WD-40 Co. has identified ecommerce growth as one of four “must-win” battles as it seeks to expand sales worldwide of its WD-40 lines of maintenance and cleaning products for industrial and home use.
The company is already forging ahead pretty well on the online front.
WD-40 doesn’t break out ecommerce sales, but it says for its fiscal third quarter ended May 31, ecommerce sales surged more than 35% year over year. By comparison, total net sales grew 15% to $141.7 million.
Steve Brass, president and CEO, says the company’s ecommerce strategy, however, is about more than just driving up quarterly sales.
Steve Brasss, president and CEO, WD-40 Co.
“It’s also about driving awareness of our brands and teaching our end users how to use them,” he said on a Q3 earnings call, according to a transcript from Seeking Alpha.
Brass also identified three other “must-win” battles as:
- Expanding sales globally.
- Selling more premium products (including cans of its popular WD-40 multi-use lubricant).
- Developing more sales of its high-end WD-40 Specialist brand.
The company’s products are often used to lubricate, de-grease, clean and extend the life of mechanical metal products used in factories and other business locations as well as homes.
Expanding through ecommerce and online marketing supports that overall growth, Brass said. He added that WD-40 “recently launched our first global online marketplace campaign that puts 30-plus markets under one message: ‘Repair, Don’t Replace.’”
The company has said its sharpest growth is via ecommerce sales through such business-to-business ecommerce sites as Grainger.com, MSCDirect.com, GlobalIndustrial.com, Fastenal.com and MotionIndustries.com and such online retailers as Amazon, Ace Hardware and Aubuchon Hardware.
“Our global digital ambition is to engage with end-users at scale, becoming the global leader in our category on the digital platforms they use, making it easy to access, learn about, and purchase our brands online” — and “creating positive lasting memories online,” the company says.
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