Updates from Ed Soehnel: 10/15/19-10/31/19 – How to launch a beauty brand for $1.5 million – with hard numbers

This post includes Basecamp InQb8r Platform Status & Updates from October 15-31, 2019

Feature image: The holiday season is less and less important for retailers, as more shopping moves online, according to a new study

Platform Updates Summary

We added a list of things for new members to do to get them going quickly with the platform.  We have been sending this as an email to new members but decided it would be better to include it on the My Account Dashboard page to make it easier to find and make it uniform for everyone.

We added the ability for member to add companies to the Company Database that merit following.  Like our other databases, the submissions will come into us and we will review before taking them live.

We are now using embedded database forms for our new member application and our company data submission.  We were using Gravity Forms for WordPress, and then had to import the data to our database.  But we have our backend database where we want it and it is working very well. As a result, we decided to do away with Gravity Forms and use our database forms directly, which allows the data to come into the database without the manual step of importing.

We removed the Marketplace Database, as we don’t think it will work the way we want and not provide much value.

Application Status

• The Basecamp InQb8r platform is live and taking applications.

New Articles

• Startup Teardown No. 1: Strategies To Model In Your Startup

Basecamp InQb8r Platform

Basecamp InQb8r members must be logged in to access the links below.

University Updates

All updates are recorded in the Changelog:

• Removed the retail list spreadsheet as the data is now housed in the Distribution Database.
• Made some minor additions to the Section 3, subsection, “What is Wow”
• Added a new ecommerce platform to Section 2: Systems, Marketing: Website

Knowledgeboard Updates

We added search capabilities by date range, which adds more context in search and members can search only what was added since the last time they visited.

New submissions:

• Holidays are becoming less important to retailers
• State of Outdoor industry distribution (2019)
• How DECATHLON Will Disrupt the U.S. Outdoor Gear Industry
• SEO for Startups: 150 Experts Explain What to Do and What to Avoid (2019)
• 7.5% conversion by this beauty company website, 3 times the industry average (2019)
• How to launch a beauty brand for $1.5 million – with hard numbers (2019)
• Breakdown of sub-sategory sales in beauty (2019)
• Evolution of the brand-customer relationship: personalization or crowdsourcing
• Facebook ad costs have risen almost 50% in last year (2019)

Data Platform Updates

Company Database

• New companies added with analysis. Links indicate these analysis are public: Atomo in Food/Beverage/Supplements, Mystery Ranch in Hobbies/Lifestyle & Outdoor, Jarding Infusion Floral in Food/Beverage/Supplements, Otherland in Household Essentials (Repeat Purchasing), Asket in Apparel and Personal Accessories, Lola in Body Care, Function of Beauty in Body Care, Quip in Body Care, Care / Of in Food/Beverage/Supplements, Madison Reed in Body Care, Keeps in Body Care, Hims in Body Care, Birchbox in Body Care, Harry’s Inc. in Body Care, Warby Parker in Body Care, The Honest Company Inc. in Body Care, MILK Makeup in Body Care, Zenni Optical in Body Care, Megababe in Body Care, Lume Deodorant in Body Care, by Humankind in Body Care, Aunt Flow in Body Care, Anim Labs (Ceylon) in Body Care, Stowaway Cosmetics in Body Care, Loli Beauty in Body Care, Act + Acre in Body Care, Last Swab in Body Care, Amari in Food/Beverage/Supplements
  
• We have added more fields for data entry in the Company Database, including Monthly Active User (MAU) count, conversion rate percentage, gross revenue calculation, and ecommerce stack.

Resources Database

• No new entries this period.

Distribution Database

• We added our dataset of over 100 natural/specialty and mainline grocery retailers and food wholesalers/distributors to the Distribution Database with general rules of thumb on markup/margins and tradespend.
• We added our dataset of drug retailers to the Distribution Database with general rules of thumb on markup/margins and tradespend.
• We added our dataset of dollar stores to the Distribution Database.
• We added our dataset of drug store distributors to the Distribution Database with general rules of thumb on markup/margins and tradespend.
• We added our dataset of mass stores to the Distribution Database with general rules of thumb on markup/margins and tradespend.
• We added our dataset of club stores to the Distribution Database with general rules of thumb on markup/margins and tradespend.
• We added our dataset of fitness clubs to the Distribution Database.
• We have added to the Distribution Categories Database a Review/Discovery/Directory category to indicate distribution companies in the Distribution Database that serve as review, product discovery or product directory websites.
• We added Home-based Parties/Events as a distribution category.
• We added Coworking Spaces as a distribution category.
• We added Corporate Gifting as a distribution category.
• We added Commerce Content as a distribution category.

Calendar Updates

See Calendar for details.

• Open office hours scheduled as follows:
  • Wednesday, November 6, 10 am.
  • Tuesday, November 26, 10 am.

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