Absolute Filth Amazon Case Study: A Minnesota Family Hockey Wax Brand Goes Full-Service on Amazon
This case study shares the work Goat Consulting has done to help Absolute Filth achieve their sales, Amazon Ad profitability, and brand awareness goals. Absolute Filth manufactures hockey wax with premium quality materials to help skaters improve puck control through increased stick-on-puck grip. Based out of St. Michael, Minnesota, Absolute Filth was started by and is run by hockey parents who wanted to address the bad things in existing hockey wax to make it safer for the player and the environment, as well as inject some fun into the locker room. What separates Absolute Filth from other hockey waxes is the fun and unique scents including Northern Lights (cotton candy), Blueline Rush (blueberry), Coco Mango Beach Party (piña colada), and Cake Eater (lemon cake), among many others.| Metric | US | Canada |
|---|---|---|
| Sales Growth | +104.91% | +22.35% |
| ACOS Reduction | -33.45% | -79.35% |
| Sessions Growth | +115.44% | +338.15% |
Amazon performance metrics pulled from Amazon Business Reports and Amazon Advertising Campaign Reports.
The Challenge: A Small Team Scaling Fast
With just the two of them, the business scaled to a point where it was a challenge just keeping up with manufacturing the hockey wax. Absolute Filth knew there were marketing, merchandising, advertising, and operational opportunities to take advantage of, which is why they enlisted Goat Consulting to help. Goat Consulting is helping Absolute Filth focus on what they love doing: engaging with customers and the hockey community and developing new wax, while leaning on Amazon to reach a global audience where they shop and deliver products with confidence.
Merchandising
The best merchandising starts with a great product and clear value propositions. Absolute Filth has clear value propositions including fun scents, premium ingredients that are safer for the environment, a uniquely molded design for easy application, and a product that applies easily in cold weather and protects the stick tape to provide extra grip to the puck.
Keyword and Market Research
For keyword research and market analysis, we used Product Opportunity Explorer to see the specific niche Absolute Filth was competing in. Drilling down into competitors, we could see the Absolute Filth hockey wax was a much more fun branded product compared to others. We got a perspective of the search volume and units sold for the market as well as a glimpse of the seasonality of sales to help with inventory management and planning. The Search Query Performance report allowed us to see the historical search behavior of Amazon customers where relevant high-value search terms and long tail keywords were used in our product listing and Amazon Ads keyword targeting.
Product Details, Variations, and Unified Images
Once we understood how to position ourselves in the marketplace, we updated the title, bullet points, and product descriptions to call out key value propositions. Utilizing parent/child variations, we grouped all of the different SKU scents into one product listing since the product is inherently the same aside from the scent. This creates a better shopping experience as customers can see all the scents on one page and helps cross-merchandise so customers can discover new scents. From a search results perspective, this increases organic rank as the sales from all SKUs are combined into one product listing.
For images, we ensured a consistent and uniform order for each SKU to create brand consistency. We uploaded a variety of videos to show what the product looks like, the wax being applied, the production line to call out the small batch/small business nature of the business, and some lifestyle videos.
Brand Story, Premium A+ Content, and Storefront
The Amazon Brand Story is where we showcased the problem Absolute Filth was looking to solve and the vision of the future: raising the bar for the next generation of hockey. We included "inside baseball" terms such as deek, dodge, and celly to resonate with the target audience, with a link to the Brand ASIN & Store Showcase module.
When Goat Consulting first started working with Absolute Filth, they had a great A+ content page, but we both knew it could be improved by upgrading to Premium A+ Content. We first had to gain access to Premium A+ by ensuring adequate A+ content submissions and the Brand Story published to all listings. Once we got access, we planned out modules that called out value propositions, utilized video assets, and added a comparison chart to allow customers to compare different scents and easily add any SKU to their cart.
The Amazon Store showcases all wax scents, shares more about Absolute Filth, explains why they have the best hockey wax, and answers frequently asked questions. The store modules all link to the wax product listings or link internally to other pages within the store.
