I last took a look in on City Bonfires back in late August (see previous article). At that point, they were averaging about 100 orders a day through their website. Now that fall has fully set in, how is City Bonfires doing today?
Their average daily orders have more than tripled! In September, on average, they received 315 orders per day through their website.
Their average order value is estimated to be about $30. In August, they had a run rate of $1.1M through their website. Their run rate is now almost $3.5M in yearly revenue through their website.
How Did They Triple Their Order Volume?
I do not have the exact answer, but I do have a few ideas.
First, they were already building positive momentum and fall is a perfect time to sell this product
The search term “bonfire” sees an increase in searches during September and October (there is a bump in December and May as well).
Second, search volume for the term “City Bonfire” more than doubled from August to September. In August, that term was searched 6,600 times. In September, it was searched 14,800 times. Of course, the question now is why? And the next two reasons may give us an idea.
Third, City Bonfires was featured on the Today Show on September 22nd. I have had first-hand experience with having products featured on the Today Show. Typically these sales happen on a 3rd party site (so I would not be able to see the sales through City Bonfires’ website). However, there is often a spillover. People will go search the product name and opt to purchase it directly through your site.
Also at the same time, the Today Show put out this article: “Bug shied blankets, fire pits and more outdoor entertaining must-haves“. This article featured City Bonfires and linked to their Amazon Store and their website.
And lastly, City Bonfires was featured in a USA Today Article: “12 top-rated outdoor fire pits to cozy up your yard before fall rolls in“. This article does direct people to their Amazon listing. However, I have also seen these spill-over to sales on your own website.
30% Increase In Instagram Followers
In the past two months, City Bonfires has grown its Instagram following from 47K to 62K. Most likely, this can also be attributed to the visibility they got from the Today Show and USA Today.
Is TikTok Advertising Working For Them?
If I had to guess, I would say no. As I have said before, my general rule is if a company continues to advertise on a channel, that means that channel works for them (or they just like to waste money).
I found 3 ads that were posted on 10/5. One ad has received 10,000 views, and the other two had 6,500 and 3000 views. In July, City Bonfires had ads that were viewed well over 100,000 times.
Their TikTok account only has 187 followers and total likes on their videos only adds up to 953. My guess is that they had some early success on getting views on their ads, but they are struggling to find consistent traction on TikTok.
Facebook Advertising
City Bonfires currently has 88 ads active on Facebook. 1 ad launched in October and 2 Ads launched in September.
In August, they had 140 active ads on Facebook.
See City Bonfires’ Facebook Ads
Side Note: I have seen most companies reduce the number of ads on Facebook from the Summer to Fall. My first thought was this was seasonality, but I am curious if it has anything to do with the effectiveness of Facebook Ads since the IOS update.
Paid Keywords
August Top 5 Paid Keywords:
- smores kit
- s more in a hor
- tabletop smores
- bonbfires
- bon bon fires
Current Top 5 Paid Keywords:
- portable campfire
- fire in a can
- portable bonfire
- smores food truck
- camp fire smores
The current search terms are providing a lot more traffic and are better related to what they are actually selling (they do sell a smores kit but their product is the portable campfire).
Customization/Corporate Gifts
I touched upon this in my last write-up. This channel seems to have a lot of opportunity for them. Unfortunately, I have no way of tracking this channel but they continue to advertise for it on Facebook. My guess is this channel can equal, if not surpass their DTC and Amazon sales.
