SupplyHouse.com held its seventh annual “Trade Tuesday” yesterday, its version of Cyber Monday designed for business customers. The 24-hour sale offered a 5% discount to all shoppers on the plumbing, heating and HVAC supply distributor’s website and 10% off to members of its TradeMaster loyalty program.
And, as in prior Trade Tuesdays it has hosted, the deals opened the spigot of customer traffic, conversion rates and sales, marketing manager Tom Reilly says.
Trade Tuesday, a term trademarked by SupplyHouse.com, is a shopping day that follows the tradition of Cyber Monday, the online consumer holiday on the Monday after Thanksgiving. The event caters “to tradesmen working for and running companies,” says Josh Meyerowitz, SupplyHouse.com president. “We developed Trade Tuesday as a unique way to offer them special deals at the same time of year.”
Trade Tuesday is the company’s biggest sales day of the year by all measures including sales, traffic, conversion rate and average ticket, Reilly says. He declines to provide specifics beyond noting that yesterday’s site traffic was 6% higher than its next busiest day so far this year. The event has caught on as trade clients have come to anticipate the big day and place larger orders than normal. That dovetails with the season. “We sell a lot of heating supplies from November through February,” Reilly says. “It’s the time of year when customers need to order for their heating jobs.”
In addition to generating revenue, the annual sale serves as a day for company unity, Reilly says. Employees from all departments pitch in to answer phone orders and get products ready to ship.
SupplyHouse.com promotes the annual event on multiple channels including radio, print and social media. The company is active on YouTube and has 201 videos on topics ranging from company culture—such as celebrating National Pie Day—to a more recent emphasis on 1 to 3-minute how-to videos on such topics as making copper pipe connections.
The company’s Facebook page features interaction with contractors through its “hack or pro” reviews of job photos submitted by visitors. Contractors can weigh in on whether a job looks right—done by a pro—or a subpar “hack” job, and offer tips on specific types of jobs, such as installing a furnace. The company’s Facebook page has more than 145,000 Likes.
The online-only supplier launched in 2004, and has warehouses in New York, New Jersey and Ohio.
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