Babiators is on a mission to offer safe, durable, and fun sunglasses for babies and kids. Their collection includes a signature line of stylish frame shapes and colors for children aged five and under, plus a line of polarized lenses for children of all ages. Babiators are designed for active kids and are guaranteed against breakage during the first year.

The brand has a diverse customer base, ranging from major department stores to small boutiques.

We recently connected with Wes Busroe, Sales Director at Babiators, about the brand’s experience using Faire for their independent retail accounts. He shared that Babiators typically runs about 30% of their independent wholesale business through Faire; however, during the pandemic, this number has increased to 90%. 

Furthermore, by using Faire Direct, Babiators has won back 5% of inactive accounts, increased independent wholesale volume up to 50%, and started saving up to four hours of work per week. Here’s how they did it.

How Babiators won back 5% of inactive customers

When Babiators joined Faire, they had roughly 1,800 inactive accounts they wanted to re-engage. Wes invited these customers, along with 1,200 active accounts, to start ordering from the brand through Faire. When ordering through Faire, Babiators’ retailers gained access to promotions including free credit and free shipping, plus incentives such as net terms and easy online ordering.

These incentives helped Babiators win back 5% of their inactive independent accounts — nearly 100 customers.

To ensure that all of Babiators’ independent retailers have access to Faire’s benefits, the brand added the Faire widget to their website for seamless ordering. Wes also uses the Faire campaigns tool for customer outreach, and always includes their Direct link in Babiators emails.

How Babiators increased their wholesale volume up to 50%

Babiators joined Faire in March 2019. “At one point, 30% of [our independent] wholesale was going through Faire,” said Wes. “During COVID, 90% of wholesale was coming through Faire — it was the only channel bringing in sales without reps out on the road.”

Furthermore, Wes identified that during their already busy seasons, Faire adds 10% in sales to their overall wholesale volume. During slower times of year, the addition of Faire as a channel increases their sales by a whopping 50%. 

“The real benefit came through increased reorders in our slow season,” said Wes. “We see more re-orders from customers through Faire. The average buyer orders three times a year. On Faire, there’s usually one more order within the year — four orders total — and that makes a big difference given how seasonal our product is.”

How Babiators started saving up to four hours each week 

The Faire platform has helped Wes and his team save time on administrative tasks including entering orders and chasing down payment.

Because Babiators can send retailers directly to their Faire page where retailers can shop and make purchases on their own, the team has saved up to two hours per week on manual order writing. Plus, Faire handles all retailer invoicing and payment collection on behalf of brands, so Babiators also saves up to two hours per week on credit card collection.

“Manually entering every order was a large part of my daily routine,” Wes told us. “We now export [our Faire] orders and upload to Netsuite once a day. I can spend more time on strategy and outreach, and less time on manual entry.”