Hooked On E-Commerce: Finding New Revenue Streams For West Coast Seafood Supplier
West Coast Select had seen declining revenues in the wake of the global pandemic. This was attributed in part to the decrease in tourism, which had impacted the sale of shelf-stable salmon products at airports and specialty retailers. They approached Blue Meta for help in identifying ways they could diversify their operations that would generate additional revenue streams for them. The creation and development of a new brand were just one of several tactics that were undertaken.
ABOUT West Coast Select
West Coast Select sells over 130 different sizes and items of premium seafood products, supplements, and pet treat that are sustainably sourced. They offer two distinct product lines to meet the needs of retailers: one is sold frozen and the other is a complete line of non-refrigerated products. Their frozen line is well regarded in the fine dining restaurant industry as well as high-end grocers, delis and gift shops.
1. CHALLENGES
Finding ways to supplement the company’s current revenue streams during the pandemic was just one of the many challenges the Blue Meta team was facing. Another one was offering customers a convenient and practical way to buy healthy seafood options. We also wanted to consider potential tactics that would add value to these purchases. This included looking at things from virtually every angle:
- Pricing is needed to encourage both trial and long-term commitment.
- Messaging needed to include family values and sustainability – key selling points for today’s consumers.
- An outstanding customer experience needed to be guaranteed at every point along the customer buying journey.
- A marketing campaign would need to focus on the new brand, the products, AND the buying options. The goal was to create brand and product awareness while driving consumers to purchase online.
The team recognized that a new brand would be entering a very competitive and saturated market, one that forced companies to innovate in order to stay ahead. We also knew that over-packaging was one of the reasons consumers say they didn’t like to use meal kit services. Pricing was another. In addition to that, the competition was increasing with grocery stores delivering food directly to customers’ doors.
The team’s recommendations incorporated a marketing brand strategy to build out the new brand as well as a digital marketing launch strategy.
2. Strategy
Following extensive research, competitive analysis, and a thorough review of the existing market, we proposed that West Coast Select create a new direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand – one that would resonate with their target audience while encouraging them to purchase products online via a user-friendly e-commerce website.
The site would feature all of West Coast Select’s existing products as well as those that fell under the new brand. Marketing efforts would direct consumers to discover the new brand and to consider the new delivery service model (e-commerce).
Before launching the new brand though, it needed to be fully built out. This meant naming, messaging, and identifying those features and benefits that would resonate the most with the intended audience.
3. EXECUTION
Naming
Naming options were explored with the client choosing to go with “GoFysh”, A new logo and brand guidelines followed.
To help build out the new brand, Blue Meta led a photo/video shoot that embodied the new brand’s essence. These content pieces were used extensively throughout the launch, in digital ads, and on the website.
Messaging
Buy-in from the new brand’s target audience was critical. To help encourage this, the team focused on a number of key messaging pillars including the brand’s “back” story, belief in the product, convenience, freshness, sustainability, reduced packaging, and healthy lifestyles. Educational content regarding the products was also developed.
Value-Adds
To make the new brand and its products even more appealing, the team came up with a series of potential value adds that could be included as touch points at any given time throughout the buying process.
- Encourage top-ups to deliver boxes with frequent communications regarding additional products to add to their box: different flavors, additional supplements, and in-season seafood (limited time offer – create time urgency and move product).
- Add a trial size or full-size product to the box for those who choose to pick their box up as opposed to shipping it.
- Include messages thanking customers for their business.
- Other value-adds that were provided included branded monthly calendars for meal planning and shopping lists, recipe cards (print/digital), and information regarding the importance of including fish and fish oil in diets.
Website
A detailed sitemap was developed, followed by designed pages. These pages showcased the new brand, product offerings, delivery service, and more. The site was built on Shopify, an e-commerce platform chosen for its ease of use, ability to handle inventory, SEO opportunities, automatic updates, and simple integration with other platforms like social media.
A digital marketing strategy was developed that would create brand awareness and promote product and delivery sales. In addition to the marketing tactics noted above, others included:
- Social ads
- Google search ads
- Email marketing and automation
- Packaging concepts
4. RESULTS
Success was measured based on the growth of sales, deliveries, and pre-purchase buying indicators like add-to carts. We also tracked the following:
- ROAS
- CAC
- Revenue
- Increase in email sign-ups
Results
The overall growth – month over month – has proven to be very promising, especially given that this was a new brand launching during a pandemic into what was already a very challenging online environment.
To date, we have seen the following:
- 312% increase in sales over the past 8 months
- 272% increase in online store conversion rate
- Over 500,000 users were reached with online ads
- 254% increase in return on ad spend