The Business
Homeware
Makester – homeware company. Scaled to 7-figure revenue in under 3 years. Still operating and growing.
The Challenge: Over 10 million gift-related keyword searches in the UK every year. How do you capture that demand with a single product? People searching for “gift for sister” want something different than “gift for dog lover.”
The Result: One candle. One size. One scent. All that changes is the label. Whether you search for a gift for your mum, your sister, or a dachshund lover, we put a candle in front of you with a label that matches your search.
How I Built The Business
The Offer
One candle that becomes any gift. Same size, same scent – only the label changes. This meant we could target unlimited gift keywords with the same product. “Gift for sister” gets a different label than “gift for dog owner” but it’s the same candle underneath.
The Economics
Started with tight margins to prove the model. Built thousands of reviews across Amazon and website. Now increasing prices as social proof allows it. Can take lowish margins per order as there is near infinite volume we can create by targeting all those keywords.
The Channel
50/50 split between own website and Amazon. Targeted gift-related keywords at the point of search. Over 10 million gift searches per year in UK – we’ve only scratched the surface.
The System
Built comprehensive automation. Thousands of SKUs means tens of thousands of images and hundreds of thousands of words of copy. Used AI to generate variations at scale. Without automation, this model doesn’t work – you can’t manually create thousands of product pages.
The automation and product variation model is brilliant. Ed’s built a system that can scale pretty much without limit.
Learnings
This has not been an easy business.
Gift keywords are tricky. Price sensitivity is a big issue. Customer acquisition costs have been higher than expected, but it works at scale.
We’ve barely started. Thousands more gift keywords to go after.
Without automation, this model doesn’t work. You can’t manually create thousands of product variations.