A/B Testing, Bundles, and Business Offers
Goat Consulting firmly believes in the concept of continuous improvement and testing assumptions.
A/B Manage Your Experiments: We test through A/B Manage Your Experiments, which sets up two different versions of content shown randomly to Amazon customers, to continuously improve listings based on traffic and conversion results. We test A+ content, bullet points, product images, product descriptions, product titles, and the A+ brand story.
Bundles: We utilized Amazon Virtual Bundles to increase cart size purchases. We reviewed past purchase history and created 3-pack bundles that offer customers a 5% discount compared to purchasing separately. This was a huge win operationally because bundles are just a digital creation and did not require new packaging or different inventory stocking requirements.
Amazon Business Offers: Absolute Filth shared that customers are not just hockey player end users, but also pro shops and hockey equipment outfitters. This inspired us to set up Amazon Business discounts. Absolute Filth now benefits from bulk purchases by pro shops and hockey equipment outfitters that utilize Amazon Business for procurement.
Shipping and Fulfillment — Inventory Management
Sellers try to grow sales, but scaling at a quick rate requires matching that speed and getting orders to customers in the expected time frame. If the Absolute Filth team had to ship every order themselves, they would spend their entire working day shipping orders instead of focusing on what they are good at and want to do: connecting with customers and developing new products.
Fulfillment by Amazon
The FBA service has enabled Absolute Filth to grow sales while maintaining delivery expectations. Amazon customers and hockey players shopping on Amazon expect free and fast delivery, which FBA meets. Absolute Filth does not have a lot of room to store inventory so there are cost savings in warehouse storage by utilizing the fulfillment network. Goat Consulting helped Absolute Filth plan and create shipping plans that help stay in stock while not generating long-term storage fees, with shipments configured in case packs to make the inbound shipping process seamless and cost-effective.
FBA Fees and Unit Economics
Goat Consulting helped Absolute Filth calculate and understand Amazon FBA fees so there is a clear understanding of pricing and profitability requirements for the Amazon sales channel. These unit economics became a baseline for product pricing decisions and Amazon Ads goals for customer acquisition.
Canada and International Expansion
Absolute Filth is located in Minnesota, but there are many hockey players outside of the US, particularly in Canada. Previously, Absolute Filth would have had to either untangle the complexities of exporting or setting up a physical warehouse in Canada. Now, Absolute Filth can streamline this process and outsource warehousing and fulfillment to Amazon. At the time of this writing, 30% of Absolute Filth's Amazon sales are from North of the Border, showing significant customer demand in Canada.
Multi-Channel Fulfillment
Absolute Filth sells not only on Amazon but also on their website. Goat Consulting advised Absolute Filth on the benefits and costs of using Amazon FBA Multi-Channel Fulfillment to fulfill orders from their website and other sales channels.
Amazon Ads
Absolute Filth has a great product, improved merchandising, and inventory in stock using Amazon FBA. The next big push was Amazon Ads setup and continuous optimization to get the hockey wax in front of more potential customers and increase sales profitably.
Planning
Goat Consulting always starts with discussing client goals. We established both subjective and objective goals around increasing sales (profitability) and increasing brand awareness. Absolute Filth is still a relatively small business so there is currently a limited advertising budget, which forces us to focus on the campaigns that meet those goals.
Campaign Setup
We set up Sponsored Products, Sponsored Display, and Sponsored Brand campaigns. Sponsored Products used the keywords generated in research to promote listings within the search results page, reaching customers at the bottom of the marketing funnel. Sponsored Display campaigns increased brand awareness and reached customers across the Amazon store as well as apps and websites outside of Amazon, including retargeting customers searching for hockey tape as a complementary product. Sponsored Brand headline ads allowed Absolute Filth to be front and center and dominate the search results for targeted terms while showcasing custom creative.
