Tim Angel always wanted to build his own business. With a natural knack for problem solving, he loved coming up with new ideas to help make life easier.
Today, he and the team at Zugu sell over $30M per year of their best-selling iPad cases. Tim and the team have expanded the brand’s footprint from three to 17 countries and are consistently leveling up its sales with each new launch.
But it didn’t happen overnight. We sat down with Tim and his sister, Chief Operating Officer Jenn Angel, to get a glimpse into Zugu’s incredible story and learn how a highly focused inventory strategy contributed to their growth.
“I had always wanted to own my own business and I didn't do it. I just kept at the job that I was at, beating myself up in my head like, ‘Why don't you start your own business?’ Finally, when I lost my job it was like, okay, I’m going for it and I will let nothing stop me” says Tim.
At that time in 2010, the first-ever iPad had just been announced. Tim wondered how consumers would comfortably watch movies on the device. Instead of going back to the 9 to 5, he worked day and night making paperboard models for his new iPad case. Until eventually, he landed on a winning prototype.
The only problem? Tim couldn’t conjure up enough investor interest to get his product off the ground.
Jobless and soon to be house-less, he sold his belongings and bought a one-way ticket to China. Within three months, he’d found an investor and a manufacturer to help make Zugu a reality.
Fast forward a year, and Tim had already found his sweet spot in Zugu’s early growth stage.
Zugu (then Zoogue) had coined the term "Smart Case" for iPad, even before Apple started promoting iPad cases. The press was awesome. Orders were rolling in. Life was good.
There was just one problem. Zugu’s reseller-first business model was limiting their success.
After the launch of the Zugu Case, press coverage for Zugu began to wane and reseller orders started drying up. Tim went from sitting at a comfortable $1M in revenue on very little advertising, to nearly bankrupt.
“Things were going downhill fast. I had to change my strategy. So I was like, okay, forget it. We're going to have to stop selling to resellers. We're just going to have to try and sell direct,” he recalls.
There was no other choice but to make the leap.
Tim decided that from that point on, he would focus his efforts on Zugu’s DTC revenue streams, instead of relying on resellers.
With Tim’s focus fully invested in his own DTC success, Zugu’s Amazon business quickly surpassed the amount of revenue it used to do with resellers.
He and the team channeled their resources into perfecting the Zugu Case and winning the war for Amazon real estate. That meant dedicating 100% of the marketing budget to Amazon — even if it resulted in lower margins in the short term.
It was a long play, but one that Tim was sure would pay off.
Zugu’s focused Amazon approach began to exhaust its competitors, many of which weren’t as determined to stand their ground.
With less competition and more ROI, Tim’s target margins were finally in sight. But Zugu still hadn’t seen its biggest sales boost: the one that would come from smarter decision making.
By 2019, Zugu had launched around 19 products across Amazon and its DTC site. But did they really need them all?
“If you do four products, you're going to give 25% of your energy to each one. But if you do one product, you give 100% of your energy. So now all your competitors are doing 19 different products, or a hundred different products. Their focus is going to be spread out. If all your focus is going on that one product, you're going to be better than your competitors,” says Tim.
Tim worked to identify products that ate away at their margins and diluted their attention. He stopped looking at products in silos and started managing products as a portfolio, strategically reducing discounts to boost growth and margins.
“We realized one product is doing most of the revenue, so why are we wasting all our time and energy on these other products?” explains Tim.
Tim narrowed down the product line to focus on their best performing product.
“That’s when things really skyrocketed, because we were focusing on the advertising for it, we were focusing on the listing and above all, we were focusing on the product,” Tim explains. “If you're persistent at improving it, then you're going to beat your competition because their focus is spread so thin.”
After eliminating all other distractions, it was time for Tim to once again do what he does best.
With the help of his sister, Jenn Angel, who joined as COO, he went back into problem solving mode, dedicating all his time to constantly improving the quality of Zugu’s flagship Zugu Case.
“Tim never gives up. He’s always looking to test new things and take new risks. He’s constantly taking customer feedback and making the product better. On Amazon, he’s really listening to customers and that keeps those five star reviews going,” says Jenn.
Tim pored over competitor reviews, reading all about their pros and cons to discover new opportunities for his own products. He wanted to create a portfolio of super-products that had everything potential customers wanted — and nothing they didn’t.
He even purchased his competitors’ bestsellers to test them out himself.
