eCommerce business is the buying and selling of goods and services through online platforms. It is the goldmine today when it comes to trading. A lot of traditional shops or business owners are now diving into eCommerce to boost their customer base and sales.
Unfortunately, running an eCommerce business is not a straightforward path to success. Sometimes things become rough and you begin to doubt your choices. You begin to wonder if you are ever going to be successful.
It is at this moment that you must begin to gather up motivation and draw inspiration from those who have done it before you, those who have walked the part and are making it already.
So I have rounded up some of my favorite online retail examples that are killing it in the eCommerce market. Hopefully, you can learn from them and draw inspiration from their successes and apply it to your eCommerce business.
Here are my 6 best examples of top eCommerce Businesses.
1. Wayfair – From a 2-Person company to $9 billion in revenue
Wayfair Inc. is a popular name in American eCommerce. They are an American company that specializes in the sales of furniture and other interior decoration products. The company was founded by Steve Conine and Niraj Shah in 2002. They started the company together with nothing but a makeshift office but have managed to grow it to a successful eCommerce business.
With hard work, Steve Conine and Niraj Shah grew the company from just a few suppliers and items to selling over 13 million goods supplied from over 11,000 suppliers from all over the world. Wayfair made sales of over US$9.127 billion in 2019 alone.
They have put in tremendous efforts in driving their eCommerce business through two methods:
- Good advertising and marketing. Wayfair makes good use of video marketing. They also make sure to highlight their best products, pushing ad campaigns to get them known using catchy tunes that consumers can easily identify with.
- Highly attractive discounts compared to competitors and free shipping all year round.
These have helped to put Wayfair at the top of their game.
2. YouFoodz – Australia’s #1 online healthy meals
YouFoodz is an online food delivery company in Australia that is taking advantage of the billion-dollar food market. Founded in 2015, YouFoodz is based in Brisbane.
They specialize in cooking fresh meals and healthy snacks and delivering them to customers in the comfort of their homes along with drinks. YouFoodz has mastered the trendy concept of ready-made healthy food and has capitalized on the need of consumers for fast, easy, and healthy food options.
In 2020, YouFoodz raked in $127 million in estimated revenue and gross profits of $37 million.
YouFoodz has made use of two strategies in pushing its eCommerce business.
- A customer referral program, in which referrals get a certain percentage from sales made. This proved to be a killer way for them to get their brand name out there.
- Generous incentives in giving free meals to new customers for their first week. Once customers are hooked onto the service, many become loyal customers.
3. Endy Sleep – Selling sleep for $20 million annually
Endy Sleep is a Canada-based eCommerce mattress company that sells sleep for money. Endy mattresses cost $1000 and above and they are making bank for an online-only mattress company. They made sales of over $20 million in 2017 (last publicly available data).
So how do they do it?
Well, Endy’s big strategy is to promise a no-risk trial of 100 nights of good amazing sleep. A full refund is offered for any customer who doesn’t enjoy the mattress within the first 100 nights.
This strategy has worked amazingly for Endy as they have one of the lowest return rates on mattresses – in an industry notorious for bad products.
However, the company was purchased in 2018 by Sleep Country Canada for about $68 million.
4. Warby Parker – Building a sunglasses empire
Warby Parker is an American company that was founded in 2010 by four American businessmen, Neil Blumenthal, Andrew Hunt, David Gilboa, and Jeffrey Raider. They are an eCommerce company that deals in the sale of eyewear with its headquarters in New York.
Warby Parker sells prescription glasses, non-prescription glasses, and sunglasses through their website and 80 other retail stores across Canada and the U.S.
A marketing strategy which Warby uses to bring in customers is their five frame trial. Warby Parker allows customers to order five frames from their website and offers them a five day free trial without any additional charges.
This strategy has worked for them as Warby Parker raked in revenue of over $250 million in 2019. The company also employs 1400 people across the U.S and Canada.
5. Birchbox – Tapping into a multi-billion dollar beauty industry
Birchbox is an eCommerce cosmetics company that offers monthly subscriptions to their customers online. Their subscribers can order selected samples of beauty products ranging from perfumes, skincare products, etc. and the company delivers the products to the subscribers.
Birchbox is based in New York and was founded by Katia Beauchamp and Hayley Barna in September 2010.
The company has come a long way financially from October 2010 when it secured $1.4 million in seed money from investors. It was also able to get $10 million in Series A Funding in August 2011 and since then it has been able to generate over $60 million in Series B Funding by April 2014.
By the time Birchbox open opened its first offline store in New York in 2014, it was valued at $485 Million.
In October 2014, the company improved on its strategy by collaborating with Soldsie to help launch its Instagram shop. The shop was targeted at Instagram users and it allowed them to order products on Instagram by leaving a comment on the photo of the product they want using the hashtag #birchboxcart.
This strategy worked tremendously well as the company had a million subscribers and had raised $90 million in funding by May 2018.
6. Dollar Shave Club – Grooming their way with eCommerce
Dollar Shave Club is an eCommerce company that deals with the delivery of grooming products like razors and clippers. The company was founded by Mark Levine and Michael Dubin in 2011 and is based in Venice, California.
Dollar Shave club opened up its website in April 2011. They were able to secure an investment of $1 Million in March 2013 which helped to kick start the business.
In 2014, the company expanded its product line for men. They continued to push the company and in 2016 the company was reportedly bought by Unilever for $1 billion.
Final thoughts
Have these eCommerce success stories inspired you? Do you have any other eCommerce examples to share? I would love to hear from you – leave a comment below!