RekMed: How to Increase Sales by 13% YoY Without Using Discounts While Bundling Products?

rekmed.org

We had a conversation with Lauren, Customer Service & Marketing Officer at RekMed, she shared the brand story and challenges they met along the way, how did they come up with idea of bundling and what results they've got.
Enjoy reading! ;)

Brand Story and future plans

Designing a Nurse-Focused Planner: Investigating the Feasibility and Benefits of a Customized Organizational Solution

In late 2019, Jennifer Zahourek, a dedicated trauma nurse with over 14 years of experience, embarked on a mission to provide indispensable tools to nursing students. Despite personal challenges, Jennifer excelled in her studies and became an outstanding nurse. She began by creating the Student Nurse Planner, which not only organized nursing school tasks but also offered educational content. Her dedication led to a thriving business, expanding into various fields and digital products.

Jennifer's journey reflects her passion for nursing education. Despite challenges, the business has thrived, selling over 75,000 planners and workbooks.

We also have a longer-term aim – setting up scholarship programs to help kids interested in nursing or other medical paths. We want to guide them and show them all the options available. It's a way for us to give back and help people discover the world of nursing. And as we move forward, we want to keep growing. We'd love to expand our team with more content writers and continue making progress.

In 2023, the focus is on significant growth, particularly for the nurse workbook, which has been well-received for its educational content. Expanding the team to create more educational materials is a key part of this vision.

Jennifer's dedication to nursing education and her journey of overcoming challenges stands as a testament to her commitment to empowering the nursing community.

How the idea to use bundles came up?

RekMed's product range extended well beyond planners to encompass accessories like medical shears, pens, and study materials. The idea emerged to create exclusive bundles of these popular items, offering students both convenience and savings. After exploring Shopify apps, the MBC Bundle Products App stood out for its intuitive interface and diverse features.

Ease of use was a game-changer, and your responsive customer service was invaluable. ... Your app has not only simplified our process but also enriched our offerings, allowing us to craft enticing combinations that resonate with our audience.

RekMed's bundles have gained significant traction, with over 10 unique options available. Notably, the Scrub Life bundle, featuring workbooks, nurse brain sheets, stickers, and pens, has soared in popularity.



Store's main goal is to create a welcoming showcase for their clients, ensuring that visitors can easily locate the items they need for either school or work. RekMed's team have implemented a helpful quiz to guide customers in finding the right products. Upon reaching their bundle page, everything is presented neatly, simplifying the selection process. Their website prioritizes providing a seamless and straightforward experience for customers to choose items that will assist them in their academic pursuits or during their shifts.

How to manage products that don't sell as quickly as others?

RekMed's planners have been super popular. This popularity allows them to maintain the regular pricing, especially for their highly sought-after workbooks. The value of these bundles lies in offering added benefits without price reductions. When you group different products together at a lower overall cost, it gives people a good deal without cheapening the main product. For instance, a planner bundled with other items provides savings while maintaining the value of the main planner. It's a win-win!

We've been fortunate because we haven't needed to give big discounts, especially for our workbooks – they're so popular that we don't usually discount them.

RekMed used to make planners with fixed dates ahead of time, but that gave them a short shelf life. To address products that don't sell as quickly as others, RekMed shifted to producing undated planners, allowing customers to add dates using bundled stickers.

If we had extra inventory after the date started, we'd have to offer discounts to clear them out. So now, we're focusing on undated planners.

This strategy extends the product's shelf life, preventing the need for discounts to clear excess inventory. While it presents a challenge for those who prefer dated planners, it ultimately ensures a longer shelf life for their products.

In essence, RekMed's success with bundles hinges on delivering value beyond traditional discounts, providing customers with attractive deals, and adopting innovative strategies to manage product inventory effectively.

The best part about bundles is the value they bring. It's not just about big discounts, but creating a better deal by putting different things together. This approach has been really successful for us.

Do the analytics have an impact on the bundling strategies?

The analytics you provide are really helpful. They show us the percentage of our store revenue that comes from bundles. It's interesting to see how this changes over time, like from month to month. This information has been really valuable for us.

While reviewing various bundles, it becomes evident that certain bundles enjoy greater popularity than others. A particularly noteworthy bundle is the Collection Type pattern, which has garnered significant attention, especially among students. This bundle allows customers to select three products and benefit from a unique bundle pricing arrangement.



It's something we're excited to promote more. Sometimes we run special deals, especially for our text alert group – they get exclusive bundle offers.

The bundles offered by RekMed have garnered popularity among students and nurses, appealing to a diverse range of customers due to their well-balanced mix of product types. Notably, a noteworthy trend is emerging where customers have started crafting their own customized bundles, giving them the freedom to select the products they desire. There are plans in place to further promote this customization option to a wider audience, recognizing it as an excellent way to offer customers more choices and cater to their unique preferences.

Highlighting the Results

Absolutely Our Scrub Life bundle has been a big hit. We've sold nearly 400 of them and made about $40,000 from it. This bundle's success has been awesome.

Offering bundles has a noticeable impact on the average order value (AOV) by incentivizing customers to increase their spending. The option to receive additional items in conjunction with products like workbooks serves as a compelling reason for customers to make larger purchases.

An analysis of the performance reveals that bundles have significantly contributed to RekMed's sales growth. In the previous year, they achieved a remarkable 13% increase in sales compared to the preceding period, underscoring the effectiveness of their bundling strategy.

Our bundles brought in over $100,000. So, you can see, they're a big part of our sales and we're really happy about that.

How would you describe the app to other users?

The cool parts about the bundle app include:

Free Trial: The app offers a free trial for seven days, allowing users to test it out before committing.

Having a trial like that is great. I find it super helpful when apps let you try them out first to see if they fit your needs.

No Coding Skills Required: Users don't need any coding skills to use the app; it takes care of coding, making it accessible to non-technical users.

I'm not into coding, so I was relieved that this app already takes care of that behind the scenes.

User-Friendly Interface: The app is user-friendly, with everything intuitively placed for easy navigation.
Product Combination Suggestions: The app suggests combinations of products that work well together, providing valuable recommendations.
Upsell Feature: It includes an upsell pop-up feature, which likely helps increase average order values by promoting additional purchases.
Customer Support: The app offers responsive customer support, ensuring assistance is readily available when needed.

That's something that really matters to me – knowing help is there when you need it.

Conclusion

In summary, RekMed's growth can be attributed to their innovative bundling strategies, shelf life extension tactics, and the introduction of customizable bundles.

RekMed's strategy of offering product bundles without reducing the price of the main product has been instrumental in driving sales growth. This approach provides added value to customers without cheapening the primary item.

RekMed has effectively extended the shelf life of their products. This prevents the need for discounts to clear out excess inventory and ensures products remain fresh for longer.

RekMed has introduced customizable bundles with collection types pattern, allowing customers to choose the products that best suit their needs and encourages larger orders.

The successful implementation of these strategies has resulted in an impressive 13% year-over-year sales growth, showcasing the effectiveness of RekMed's approach to bundling and product management.

Updated on: 09/11/2023