Continuous Optimization
Setting up Amazon Ad campaigns is not the end of the story. We regularly pull Amazon Ads data and take actions that get us closer to the goals. Goat Consulting is also an Amazon Ads partner, which gives us access to Amazon Advertising Manager, where we can leverage automation tools that take actions based on rules we put in place on a campaign, keyword, and search term level.
Reporting and Analysis
Goat Consulting pulls Amazon reports and communicates with Absolute Filth on the performance of established KPIs. We compile the data into an easy-to-digest report from Business Reports, Brand Analytics, and Advertising Reports. Business reports help us understand sales, traffic, and conversion by looking at sales over time and by SKU, which informs inventory planning, future product development, and which products to feature in advertising. Brand reports help us understand the bigger picture of brand performance and who the customers are. Amazon Ads reports help with both macro metrics and micro-level optimization, including campaign performance, search term reports, and product reporting showing which variations are most effective.
In Their Own Words
"Running a growing, family run small business is full of challenges. This is why entrepreneurs get out of bed in the morning, right? Face the next challenge with a smile. One challenge that haunted us was this whole 'selling on Amazon' thing. Access to tens of millions of customers was so close, but still so far out of reach. We tinkered with doing it ourselves and were rewarded with wasting a lot of time and energy. Figuring out how the whole Amazon Selling Ecosystem works in a couple hours here and there is simply not possible. Well at least not for this cowboy.
Knowing our product would sell well on Amazon we decided to find a guide that had been there and done that. This is where Goat Consulting came in. Through a measured, structured, approach they helped us establish and learn the fundamentals of running a business on Amazon. Within no time we had the confidence and know how to effectively manage our inventory and to pull the right Amazon advertising levers.
Not gonna lie, it was scary to look at the advertising spend Goat Consulting suggested to meet our sales goals. But we had faith in our product, knew others had found success on Amazon, and trusted Goat. So, we crossed our fingers and jumped into start swimming with the sharks. We launched with a full featured Amazon Advertising campaign and had calculated an initial sales number we had to hit to pay for all of this. Right now, we are looking at that number in the rear-view mirror, and it is so far behind us we can barely see it. The results have been out of this freak'n world. It is good that we are currently looking to hire additional staff to help keep up with our shipments to Amazon. It's a proud moment when you switch from sending boxes to sending pallets of product.
From this success, new wholesale opportunities are unexpectedly popping up all around us. Small, independent hockey stores are finding our products on Amazon, reaching out and establishing wholesale accounts. 12% of our top line revenue is now from these shops that had no idea we existed before we partnered with Goat Consulting.
Looking back at our launch with Goat Consulting, they helped us set up and run a business on Amazon the right way. I will wrap up with the business Axim, 'Work on the business and not in the business.' Work on the business by deciding to sell on Amazon and choosing Goat Consulting to help. The Goat Consulting team are experienced professionals that will get you in business on Amazon. They do all the heavy lifting and show you how everything works and more importantly how it is interconnected. Before you know it; you will start to have a clear understanding of how Amazon works and how your company can exploit the opportunities it provides. When it comes to Amazon, make a note to go with Goat."
- Casey Kirt, Co-founder and Owner of Absolute Filth
Wrapping Up the Absolute Filth Amazon Case Study
It is a privilege for Goat Consulting to help Absolute Filth achieve their goals for selling on Amazon. Absolute Filth has a great hockey wax product that we are excited to share with the hockey community and get into more skaters' hands. This is made possible by the customer reach and services provided by Amazon. We both see that this is not the end of the story for Absolute Filth on Amazon with new opportunities rolling out around merchandising, fulfillment, Amazon Ads, and reporting.
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About the Author - Reed Thompson
This post was written by Reed Thompson, the CEO at Goat Consulting. Reed helps lead the Goat Consulting team and their clients sell on Amazon by increasing sales, mitigating risk, reducing costs, and solving problems. If you want help growing your brand on Amazon or assistance with other aspects of selling on Amazon, please reach out through our contact form.