I often focus an “Ecommerce Conversations” episode on Beardbrand, my enterprise. I do this to not promote the corporate however to share our challenges and successes within the hopes of serving to others.
In 2024 alone, I’ve addressed final 12 months’s gross sales decline, continued hurdles, and the effort of altering achievement suppliers. I additionally interviewed our legal professional, who efficiently defended us in a lawsuit alleging accessibility violations.
We’ve now overcome a lot of our operational setbacks. We needed to relaunch sure merchandise and swap our producer. We’ve moved to a warehouse right here in Texas, which supplies us extra oversight. With these issues solved, the main target shifts again to development and discovering new channels.
That’s what I’ll talk about on this episode. My complete audio is embedded under. The transcript is edited for readability and size.
Black Friday, Cyber Monday
Our 2024 Black Friday and Cyber Monday campaigns didn’t meet expectations. Historically, our BFCM focus is product launches as a substitute of discounting. We wished to introduce a brand new product for Black Friday, however the launch was delayed till Cyber Monday after which pushed to mid-December. This disrupted our vacation promoting. Gross sales weren’t down, however the missed product launch made a noticeable dent.
Final 12 months, we launched a bundling promo — purchase three gadgets, get a fourth free — and it carried out so properly that we saved it as a everlasting function. We had no related Black Friday promo this 12 months. We thought of a subscription-based low cost however determined in opposition to it because of considerations about sending the mistaken message to clients and the potential complexity of managing it.
I additionally despatched an e-mail inadvertently encouraging clients to attend for Cyber Monday as a substitute of making the most of Black Friday offers.
Cyber Monday was our greatest income day since Black Friday 2023. We had deliberate to launch our utility deodorant this 12 months, nevertheless it too received pushed to mid-December.
We reverted on Monday to providing pre-launch pricing to loyal clients. That they had a brief window to buy the product at a cheaper price. This technique is my most well-liked strategy to deal with reductions as a result of it feels much less like a markdown and extra like a product launch with dynamic pricing.
We despatched three emails all through Cyber Monday selling the eventual launch, which helped enhance gross sales. Nonetheless, there have been some logistical hiccups. Our pre-launch pricing wasn’t displaying accurately, and we needed to repair it final minute. Regardless of the challenges, the promo went properly, and we hit our gross sales targets.
Gross sales Development
November 2024 gross sales had been up about 8% in comparison with final 12 months. Nonetheless, we’re changing misplaced natural YouTube gross sales with advertisements. In 2022, 48% of recent buyer gross sales got here from YouTube, producing roughly $670,000. By 2023, that dropped to $366,000; this 12 months, we’ll be fortunate to achieve $250,000. With YouTube turning into much less efficient, we’ve needed to shift to social platforms resembling Fb and X, bringing our general 2024 promoting spend 75% increased than final 12 months.
Adapting for 2025
As we transfer to 2025, we’re in a greater place operationally, however we’d like development channels. Beardbrand’s merchandise are consumable — ideally, clients will reorder. We could discover new fragrances or product sizes in 2025 however received’t go overboard with launches. The aim is to deal with top-selling merchandise with constant buyer training and communication.
Our enterprise is essentially shifting. We should assess the expansion potential of natural channels resembling YouTube or, as a substitute, shift to promoting for buyer acquisition.
I by no means set gross sales targets. I focus as a substitute on the inputs and let the outputs observe. Companies ought to recognize the onerous work and energy, no matter whether or not it pans out. Components like timing, market circumstances, and even packaging can affect success, as can a little bit of luck.
In the end, it’s important to benefit from the journey. Day-after-day is a present. There’s no proper or mistaken strategy to construct a enterprise — it’s about aligning it along with your values and targets. That’s the great thing about being an entrepreneur.