What’s it REALLY like to sell your eCommerce store? With Matt Edmundson (episode 358)
Matt Edmundson was the CEO of the Jersey Company, a group of health, wellness, and beauty companies that deliver products and services to over 120,000 loyal customers in the UK and Europe. Pre-pandemic (yes, that long ago!) he was on the show talking about how he’d grown Jersey Beauty to achieve global sales of $75million, that’s over 7 million products shipped. He’s back on the show because this year he successfully sold the business.
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The Decision To Sell Jersey Beauty
While it was never an idea Matt verbalized, the assumption has always been that Jersey Beauty would be sold at some point.
He recalls reading The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber where it says that when you build a business, you build it to sell it.
As a business owner, you have to understand that as you grow your company, you are in effect buying it in exchange for your time and energy. You’ll need to validate if it’s worth the effort and what you put in it.
Take a step back, run the numbers, and find out if it’s worth it, which is what Matt did.
Knowing When To Sell & Who To Sell To
Matt says that when you run a successful business such as Jersey Beauty, people come and ask if they can buy the company. In fact, the group that bought Jersey Beauty wasn’t the first one to approach him. But after conversations with several different parties, Matt discloses that the Gorgeous Retail Group was the one he immediately liked. When the initial discussion happened, things accelerated quickly.
In terms of knowing when to sell, it’s when you can say you’ve already taken the business as far as you can. If you’re working with business partners, also check if you still have the same goals; otherwise, the business might begin to fall apart. Fortunately, in Matt’s case, he and his partner have remained friends even after the exit.
To Sell The Whole Business Or Not
A lot of factors can affect whether you sell the whole business or not.
Ideally, sell the whole business if you can. But buyers can always negotiate to only buy parts of the business. This poses less risk for the buyer because they don’t get all the liabilities.
In any case, due diligence must be done on the part of the buyer. You have to find out every single thing you are taking on in buying a business.
Post-exit Thoughts And Plans
Matt says he has mixed feelings, post-Jersey exit.
He’s thrilled that everything worked out, but there’s also that feeling of insecurity that comes from starting over again.
He plans on taking time off to just think about life in general but is also busy working on new projects and getting more involved with clients at their consulting agency.
He also has new online business ideas and will take the time to work out which ones can actually turn out well.
eCommerce Book Top Tip
- Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life by Rory Sutherland
eCommerce Traffic Top Tip
- Referral marketing which is getting your customers to do the marketing of your business for you
Tool Top Tip
Growth Top Tip
- Focus on the customer and think about life from a customer’s point of view
Interview Links
- Business
- Matt is part of the eCommerce MasterPlan Crew. To find out more about each eCommerce MasterPlan Crew member and how they can help you, click here
Related episodes
- 325: Is now the time to sell your eCommerce store? With Nate Lind
- 268: How to sell your eCommerce business for max £$€s with Chris Shipferling of Global Wired Advisors
- 266: Competitive advantage and selecting suppliers with Matt Edmundson of Jersey Beauty Company
- 004: ECCO’s Hilary Fletcher on how to grow and sell a Bricks and Clicks business
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