{"id":6789,"date":"2023-06-08T21:22:11","date_gmt":"2023-06-09T02:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staginggembah.wpengine.com\/case-studies\/case-study-profound-commerce\/"},"modified":"2025-03-20T09:31:51","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T14:31:51","slug":"profound-commerce","status":"publish","type":"case-studies","link":"https:\/\/gembah.com\/case-studies\/profound-commerce\/","title":{"rendered":"Profound Commerce"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Building an e-commerce business as a solopreneur or with business partners is far from an easy venture. There are many moving parts, and maintaining a positive trajectory requires a sustained, full-time effort.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy for even the most well-intentioned leaders to miss some details, and let things fall through the cracks that prevent rapid growth. Austin, Texas-based\u00a0Profound Commerce<\/a>\u00a0brings Direct to Consumer brands under their umbrella and uses proprietary experience to turbo-charge the growth of those brands.<\/p>\n

Matt Howitt started the company in 2018 after previously working in product development and software engineering roles at major corporations. The company essentially acts as a search fund, purchasing product-focused companies with potential across a variety of industries, and providing them with the infrastructure and tools needed to scale growth rapidly.<\/p>\n

The portfolio of Profound Commerce\u2019s clients includes:<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Amazin\u2019 Aces<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 develop pickleball sets and paddles<\/p>\n

*\u00a0ColorIt<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 manufacture premium art supplies and publish adult coloring books<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Hudson Durable Goods<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 make aprons and bags for male creators, and<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Patient Aid<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 produce medical scales and lift slings to move immobile patients, as well as bed pads<\/p>\n

All these brands share one thing in common; they sell directly to consumers on Amazon and through their own websites.<\/p>\n

Upon acquisition of these companies, and starting to work through the logistics surrounding their growth, Profound Commerce faced a few challenges which they turned to Gembah to help address.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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Challenges<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u00a0There were three challenges Profound Commerce was looking to overcome:<\/p>\n

1. A need to systematize design and manufacturing solutions<\/p>\n

2. Reducing the cost of goods sold (COGS) to keep finances under control<\/p>\n

3. Capacity constraints on some of their clients\u2019 premier SKUs<\/p>\n

Systematizing Design and Manufacturing Solutions<\/b><\/h3>\n

The company was facing resource challenges tied to the availability of capital and the ease of navigating the product creation life cycle. Howitt was getting stretched thin and needed a cost-focused partner to help.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinding the resources to do a project like this is very difficult. I focus more on the top line than on costs,\u201d\u00a0<\/b>said Howitt.\u00a0\u201cProducts all have a lifecycle, and Gembah provides a way for us to innovate without having to use our resources to hire designers.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

Finding a way to navigate the product creation process from design to manufacturing with confidence isn\u2019t easy. There are plenty of roadblocks along the way that can stretch the timeline.<\/p>\n

Working with Gembah helped Profound Commerce to systematize the solutions they provide to clients for design and manufacturing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could have a team doing that, but I\u2019m probably not going to hire a team to do so,\u201d\u00a0<\/b>said Howitt.<\/p>\n

Reducing the Cost of Goods Sold<\/p>\n

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Reducing the cost of goods sold is a primary goal of any DTC-focused company. Profound Commerce was facing this issue with their client brands and turned to Gembah for assistance to help decrease COGS, and accordingly, improve profit margins.<\/p>\n

Capacity Constraints on Premier SKUs<\/b><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

Howitt and his team were also facing capacity constraints on some of the premier SKUs. Lost sales happened because production wasn\u2019t rapid enough to meet demand.<\/p>\n

Lead times were also getting pushed out, making it challenging to fulfill customer orders promptly. Progress stalled, and the Profund Commerce team kept getting told, \u201cit\u2019ll be done in a week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Upon a visit to the factory, Howitt noticed the factory was much smaller than anticipated. At this point, he reached out to Gembah for assistance to get things back on track. Beyond the functional problems of getting products manufactured, and protecting profits, it can also be easy for entrepreneurs to get addicted to browsing Alibaba for the next great opportunity to improve upon a product that\u2019s already on the market.<\/p>\n

