HEXCLAD COOKWARE
CLIENT
LOCATION
INDUSTRY
LAUNCH
SERVICES
HexClad Cookware
United States
Premium Cookware
June 2021
Amazon Store Setup
Monthly Store Management
How an innovator in the cookware industry fired up sales with brand building products
Founded in 2016, HexClad Cookware introduced a unique line of hybrid cookware combining the performance of stainless steel, the durability of cast iron, and the convenience of nonstick. Initially selling through direct-to-consumer channels and roadshows, HexClad sought to amplify its reach by entering the Amazon marketplace.
To optimize their Amazon presence, HexClad established a branded Amazon storefront to create a cohesive brand experience for customers and developed A+ content to utilizing high-quality images, videos, and detailed product descriptions to enhance product listings. Leveraged Amazon's brand tools like Brand Referral Bonus (BRB) driving external traffic to Amazon listings and earning a percentage back on sales, Amazon Brand Analytics (ABA) gaining insights into customer behavior and optimizing marketing strategies, Virtual Bundles offering product combinations based on customer purchasing patterns, and Amazon Posts engaging customers with lifestyle content and product highlights.
Achieved $36 million in sales on Amazon in 2022 with $85 million+ projection in 2023. During Prime Day Campaign, they generated over $296,000 in sales with a $27,000 credit from Amazon through BRB. Also utilized Amazon Vine to gather reviews, leading to rapid sales and "Best New Seller" status for new products and implemented virtual bundles, accounting for up to 30% of sales, by analyzing purchasing trends.
CLIENT
LOCATION
INDUSTRY
LAUNCH
SERVICES
HexClad Cookware
United States
Premium Cookware
June 2021
Amazon Store Setup
Monthly Store Management
How an innovator in the cookware industry fired up sales with brand-building products
Founded in 2016, HexClad Cookware introduced a unique line of hybrid cookware combining the performance of stainless steel, the durability of cast iron, and the convenience of nonstick. Initially selling through direct-to-consumer channels and roadshows, HexClad sought to amplify its reach by entering the Amazon marketplace.
To optimize their Amazon presence, HexClad established a branded Amazon storefront to create a cohesive brand experience for customers and developed A+ content to utilizing high-quality images, videos, and detailed product descriptions to enhance product listings. Leveraged Amazon's brand tools like Brand Referral Bonus (BRB) driving external traffic to Amazon listings and earning a percentage back on sales, Amazon Brand Analytics (ABA) gaining insights into customer behavior and optimizing marketing strategies, Virtual Bundles offering product combinations based on customer purchasing patterns, and Amazon Posts engaging customers with lifestyle content and product highlights.
Achieved $36 million in sales on Amazon in 2022 with $85 million+ projection in 2023. During Prime Day Campaign, they generated over $296,000 in sales with a $27,000 credit from Amazon through BRB. Also utilized Amazon Vine to gather reviews, leading to rapid sales and "Best New Seller" status for new products and implemented virtual bundles, accounting for up to 30% of sales, by analyzing purchasing trends.
As a registered brand on Amazon, you can very concretely bring your message home across all of your products to emphasize what’s unique. You can build brand awareness and recognition, and all of those factors are critical for brands who are launch- ing in the Amazon store.
Jason Panzer
President, HexClad Cookware
An industry disruptor doubles sales in one year
HexClad Cookware is a premium cookware company founded in 2016. They had been selling their non-stick pots and pans at roadshows and on their direct-to-con- sumer (DTC) website for five years before they opted to enroll as a registered brand in Amazon’s store. HexClad’s line of hybrid pots, pans, and woks marries “the performance of stainless steel, the durability of cast iron, and the convenience of nonstick.” They are so durable they come with a lifetime warranty – a rarity in the cookware industry.
HexClad hired Premiere Creative to manage the strategy and enhancement of their product sales as a registered brand in Amazon’s store. In June 2021, they celebrated the launch of an official HexClad storefront. Since then, sales have boomed. In 2022, their first full year as a registered brand, they sold $36 million worth of products in Amazon’s store.
In 2023, they’re on track to sell over $85 million. HexClad’s experience makes the case for why brands offering innovative, popular products should enrollin Brand Registry. “Not having a presence on Amazon is a mistake,” says Jason Panzer, HexClad’s president. “We think Amazon has the potential to be a $300 million opportunity for HexClad within the next few years.”
We started to see that when we drove people to the storefront, we had a much higher conversion rate.
— Jason Panzer
A welcoming storefront and A+ Content mean more sales
Before anything else, Premiere Creative configured HexClad’s Amazon storefront. They went through numerous iterations in the early months, adding new products and changing strategies. As they expanded the products offered in Amazon’s store, they sought to create more ways for people to spend more time there. “The storefront actu- ally generated very solid revenues for us,” Panzer explains.
“We knew from the beginning that quality A+ Content was very important,” says J.J. Abbottt, Premiere Creative’s creative director. He believes that about 80 percent of a consumer’s decisions are made before
a customer starts scrolling down a product page, but quality A+ Content, which appears “below the fold” helps resolve hesitations for a consumer on the fence about making a purchase.
HexClad’s A+ Content features professional photography and videos, infographics and industry personality endorse- ments, customer testimonials and reviews, and compari- son charts. “HexClad is a premium product, so A+ Content is where we convey the story of how our product adds value, showcase content that demonstrates how to use our product and point out unique features,” says J.J. Abbottt regarding A+ Content on Amazon.
