Today we’d like to introduce you to Lily Chan.
Hi Lily, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’ve been in the eCommerce space for 17 years and I’m a 2x Forty Under Forty in the Home Furnishings industry.
I was part of how the eCommerce industry has evolved.
I recall the time when Amazon was not selling furniture online and when Wayfair was still being called by its previous name, CSN Stores and the term “ecommerce” was the most hated word in the industry.
eCommerce was still new to many of us and traditional vendors were “afraid” of what eCommerce could do. And if you purchased anything online, you were considered wild.
In 2007, I recall attending the bi-annual tradeshow in the furniture capital of the US, High Point, NC and being turned away numerous times (including having a door shut on my face) when I shared that I wanted to bring their products online. At that time, all or most of commerce was being sold via brick and mortar stores where you had to go into a store and sit on your couch and speak to a salesperson before seeing your couch arrive at your house. And these brick and mortar stores were purchasing their products from wholesalers which would meet 2x a year in High Point to “shop” the latest trends.
Fast forward 15 years later, I was recently invited back to the furniture capital of the US to speak about how one can grow their sales online. eCommerce wasn’t always like what it is today… there were so many things to consider:
How to ship the item without damage or any issues
How to control costs (product, shipping, returns, marketing)
How to work with vendors to dropship the items directly to the end users
How to market the items with Google adwords
How to get all the necessary product information on site without a template
eCommerce sales in 2000 was only 2% of what it is today (approximately $1 trillion). This year is trending to hit $1Trillion in sales for the first time.
Today, our company focuses on helping brands, usually the actual manufacturer, the maker of the product. We help them build their entire eCommerce enterprise.
We work with Makers in 20 different countries and with over 70 retailers (and most of the top retailers).
We understand that starting a business is hard and usually you have to make a million decisions and not know where to start. Our services include helping you make sales connections, fulfill orders and manage all of this through our software that will connect your inventory and orders to major retailers like Wayfair, Target, Home Depot, and Macys.
It’s our mission to ensure that we help the individuals who run their brands always feel centered with their businesses.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It hasn’t been a smooth road and that’s okay, I understand it’s part of the journey.
A lot of our clients are international and more traditional (a face-to-face with a handshake meeting is always required), but our tool was ready for clients as soon as the pandemic hit. This halted all travel and required our team to build trust and show commitment all over virtual communication tools. We used everything from Zoom, Skype, WeChat, Google Hangouts, Whatsapp, you name it — we used that tool. For the first time ever, we did factory tours over the web and they met us by seeing the insides of our homes. Being open to everything and showing our clients who we truly were was important to build trust.
Doing it all — we are the first tech hub to help companies build their eCommece enterprise from software to fulfillment, to sales growth. We have three services within our company and typically companies have 1 but not all three. I’ve heard people say this can be complex as there are three different ways to get business revenue — I agree with them. As they say, if it was, everyone would do it right? My founders and I saw that each eCommerce brand needs these services and rather than going to three individual companies, why not get them all in one place? We are currently getting our service model patented.
We’ve been impressed with AndMakers, a Cenports company, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
AndMakers searches all corners of the world for finely crafted products to bring to the U.S. market. Our full-service connections result in new best-sellers for retailers, the incredible scale at low risk for manufacturers, and millions of happy customers.
🚀 Lean, fully bootstrapped team with $9M revenue run rate & 182% annual revenue growth since 2018
👌 Partnerships with the largest global retailers: Amazon, Walmart, Home Depot, Wayfair (preferred partner), etc.
🌎 Connecting global manufacturers who make great products to these retailers to drive sales
💰 Only eCommerce tech hub (patent pending), w/logistics, software & sales, in $1.3 trillion market
🏆 Led by 3 founders w/50+ years eCommerce experience at DTC & B2B brands in tech, ops & sales roles
📈 3 revenue streams, including proprietary software that helps aggregate all orders to a single platform
💪 Current portfolio: 150 brands, 60+ retailers with 1B potential buyers
🌆 Operate 100k sq ft warehouse in SF Bay Area + 50k sq ft warehouse in Chicago + 15 partner warehouses nationwide
The hurdles that plague the eCommerce industry – inventory and fulfillment issues, particularly in the age of COVID; a jumble of different APIs; middlemen who cut into profit margins; warehousing and logistics issues, and seemingly inaccessible U.S. retail platforms – can cap a brand’s growth ceiling without a partner to solve problems.
That’s where we come in and help entrepreneurs break into the U.S. eCommerce market and scale sales. B2B and B2C brands and manufacturers who work with AndMakers sell more products, on more platforms, with fewer resources tied up in warehousing, order management, fancy technology platforms, or manual API reconciliation.
We make eCommerce simple and direct to enable brands to harness the true power of online sales and put their products in homes and businesses across the world.
I’m most proud that we can truly say we are connecting the world’s Makers through our platform to help them get their brand story heard and seen by major retailers, which leads to more people to being able to love their products.
How do you think about happiness?
What a great question.
1. Seeing my team member’s lightbulb light up when they unlock an idea or see a solution to an issue they want to test out. This is the best feeling in the world and this is what makes me wake up before the alarm clock.
2. Being the direct conduit to connect international brands with domestic companies – one of our brands, Gyber pizza oven was featured on the Ellen Show last Christmas and we were happy to see this! https://gyberoutdoors.com/
3. The entrepreneurial journey. Sometimes it’s hard, unpredictable and scary but being able to show the world your creativity in a business is beautiful.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.andmakers.co
- Instagram: @andmakersco
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBA9U4QQjVfLepKqG-YeIew