“You look at them and see what they did good, what they did bad, what people like, what they’re complaining about in reviews. Then you take all the positive things, implement your own spin on it, and try to solve as many of the negative issues as you can. At the end of that, you have this super product that it's going to crush it,” says Tim.
Once again, his commitment paid off. By focusing on making big improvements to its products, Zugu achieved 5-star average ratings on Amazon and sales exploded.
They had finally done it. Zugu had seized the TAM on Amazon. Tim was in a prime position to improve conversions and increase margins.
But why stop there? As they approached the ceiling on Amazon, he knew it was time to diversify into new markets.
Expanding internationally brought endless opportunities, as well as a host of new challenges.
“Before expanding to FBA in the Amazon International marketplaces, we were shipping the products from here in the US to these other countries. So for the international customers, it would take weeks to get our stock delivered to them. But during this time, that was teaching us what the demand looked like in those markets. Once we felt like there was enough demand there, we started opening up FBA in each of those countries. The product delivery times went from 2+ weeks to 2 days, which basically increased sales overnight. That really helped us grow internationally,” explains Jenn.
With a proven plan for strategically shifting from local partners to FBA, she and Tim had an expansion model they could scale.
To capture more growth in each new market, it was time to revisit the product line. This time, with a data-driven, portfolio-level approach.
Zugu continued to add new SKUs every time Apple launched a new iPad. But Tim was ready to level up the product line and start adding new color variations back into the mix.
“A lot of the big case brands only offer a few color options for the iPad,” says Tim, “So we try and offer way more than that. We spend a lot of time researching the fashion industry and trying to find the best of each color.”
Rather than giving into shiny object syndrome like before, he and Jenn now use a highly focused approach to managing their product portfolio.
When an item’s popularity begins to wane, as with cases designed for older iPads, Zugu discontinues every color except black and gives shoppers the option to purchase used cases. This helps reduce costs, avoid dead stock and overstock, and keep Zugu in a prime position on Amazon.
“When a model is older, we discontinue the colors and keep black only because it’s much more efficient for us to carry 1 color that sells well rather than 5 colors that sell much slower. We actually do really well in that area, not ending up with too much inventory,” explains Tim.
This simple yet focused strategy has helped Zugu grow its portfolio from 20 to 50 SKUs, including five new launches that each sold significantly more than their previous bestseller.
As the one who’s constantly (some might even say, obsessively) monitoring Zugu’s inventory, Jenn is a big fan of using data to drive their decision making.
With the added complexity of new channels and product variations, she knew it was time to uplevel Zugu’s inventory planning process. And in November 2022, she crossed paths with Flieber.
“The thing that impacts my position the most is Flieber. It's what I use for the production planning for all the replenishments and inventory management. That's a huge part of my day to day. I don't know that a lot of other companies, with as many SKUs as they have, monitor that as closely as I do. I'm kind of obsessed with it,” laughs Jenn.
Zugu’s previous inventory tool let them view sales and available inventory in units. But knowing that you have ‘x’ amount doesn't tell you anything about what you can actually do to keep the business growing.
They knew they’d need a faster way to find out how much inventory to order and when.
With customizable Inventory Forecasting in Flieber, Jenn now has a clear view into Zugu’s days of stock, including which SKUs are stocked out, low in stock, or overstocked.
"I have nothing but great things to say about Flieber. We sell on 8 marketplaces and this software allows us to quickly and accurately forecast, replenish stock, and place more accurate POs to our supplier. I love that it's adapted so well to our specific needs and is customizable in calculating suggestions based on what we as a company like to focus on," says Jenn.
Using the exact dates provided by Flieber’s Replenishment Simulator, Jenn always knows when each purchase order will arrive and can make data-driven decisions about when to order more, rush a shipment, or slow the sales pace on a specific product.
$30 million in annual sales across 17 countries is no small feat. But for Tim, Jenn, and the rockstar team at Zugu, it’s just the beginning. Now that Zugu has mastered its Amazon strategy, the team plans to increase the number of SKUs offered on its DTC site and to expand to other marketplaces like Walmart, Best Buy and Target.
And from there, the sky's the limit. With a profitable product strategy and agile inventory planning systems to back it up, there’s no limit to where or how Zugu chooses to grow.
Your e-commerce journey is what you make it. Learn how Flieber’s all-in-one multichannel inventory planning platform can help you make smart growth decisions in a fraction of the time. Try it free today and take your first step toward $30 million—and beyond.