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Falling Down the Alibaba \u201cRabbit Hole\u201d<\/b><\/h3>\n

The Chinese-owned Alibaba Group is one of the world\u2019s largest technology companies, involved in a wide variety of holdings, but focused on e-commerce.<\/p>\n

Many DTC and e-commerce brands use Alibaba as a sourcing marketplace to develop ideas that improve on existing products or to find products to buy cheaply and sell for a substantial profit online.<\/p>\n

Howitt talked about how easy it is to fall down the Alibaba \u201crabbit hole\u201d in our interview, saying,\u00a0\u201cI could spend my whole life falling down the Alibaba rabbit hole, and still not get done what I need to get done.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

Turning focus away from Alibaba, and toward innovation, helped to systematize the creation process and Profound Commerce\u2019s clients.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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Solutions<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Partnering with Gembah opened new doors for Profound Commerce, helped to streamline their operations, led to a decrease in COGS, minimized capacity issues, and advanced the go-to-market timeline for their clients.<\/p>\n

The variety of solutions Gembah provides for our clients, and positive word-of-mouth made the decision an easy one for Profound Commerce.<\/p>\n

\u201cGembah has many value propositions as you climb the product creation ladder, for a relatively small upfront fee,\u201d\u00a0said Matt Howitt.\u00a0\u201cWe consider them our strategic product development arm.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howitt believes research innovations that help entrepreneurs find new products to sell to a captive audience will be the next big opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Gembah can digitally do this, that\u2019s a dream for someone like me. This innovation is what we\u2019re starting to work on together.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Results<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n
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According to Matt Howitt, developing a strong product line isn\u2019t always about new ideas to add to the mix, but also \u201cmaking your existing stuff better to reduce the cost of goods sold.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here are some of the highlights of Profound Commerce\u2019s work with Gembah:<\/p>\n

* The previous owner of Amazin\u2019 Aces pickleball sourced from a supplier with whom Howitt and his team weren\u2019t happy: \u201cWe knew there was a middleman, so we came to Gembah to find a new manufacturer.\u201d<\/p>\n

* Howitt and his team worked with Gembah to develop a new packaging design for Amazin\u2019 Aces, and a pickleball backpack to make equipment for the game more portable.<\/p>\n

* Hudson Durable Goods received a substantial tariff for aprons produced in China, so Gembah helped the team find a new factory partner in India.<\/p>\n

* Finally, collaboration on new cases for ColorIt helped the brand take a fresh new look to market.<\/p>\n

The future\u2019s looking bright for Profound Commerce as they look ahead to help more clients reach the market with new, improved products ready to make an impact on a wide variety of niches while protecting COGS and the integrity of the production process.<\/p>\n

Through working with Gembah, Profound Commerce has been able to decrease COGS by 40-50% on a SKU, partnered with new factories in China to tripe production output, and source new factories in India to diversify their supply chain and circumvent their tariff issue.<\/p>\n

Gembah will continue to be there along the way to help Matt and his team navigate the process for even more significant successes.<\/p>\n

How can we help your company do the same?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Gembah helps Amazon sellers, brand builders, and growing small businesses confidently navigate the product creation process.\u00a0Click here to learn more<\/a>\u00a0about our process and how we can help you develop that next great product to take to market!<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Profound Commerce\u00a0uses proprietary experience to turbo-charge the growth of Direct to Consumer brands brands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":6790,"template":"","topics":[11,12],"class_list":["post-6789","case-studies","type-case-studies","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","topics-e-commerce","topics-manufacturing"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nProfound Commerce<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Profound Commerce\u00a0uses proprietary experience to turbo-charge the growth of Direct to Consumer brands brands.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gembah.com\/case-studies\/profound-commerce\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Profound Commerce\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Looking to research, design, or manufacture your next product? 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