Bootstrapping a Niche E-Commerce Venture: Elite Fixtures CEO Steven Annese (Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: When you say B2B, what kind of B2B? Did you go after commercial? Did you go after restaurants?

Steven Annese: We did a lot of things. We instituted a pro-trade account. If you were a contractor or designer, you could basically sign up for our account. Once we scan the application and verify that you are a legitimate business, we would approve you. You would automatically be qualified for contractor pricing, which is a lot less than when you go to these big electrical supply houses. In fact, we have supplied to some of the big electrical supply houses. We still do today because they don’t have certain lines that we do. We facilitate that for them.

Sramana Mitra: How did the revenue split as you went into 2010 or 2011? How did the revenue emerge between B2B and B2C?

Steven Annese: B2C was always much bigger. It still is much bigger today, but we’re slowly making our way into those trenches. At the same time, we also did a custom project for Hilton Hotels for one of their flagship properties in Miami. They gave us an RFP for some chandeliers, lamps, desk lamps. We were able to take that product and get it custom-made for them at 60% off of what they normally do when they source this product. We actually even improved it.

It was a custom wood floral lamp and desk lamp for bedrooms. These were suites with fully outfitted with kitchens, living rooms, dining rooms, and bedrooms. They wanted the floral lamps, desk lamps, and table lamps in solid wood. We put a finish on them that minimised fingerprints, which they really loved. Once you get fingerprints on it, it’s almost like a stainless steel fridge. You start to see the fingerprints and it always looks dirty. We were able to do that and they loved it. That worked out great for us. So we started trying to get into that business as well. Hospitality business is certainly a key area for us.

Sramana Mitra: Within the B2B business, were there other customer acquisition strategies that started to convert for you?

Steven Annese: The customer acquisition strategies were pretty much always PPC, SEO, and then social started to play a part in the acquisition role.

Sramana Mitra: What particularly do you do in social that actually converted?

Steven Annese: The biggest conversion in social, obviously, is the retargeting. If somebody is coming to the site or has seen one of our ads, it constantly follows them in social. That has actually converted. We’ve done a lot of content distribution where we did the top 10 designers in the country. We pushed that socially. That was a very big success for us. It got a lot of press. It built up a lot of traffic. People from those areas were writing to us saying, “I can’t believe we’re number one in the country.”

Sramana Mitra: How long did it take you to get up to the $5 million revenue mark?

Steven Annese: I believe it was in 2013.

Sramana Mitra: You have kept the company completely privately financed. You haven’t taken any financing?

Steven Annese: Yes.

Sramana Mitra: Is that what you want to do going forward? Do you want to continue to grow organically?

Steven Annese: That is what we envision. However, we were contacted by a couple of organisations who were interested in our business. We have been in some discussions on what their intentions are. It has to be a fit for that to happen.

Sramana Mitra: Do you feel any particular need to raise financing, or do you have enough cash flow with which you can continue to do what you want to do?

Steven Annese: No, there’s no need for financing. The people who have come forward to us aren’t interested in a financing deal. They’re interested in an acquisition.

Sramana Mitra: I see. Very good. Congratulations on coming this far and best wishes for the next leg of the journey.

Steven Annese: Thank you very much.

Sramana Mitra: Thank you for your time.

This segment is part 6 in the series : Bootstrapping a Niche E-Commerce Venture: Elite Fixtures CEO Steven Annese
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