Recoup ad spending with Brand Referral Bonus
Abbott’s team has helped HexClad perfect a strategy with Brand Referral Bonus, or BRB, that fits their goals and priorities. “When there are big buying days, it’s hard to ignore Amazon,” Panzer says. They’ve had particular success activating BRB campaigns around Prime Day in July and October. Premiere Creative prepared ad content with BRB links for Google, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, as well as a robust SMS campaign.
The results were significant. “In terms of attribution, the total product sales on our first Prime Day were over $296,000,” Abbott. says. “We were able to generate a $27,000 credit from Amazon. We recouped the cost of off-Amazon ads.” They plan to use this approach for Prime Days moving forward.
Data-powered selling gives customers options they can’t resist
The team at Premiere Creative has used data from Amazon Brand Analytics, or ABA, to build HexClad an effective, adaptive selling strategy in Amazon’s store. They paid special attention to Market Basket Analysis and used it to identify which products to use in sponsored ads. This tool also helped them learn which of their products customers like to buy in tandem. “It helped us determine which items we should try to cross-sell or upsell because we can identify typical purchase combinations,” Panzer explains.
This tool has helped them create virtual bundles that align with their customers’ buying patterns. “We could see that a big part of our sales, as much as 30 percent, were coming from virtual bundles,” Abbottt says. They started to diversi- fy virtual bundle combinations so their
customers had more freedom to choose which products they bought together. Then, they offered coupons on the virtual bundles while holding single-item sales at full price. “This approach fueled a tremendous amount of growth,” Abbottt says.
Search Query Performance and Top Search Terms are also important dashboards in ABA for HexClad. Premiere Creative uses the Search Terms dashboard to consider the activity of HexClad’s competitors and plan campaigns that proactively capture business. The Search Query Perfor- mance dashboard helps them control their ad spending. “It helped us see that people who searched for HexClad typically wanted to buy HexClad,” Abbottt explains. This helped them make better decisions about when and how to use advertising programs.
Data from Brand Referral Bonus allows us to quantify perfor- mance and success of our Prime Day off-Amazon advertising resulting in a $27,000+ credit from Amazon.
J.J. Abbott
Creative Director, Premiere Creative
Growing a fan base with Posts & Manage Your Customer Engagement
One of HexClad’s objectives with selling in Amazon’s store was to grow as fast as possible. To boost sales early on, Premiere Creative used Posts, Amazon’s immersive image- first shopping experience. “We were an early adopter of Posts,” Abbottt explains. “Impression levels were significant when that program started.” He shares that impression rates were around 40 thousand per day early on.
HexClad was also an early adopter of Manage Your Custom- er Engagement, or MYCE, which allowed them to send email campaigns directly to their followers up to once per week. Every two weeks, email campaigns went to high-spending or repeat customers. “This is a great way to stay top of mind for people excited about the products, let them know about new releases, or inform them of a coupon,” Abbottt says.
Premiere Creative helped HexClad grow its list of Amazon followers with a graphic that invites storefront visitors to click the “follow” button. An arrow that leads the eye right to the button is strategically placed in the graphic. Between February 2022 and February 2023, they grew their list of followers from over 6,000 to nearly 10,000. HexClad’s list of repeat customers jumped from over 15,000 to nearly 26,000 in the same period. In March 2022, they sent their first campaign with a total of 1,073 emails delivered. By February 2023, they sent a campaign with over 10,000 emails delivered and saw a 44 percent open rate.
People like the safety and security of making a big purchase on Amazon. If they don’t like it they can box it back up, get a label, and return it easily. There’s a real sense of security for people when they shop here.
Jason Panzer
President, HexClad Cookware
Using Vine reviews for a lucrative new product launch
Generating buzz around a new product can be hard to do, but HexClad has made good use of Vine, a program that helps brands gather honest reviews from consumers vetted by Amazon. “Vine is an important part of our new SKU (stock keeping unit) launch process,” Abbottt explains. He shares a positive experience they had with the launch of a ten-quart pot in October 2022. “We thought this was going to be a challenging launch, but positive reviews from Vine helped us sell 200 pots very quickly.”
With the new listing in place, 30 Vine Voices received the stockpot and five-star reviews began to appear. Reviews were positive and sales started to pick up quickly, so the stockpot was flagged as a “best new seller.” They now consider at least 10 Vine reviews to be an essential best practice when launching a new product in Amazon’s store.
Uncapped growth in Amazon’s store
With help from Abbottt & the team at Premiere Creative, HexClad has proven itself as a power user of Amazon’s brand-building products. The tremendous growth & popularity they’ve enjoyed as a result of their presence in Amazon’s store can be an inspiration to brands of all sizes with a unique and valuable product to sell.
“Amazon is constantly evolving, getting smarter and better, and creating more levers and tools,” J.J. says. “We’re big on levers when it comes to our advertising techniques. We think that there’s a lot more opportunity here. We don’t see any cap to the business.” Brands like HexClad paired with strategists like Premiere Creative show that the sky is the limit when it comes to finding success in Amazon’s store.
Legal Disclaimer Notice: AgentsUp LLC is not affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected with HexClad Cookware, Premiere Creative, Amazon.com, Inc., or any of their subsidiaries or affiliates. The case study presented above is a publicly available success story originally published by Amazon and is cited here for illustrative purposes only. The information and results described are based on the official case study available here. AgentsUp LLC does not claim ownership of the referenced brand names, logos, or achievements. This case study is used solely to showcase the types of results that are achievable through strategies similar to those implemented by AgentsUp LLC and to inspire and inform potential clients. All trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners.
