How an eComm Furniture Company Benefited from an ASP Project

Simpli Home Case Study

The Company

Simpli Home is a furniture company that conventionally sold through multiple marketplaces but was looking to build their direct-to-consumer (DTC) channel and better serve customers online. Simpli Home fills a gap in the market and makes great furniture more accessible by offering high-quality, stylish designs at an affordable price through their disruptive business model.

The Challenge

Simpli Home was ready to take their business to the next level. They wanted to build a stronger brand presence, increase sales on their new DTC website, while scaling up their partner channels efforts. To achieve all of this, Simpli Home needed marketing leadership to help build a positive and memorable reputation among consumers.

The Goal

Simpli Home needed immediate help to:

  • Establish a well-recognized brand
  • Grow their direct-to-consumer channel
  • Foster a halo-effect across the whole organization
  • Recruit and build an internal marketing team

The Results

Combining an ASP Project and Fractional CMO services, Able & Howe established Simpli Home’s marketing foundations. Within the first 5 months, Simpli Home realized the following outcomes:

Revitalized brand position, messaging, and visuals.

225% revenue increase on the rebranded direct-to-consumer website in 5 months.

Newly established marketing department, talent, and structure.

Yoram

"Able & Howe provided the expertise we needed to evolve."

~ Yoram Weinreich, Co-President, Simpli Home

Our Key Responsibilities

What We Did:

  • Conducted an ASP (audit, strategy, and plan) project.
  • Completed a marketing stack audit.
  • Created a marketing strategy to achieve predefined goals.
  • Developed a marketing plan to increase brand recognition and direct sales.
  • Our fractional CMO directed internal team members and the Able & Howe fractional execution team to complete initiatives toward achieving the planned marketing objectives.
    • Provided channel, brand, and project management.
  • Successfully built and onboarded the internal marketing team to a management system.
  • Hired a global content manager for promotions and brand continuity.

Ongoing Engagement:

  • Provide ongoing execution services in paid advertising.
  • Provide leadership, strategy and guidance through executive representation.

How it Happened

After conducting the ASP audit and leveraging our in-source marketing model™, Able & Howe directed a complex sequence of projects—drawing on Simpli Home’s internal team, Able & Howe’s execution team, as well Able & Howe’s expansive network of industry partners. Layer-by-layer, Simpli Home’s marketing foundations were set into place.

Evaluate

Able & Howe conducted a thorough ASP Project, including an audit of Simpli Home’s current marketing stack to uncover strengths, weaknesses, and function gaps.

Strengths

Simpli Home had spent over two decades building a successful eCommerce business model, they had established strong supply chain operations and relationships with retail partners. They also had a competitive advantage in the market through their stylish, affordable, and high-quality furniture offerings.

Weaknesses

Simpli Home was a sales-led organization that had hit a growth plateau. They needed to shift their focus to become a marketing-forward company to achieve exponential growth and achieve their DTC channel objectives. But, they lacked brand recognition in the market and needed to establish themselves as a leader in their market niche.

Function Gaps

Simpli Home lacked marketing leadership. They didn’t have the expertise to accelerate their business towards their bold business objectives and create a integrated advertising plan across sales channels.

Create

  • Able & Howe worked with Simpli Home to develop the marketing strategy, plan, and project timeline to address the goals and weaknesses identified in the ASP project.
    • This included the identification of a prosperous channel strategy to pursue.

Evolve

  • Able & Howe implemented a SharePoint structure and Asana software to aid project management.
  • We completed a brand visualization project to enhance Simpli Home’s online presence and overall brand messaging to encompass their values of high-quality, accessible, stylish, and sustainable furniture.
  • Simpli Home and Able & Howe collectively determined team member responsibilities for cross-functional activities between Simpli Home’s sales, marketing, and product purchasing teams to achieve a higher degree of communication for more accurate financial forecasting.

Activate

  • We created, redesigned, and branded a new UX and SEO-friendly DTC website.
  • We launched a cross-channel advertising campaign for the new DTC website.
  • We optimized digital channels to increase brand awareness and promote direct sales. The channels include the following:
    • Social
    • SEO
    • Email
  • We launched an influencer program to increase brand recognition and awareness.
  • We implemented a new consumer review software to increase brand advocacy and trust in a competitive market.

Enable

  • Able & Howe currently provides a full-time interim CMO.
  • We helped to hire and onboard a global content manager for promotions and brand continuity.
  • Able & Howe provides consistent upskilling to the internal Simpli Home marketing team to build their expertise and work towards their marketing independence.
  • The Able & Howe execution services team continues to execute paid advertising leadership and execution while building a continuity document that can be transferred to a future hire.