing to do whatever it takes to reach our common goals,” said Joe Svec, Strategic Accounts Manager for Fellowes CA. “In this complex and ever-changing world of e-commerce, it is imperative to have a well-informed and professional agency to work with, and I can say that we couldn’t be happier with the service Orca Pacific has provided.”