Bronson Vitamins: COVID-19 Customer Support

Company Overview

Founded by pharmacists in the 1960s, Bronson Vitamins has been a trailblazer in the health and beauty space for decades. The online seller is backed by a dedicated product team at Bronson Laboratories that help position the vitamin brand as health-conscious, trustworthy, reliable and easily accessible. 

Recent product reviews indicate that Bronson Vitamins stakes its brand reputation on consistent accessibility. It’s a promise to its customers that the popular brand is determined to honour —  even amid marketplace uncertainty spurred by the COVID-19 global pandemic. 

The Situation

To win the sale, online merchants know the importance of being in the right place at the right time. So, when the spread of the coronavirus threatened the economic health of brands and retailers worldwide, Bronson Vitamins was already in position to handle the sudden sales.

Conveniently, the brand had just expanded its digital marketing capabilities within the ChannelAdvisor platform at the start of the new year. This allowed Bronson Vitamins to get ahead of the rush and fully leverage the partnership with ChannelAdvisor that it began in 2017. With a focus on advertising and order management, the business worked in lockstep with ChannelAdvisor’s Managed Services for Digital Marketing experts. Karl Canto heads up Bronson Vitamins’ digital advertising and e-commerce division. 

“[ChannelAdvisor] is in a unique position to guide and lead [online sellers] through these changes and shifting [consumer] behaviour,” Canto told ChannelAdvisor. “[Sellers] should leverage your expertise because you can guide them through difficult times.”

The Solution

Before the pandemic, Bronson Vitamins maintained a strong online presence through a variety of ad types, including Google Search and Shopping Display, Bing Shopping and Facebook. The company leveraged Google’s advertising networks to expand its global footprint in New Zealand, the UK and Australia, and has plans to capture new audiences via Bing in these international markets. According to Bronson Vitamins, the driving force behind its digital marketing strategy was ChannelAdvisor’s automation and analytics capabilities, which helped to inform the vitamin brand’s business decisions during the pandemic disruption.

“What I like about ChannelAdvisor is that you don’t haphazardly spend money to spend money. ChannelAdvisor is trying to help us make a profit,” explained Canto. “There are agencies that will just spend your money but ChannelAdvisor takes time to understand our business goals and then works with us to scale.”

Keeping its primary business goal to increase revenue at the forefront, Bronson Vitamins recognised the demand for quality products would grow exponentially as consumer behaviour shifted during the global pandemic. With the expert guidance of ChannelAdvisor’s Managed Services team, Bronson Vitamins capitalised on the opportunity to support its customers’ evolving health needs. The vitamin brand was open to ChannelAdvisor’s recommendations for greater flexibility in its ad budget, allowing the merchant to decide not only what to advertise but also when and where to promote ad campaigns for increased customer acquisition.

The Results

Surviving and thriving during a historic global event is no small feat. The takeaway for Bronson Vitamins? E-commerce success requires teamwork, a best-in-class platform and a sophisticated strategy. With a proactive solution partner willing to listen and collaborate, Canto says his company quickly pivoted, reinvigorated its digital marketing efforts and ultimately achieved a strong first quarter in 2020. Bronson Vitamins reports ChannelAdvisor enabled the company to increase profitability, resulting in: 

• A 60% increase in revenue YoY
• Strong ROI with 95% increase YoY

According to Bronson Vitamins, such robust results helped to support the overall health of the company at a time when employees, stakeholders and consumers need the vitamin brand the most.

“It’s definitely important to stay motivated,” Canto added. “In our case, we’re staying positive and we know everyone will get through this.”