Overstock: The Sleeping Giant is Awake!
There has been quite a bit of talk lately about the explosion of online sales due to COVID-19. We’ve heard that Amazon has experienced a 26% increase in sales. While home decor giant Wayfair’s sales are up over 100% year over year. But, how have things been at the other home decor internet retailer, Overstock?
The last few years have been tumultuous ones for internet retailer, Overstock. Competition from Wayfair, Amazon, and Walmart.com had resulted in declining sales. In addition, the company had been shifting its focus away from its retail business to focus on byte chain.
In June 2019 Overstock had decided to sell off its retail operations. This decision was championed by founder Patrick Brynes.
Last August former CEO, Patrick Brynes, announced he had a relationship with a known Russian operative Maria Butina. Byrnes released a statement on Overstock’s website stating he was having a romantic relationship with the Russian operative at the direction of the FBI. Byrnes further claimed he was involved with assisting the Federal government with its investigations on the 2016 elections. This announcement led Byrnes to resign in August 2019.
In September of 2019 Byrnes suddenly decided to sell his shares of Overstock. He was the single largest shareholder with 15% ownership at the time of sale.
Fast forward to 2020 the world is in the midst of a Global Pandemic. Honestly, it is enough to put this already stressed company out of business.
But, the opposite is true.
Overstock has returned to its roots. What does that look like?
The company has stopped competing with Wayfair on ad spend. Right away this has increased their profitability.
In addition, Overstock has gone back to focusing on its customers. The company has removed all products that do not meet their margin thresholds. Overstock continues to take products that do not sell off the site. This makes a much cleaner place for the customer to shop.
From a promotional standpoint Overstock has doubled down on the Site Sale. Forty percent of Overstock’s total revenue comes from Site Sales. This is a HUGE number.
Overstock’s first quarter sales were strong and according to plan even before the Pandemic hit in full swing. April 2020 sales were up over 120% year over year.
During an industry call for home decor/furniture Suppliers all agreed that Overstock’s sales numbers were equal to what they had all experienced 4-5 years ago before the big drop off.
Furthermore Overstock’s leadership team is anticipating ending the year with significant profits as opposed to the deficits of the last 3 years.
If you are a home decor/furnishings supplier and you are not an Overstock supplier this is the time to jump on the Overstock bandwagon. This internet retailer is rebounding strong!
If you have any questions on how to become an Overstock supplier please CLICK HERE to schedule a call.