Bob Immerman has amassed 45 years of experience in the home décor sector, having already founded two design companies, Interdesign and mDesign. He founded Interdesign way back in 1974, while he started mDesign in 2015. Currently, Bob holds the position of Chairman and Chief Innovation Officer for Interdesign; he is also the Chief Innovation Officer of mDesign.
Over 40 years ago, Bob Immerman started Interdesign as a houseware design company that would “offer innovative storage products for the home at a reasonable price.” Throughout its career, the company has created not just products, but solutions, to home organizing problems, which include options for the “bathroom, kitchen, pantry, closet, laundry room,” among others. Since its founding, Interdesign has become a global leader in houseware. The company has built multiple distribution facilities in the United States, Europe, Japan, and China, selling products to more than 100 countries in different continents.
At mDesign, Bob Immerman has created a “direct-to-consumer, digitally native vertical brand” that offers consumers a variety of storage and décor products, which combine style and practical in their designs. The company has consistently positioned itself at the center of several consumer trends, from home focus to the rise of online shopping and the growth of online marketplaces. Similar to Interdesign, mDesign has also become an industry leader, rising to the top 5 of third party sellers on Amazon.
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Jerome Knyszewski: Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
Bob Immerman: I’ve been working in the home decor industry for over 45 years creating and building original products that would organize, style, and simplify your life. I originally founded a brick-and-mortar business called InterDesign Inc. (which still exists today and is the brick-and-mortar companion to mDesign). I spent many years designing home décor products that would be offered up to retailers, such as Bed Bath and Beyond or Walmart. Sometimes only one product out of every 50 created would make it to the retail floor.
In 2015, I decided to create mDesign, a digitally native, straight-to-consumer brand only sold in online marketplaces. mDesign allowed me to bypass retailers and create my own home decor line for the untried and untested jungle known as the digital marketplace. Slowly, these experimental, direct sales to the consumer began to overtake sales of my products through traditional retailers, proving that this was more monetarily rewarding than selling to the retailers.
Today, mDesign remains a 100% digitally-focused brand and continues to see hyper-growth status year over year. The digital marketplace has been the home decor brand’s bread and butter since day one and the sales opportunities across the global digital landscape are endless.
Jerome Knyszewski: What was the “Aha Moment” that led to the idea for your current company? Can you share that story with us?
Bob Immerman: mDesign was a company born out of frustration. I am a product guy and I love the product creation side of my business but didn’t love how the business of home decor worked.
Jerome Knyszewski: Before I created mDesign, I would develop 20 great products for one specific season. We would send the entire collection and our retail buyers would pick three of the 20 products to test in a limited number of stores. Based on the test, they would buy maybe one of the three products to roll out to all stores. The other 19 were great products, but never had a chance with no way to reach the consumer!
I realized that via mDesign and the Amazon Marketplace, we could bring those 19 rejected products to life and offer them directly to the consumers. The days that retailers were the exclusive gatekeepers to reaching the consumer were over.
Jerome Knyszewski: Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey? Did you ever consider giving up? Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were so hard?
Bob Immerman: When I started mDesign, it was part of my legacy business, InterDesign. We were doing big business with Bed Bath and Beyond, The Container Store, Target, and Walmart. The staff couldn’t make sense of this new online direction, where many things were opposite to the classic brick-and-mortar business model. I wouldn’t say it was hard times, but it required a lot of pushing to change long-established practices.
Jerome Knyszewski: So, how are things going today? How did your grit and resilience lead to your eventual success?
Bob Immerman: I am very proud of the company that mDesign has become today. Within five years of launching on Amazon, we are in the Top 5 vendors on the marketplace, and we have consistently achieved over 100% year on year growth. We have also expanded into international marketplaces, with the end of 2020 seeing an expansion into Amazon marketplaces in Europe, Canada, Mexico, United Arab Emirates, and Australia. We have also cemented our footprint in other retailer marketplaces including eBay, Target, and Walmart.
Jerome Knyszewski: Can you share a few examples of tools or software that you think can dramatically empower emerging eCommerce brands to be more effective and more successful?
Bob Immerman: I love the tools that help me better understand what items are selling, which advertising is the most effective, and how consumers are searching for products. I often use the tools in novel ways. Market insights can be very valuable and often leads to more experimentation and innovation. You never know what will be the most successful strategy or direction, so you need to give yourself room to be intuitive and try new things.
Jerome Knyszewski: As you know, “conversion” means to convert a visit into a sale. In your experience what are the best strategies an eCommerce business should use to increase conversion rates?
Bob Immerman: We like to give the consumer more choices. We love the long tail. It empowers and satisfies the consumer to find exactly what they want.
Jerome Knyszewski: Of course, the main way to increase conversion rates is to create a trusted and beloved brand. Can you share a few ways that an eCommerce business can earn a reputation as a trusted and beloved brand?
Bob Immerman: We see every sale as an opportunity to make a brand statement and build a relationship. mDesign’s goal is to exceed our customer’s expectations by delivering more than function, more than style — we want to give them everything they want and then some. By offering quality products and giving consumers a wider range of choices than our competitors, we meet more of their needs to create repeat customers and brand loyalty, which is more important than an initial sale.
Jerome Knyszewski: Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. Based on your experience and success, what are the five most important things one should know in order to create a very successful e-commerce business? Please share a story or an example for each.
Bob Immerman:
- Focus on what excites your customer: for example, people love having a wide choice of colors and finishes to meet their specific tastes and needs. Retailers used to be the gatekeeper, limiting options due to shelf space or their preferences. Now we can offer something for everyone, which allowed us to build a business in five years that’s bigger than the one that took 40 years to build!
- Don’t underestimate the power of Amazon on your business: You can reach almost any customer segment (or every customer segment) in one place with maximum efficiency. Instead of trying to seek out your best customers, the customers will find you and allow you to hone in on your optimal market segment.
- Stick to your purpose for the customer; You can develop products that are stylish and trendy, but always make sure they meet the needs of the customer.
- Pay attention to the minor details: I always say God is in the details. The form is not enough. The function is critical. There are so many little decisions that need to be made along the way, and you need to get the small things right in order to create a winning final product. Consumers will appreciate the obsession with details.
- Trust your instincts: Enough said!
Jerome Knyszewski: How can our readers further follow you online?
Bob Immerman: You can always follow mDesign through our website and social media to see what new and exciting things we are up to!
Jerome Knyszewski: This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this!
