Establishing a brand presence on six new marketplaces

When Ticia Workman became the Director of Marketplace Growth at Groove Life in 2019, the company had just started selling products on Amazon. Groove Life—a Tennessee-based manufacturer of outdoor lifestyle products—had advertised on Facebook, Instagram, and Google for a while, but Amazon was its first foray into the marketplace landscape.

Workman was the only member of the marketplace team at the time, so she was responsible for managing the company’s Amazon account and growing its marketplace presence across the board. She was interested in listing Groove Life’s products on other channels, but the manual lift it would require was a daunting task.

“The sheer scope of the work was one thing,” Workman said. “Having to handcreate all of the listings, having to put in all of the images by hand, everything like that. Just thinking of having to do that for multiple different locations, with each one having its own set of rules, was something I’d rather not have to deal with.”

Her reluctance was forced to the side when she noticed unauthorized merchants selling Groove Life’s products—which include adventure-inspired rings, watch bands, and belts—on marketplaces like eBay and Walmart. Workman said it was important to establish a brand presence on these channels to portray the brand the way the company wanted it to be perceived.

“The thing that kind of triggered me at first was seeing other vendors selling our products without our knowledge,” Workman said. “That got me to think about one thing, ‘How can I get on eBay?’ That was the first one. I was just thinking about getting on eBay.”

Groove Life had never enlisted outside help with its feeds, but Workman knew she needed assistance to get on eBay as quickly as possible. One of the company’s former partners mentioned Feedonomics as a potential service provider, and Workman liked the idea of having a full-service team to aid her throughout the process.

“When I had my first talk with Feedonomics and the sales rep showed me the portfolio of what you can do, that’s when it really opened my eyes that [selling on multiple marketplaces] is a lot easier than I thought,” Workman said. “They told me we can get five marketplaces for this price. OK, where do we want to go? I just started listing things off, and it was an eye-opening experience, hearing what you could handle. If we’re going to do this, we might as well take advantage and jump on these other channels.”

Workman’s desire to try multiple shopping destinations paired well with Feedonomics’ ability to streamline different marketplace processes, such as product listing, order management and catalog optimization. Since the relationship began in May 2020, Groove Life has added six new marketplaces with the help of Feedonomics—eBay, Walmart, Target Plus, Facebook Shops, Instagram Checkout, and Buy on Google.

The company’s rapid marketplace expansion has not only generated new revenue, but the support and expertise Workman has received from Feedonomics also gave her more time to focus on marketplace strategies and expansion opportunities with Groove Life’s new sister company.

“It’s given me time to think more strategically instead of reactively to issues going on,” Workman said. “I can kind of leave the day-to-day issues behind and focus on how to grow things and use my time more efficiently. That’s priceless, just being able to free mind space. It’s honestly been great.”

Expanding into new marketplaces with ease

eBay was Groove Life’s immediate priority, but it didn’t take long for the company to diversify its marketplace portfolio. Feedonomics’ native integration with Shopify—Groove Life’s ecommerce platform—made it easy to import the company’s data into the platform, while the rest of Workman’s dedicated feed management team at Feedonomics handled catalog listing, product optimization, and more for her. The full-service support she received enabled Groove Life to list its products on five new marketplaces within five months of signing.

“The biggest thing for me is the time management of not having to worry about the APIs, setting everything up,” Workman said. “When I have an issue, I trust that I can just email my Feedonomics team directly, and they’ll get it taken care of. They’ve created a nice, quick process there. Being a team of one, the less stress I can put on myself for these day-to-day things, the better.”

Workman didn’t have to stress about getting approval to sell on Target Plus, either, despite it being an invitation-only marketplace. Feedonomics has feed managers that specialize in Target Plus, so navigating the application process and ensuring Groove Life’s product data was optimized according to the marketplace’s requirements and best practices wasn’t an issue.

After applying in February 2021, Groove Life’s products were approved and live on Target Plus by September. The hands-on support Workman received throughout that process was the type of service she has come to expect with Feedonomics.

“Once we started having weekly calls with [our dedicated feed manager] and her team, everything was so easy,” Workman said. “They were figuring things out that were a lot trickier with our feeds in a day or two—or a week, max. But the support has been so, so good. I’ve become such good friends with my team, too, so that’s been a lot of fun. And then when [our Target specialist from Feedonomics] joined the team, she had everything handled. She’s just so smart. I don’t think we had one issue with our feeds because she was so knowledgeable about everything that was needed.”

New revenue and growth opportunities

Groove Life’s fully optimized product feeds, coupled with the dedicated support she has received, has not only resulted in new revenue, but Workman also has much more time to dedicate to marketplace strategy and expansion opportunities.

“We just purchased a sister company that we’re looking to launch [on marketplaces] as well, so I’ve already been talking to my Feedonomics team about that,” Workman said. “We’re going to try Etsy for the first time with that product line because it just seems to fit that market. So again, I can look at these new marketplaces, stuff we haven’t done before, and I don’t get as anxious about learning a whole new process and having to learn everything from scratch by myself. Because there are people at Feedonomics who know these things, who have done it before with other companies, so it just makes it a lot more comfortable to transition into new areas.”

Exploring new growth opportunities is one of Workman’s focus areas. Take Target Plus, for example. She sees the online marketplace as a way for Groove Life to prove itself, and hopes that sustained success on that channel provides a stepping stone for the company to get into stores at some point. If Groove Life’s initial returns are any indication, the company is off to a good start.

“Target was really a standout for me,” Workman said. “We were hoping it would be, but having just launched in September 2021, we saw really quick growth, especially in Q4. We were able to do $23,000 in December, which is really big for us.”

For context, it took Groove Life six years of marketing on Facebook to produce a similar number. Workman said such an immediate payoff gives her the confidence to push further in terms of the promotions she runs and the product mix she chooses for different marketplaces. The company’s success on multiple channels even created the need for an assistant, so Workman is no longer a team of one. To be fair, she never really was after Feedonomics came on board, and that’s never been more apparent to her than when she has to work with reps from Amazon—the one marketplace Groove Life still chooses to manage in-house.

“The thing that really sets Feedonomics apart, and I will keep touting this, is the team has just been the greatest to work with,” she said. “When I work with people from Amazon Seller Central and keep hitting dead end after dead end, to then jump on a call with someone at Feedonomics— ahh. Thank you, guys. You’re on top of it, I don’t have to worry about you, and you’re so smart.

“And knowing that if Groove Life was to jump into anything else specific, there would be [another Feedonomics expert] to come in and say, ‘Hey, I’ll handle this because I already know Target or Etsy.’ Having that caliber of talent who are personable and easy to work with, that means more to me. I would pay more for a service like that than another company that’s maybe cheaper, but I don’t have that kind of touchpoint with them.”