IN THIS ISSUE

• Are you drowning in a SKU-nami? 🌊

• Poll: Convenience fees, yay or nay? 💳

• How LBM teams are using social media trends 🕺

• Earn a free hoodie! (scroll to the end) 👇🏼

DEEP DIVE

The reality of SKU overload

E-commerce onboarding can feel like a marathon with no finish line when thousands of SKUs are involved. With every additional SKU, the complexity of your e-commerce setup increases, leading to longer onboarding times.

We’ve merchandised hundreds of thousands of SKUs over the past few years. So we decided to crunch the numbers and sure enough, the data suggests that this approach isn't just inefficient—it's unnecessary. For the majority of LBM dealers, most of your sales are coming from a fraction of your total SKUs.

We like to call this the long tail death of LBM e-commerce catalog implementation projects (rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?):

The herculean task of SKU onboarding

Before a single SKU can see the digital shelf light, it’s a slog through the data mud — cleaning, preening, and often a full-on scrub to get those ERP exports customer-facing ready.

• Data cleansing: SKUs imported from an ERP system often arrive with data inconsistencies—missing images, inadequate descriptions, non-standardized specifications. Each SKU demands scrutiny and refinement to meet e-commerce standards.

• Product presentation: Quality merchandising goes beyond clean data; it entails crafting compelling product stories, sourcing images, and ensuring a user-friendly product page. The work multiplies with each additional SKU.

• Search optimization: Each product requires tailored SEO efforts to be discoverable. Thousands of SKUs translate into thousands of opportunities for optimization—and thousands of hours spent tweaking metadata.

Sometimes having a large assortment of products can be a case of too much too soon.

A lean launch for immediate results

A lean, mean SKU strategy gets you off the starting blocks faster than the competition. Your team could be live, taking orders, and getting cozy with search engines while competitors are still counting their inventory. It also ensures that when you show up, you show up with the might of quality on your side.

Here’s our two cents on a lean SKU strategy:

Start with the SKUs that matter. Analyze your ERP product reports and extract a list of your top-selling items. Next, assess their contribution to your overall sales. While the specific product mix and customer shopping habits vary by business, we have commonly seen that just a few thousand SKUs can amount to as much as 98% of total sales. Starting with a curated selection of proven best-sellers streamlines the initial setup and allows for a strategic focus on merchandise that's more likely to convert.

Prioritize the experience. With fewer SKUs, your team can allocate more resources to perfecting each product's presentation, thus enhancing the overall customer journey and increasing the likelihood of converting more potential customers who land on your store.

Iterate on expanding your catalog. Once your store is live and operational with top-performing SKUs, gaining traction in search engines, and your team are comfortable handling online sales, you can gradually introduce additional products. This phased approach ensures that your e-commerce store remains agile, manageable, and most importantly, not stuck in an never-ending state of “coming soon”.

The SKU sweet spot

Sure, a vast product catalog has its perks, like boosting your site's SEO and drawing more eyeballs. However, starting with your top-performing SKUs is a strategic move for early e-commerce success. It's all about getting bang for your buck right out of the gate, without skimping on customer satisfaction. Most shoppers won't miss the long tail items initially, so prioritize your best-sellers, streamline the shopping experience, and watch your ROI improve.

PULSE CHECK

We will provide a breakdown of results from dealer’s responses in our next issue.

WORTH READING

• Lowe’s launches immersive style studio: 🏡 You wouldn’t buy a car without test-driving it, so why should your new kitchen be any different? Lowe’s newly launched digital style studio allows users to experiment with different home decor styles and visualize potential home improvements in a simulated environment. It's a practical tool for those looking to see their options come to life before making any real-world changes. The downside? You’re going to need an Apple Vision Pro to use it 🤑

• New Farnsworth report highlights the latest DIY trends in home improvement: 🔨 Key takeaways from the report include a nuanced understanding of how and why DIY projects have gained momentum, influenced by factors like economic shifts, technological advancements, and changing consumer values. The report dissects various demographic data, highlighting how different age groups and backgrounds approach DIY projects. If you’re looking to tap into the DIY market's potential, this is for you.

FROM OUR PRODUCT TEAM

We recently added a ‘Project Tags’ tab to the customer portal

The ‘Project tags’ tab offers an intuitive way for your Pros to organize their invoices, credit notes, orders, and statements under a specific job. Project tags are synced with your ERP and allow Pros to easily filter, view and pay items related to that project online.

They can also edit the project name to something more memorable and add useful notes. Customers do not have the ability to create a new project tag that is not already in your system so changes in the customer portal will not affect your ERP.

NAIL THE TREND

Fastek employees jumping on a popular trend format to increase their reach. Watch how they're nailing the digital game to engage contractors.

This highlight reel from HPM Hawaii’s Extreme Tool Sale event showcases the community vibe they’ve built around their store and with their customers.

We really like this explainer video from Urban Lumber Co. educating customers on the thickness system they use for rough sawn lumber.

@urbanlumbercokc

We wanted to give a little explanation about the thickness system we use for rough sawn lumber! 🪚 #roughsawnlumber #sawmill #lumberthickne... See more

Woodland Building Supply hopping on a popular trend to creatively show their expertise.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Your thoughts?

Was this issue a hit or a miss? Whether it's cheers or jeers, we're all ears. Share your feedback and tell us what you're itching to see more of. Just hit 'Reply' to this email with your thoughts.