WeGro

Hull, Massachusetts e-Commerce

$0
of target $50,000 - $500,000

0% funded

to go

Welcome to WeGro Co, Inc.

WeGro Co, Inc. was founded by Heidi and Randy Williams of Zen Habitats, a reptile enclosure and accessory business with over $21,000,000 in sales, and social media creator Em Lock (Emzotic), followed by over 1,000,000 social media accounts. We specialize in managing eCommerce, affiliate programs, and social media for pet-centric brands and creators.

Brand Partnerships: We aim to elevate pet-centric brands by managing their social media, eCommerce stores, customer service, and affiliate campaigns. Our portfolio includes Zen Habitats and Blue River Diets, with plans to launch Essential Reptile Enclosures and EcoZoo. Our goal is to add one to two high-quality brands per year for the next five years.

Creator (Influencer) Partnerships: We partner with top pet-centric influencers to transition them from affiliate links to personalized drop-ship eCommerce stores, offering higher commissions and stronger customer loyalty. We've successfully launched Emzotic.com, Shop.Reptifiles.com, and TylerRugge.com, with more partnerships underway. We have over a dozen drop-ship partners already engaged with our eCommerce stores.

Market Position: WeGro Co is strategically positioned to leverage the growing trends of social media and direct-to-consumer eCommerce within the pet industry. Our experienced team of marketers, eCommerce professionals, and customer service experts, provide unmatched value to our creators and brands. We focus on using data analysis and technology to improve efficiencies and expand our reach while managing costs.

How We Started
The Zen Habitats Story

The Problem: Our journey began with Chi, our beloved bearded dragon, who was showing signs of stress in his standard glass “bearded dragon enclosure”. Chi’s small, reflective glass, top-opening enclosure failed to retain heat properly, made him territorial and anxious, and prevented him from having freedom of movement. Additionally, the top-opening design stressed Chi further, as it triggered his instinct to fear aerial predators.

Baby Chi in his glass enclosure

The Solution: Desperate to find a solution, we, Heidi and Randy, searched local and national pet stores for a proper enclosure but found nothing suitable. So, we decided to build our own 4’x2’x2’ enclosure, a spacious, wooden, front-opening habitat that met Chi’s needs perfectly. The transformation in Chi’s behavior was immediate and profound. Chi became instantly calm and peaceful and dare we say…zen.

Chi’s homemade enclosure where he became “zen”

The Creation of Zen Habitats: We shared Chi's story and enclosure photos on Facebook, receiving an overwhelming response. Reptile owners asked us to build enclosures for their pets. Seeing a widespread need, we launched Zen Habitats with three principles: species-appropriate, easy to set up and maintain, and furniture-quality to go "from the reptile room to the living room." While balancing full-time jobs, Heidi a 4th grade teacher and Randy a business professional at a Fortune 500 company, we built enclosures on weekends in our home. As demand grew, we focused on Zen Habitats full-time. Since 2019, we've sold over 65,000 enclosures, generating nearly $22 million in sales in the US, Canada, and the UK.

Customer Photos

Covid’s Impact on Zen Habitats: In 2020 and 2021, Zen Habitats saw significant growth as our brand strengthened and the pet industry boomed. Riding this wave of success, we expanded our team to manage international and wholesale sales, securing accounts like Chewy.com and PetSmart.com. However, 2022 brought unforeseen challenges: factory shutdowns, shipping delays, and soaring costs. These issues led to a five-month stock shortage and a 36% increase in delivered costs, forcing us into debt to cover losses. By 2023, reduced cash flow hindered our inventory, causing further financial strain, with daily sales dropping dramatically when core products were out of stock.

Pivoting for Success: To address these challenges, we made tough decisions. We focused on our strengths: direct-to-consumer sales, social media marketing, and influencer relationships. We eliminated low-margin wholesale and international units, reduced operating costs, and in 2024 we simplified our enclosure line launching Zen 3.0. We redesigned our enclosures with a simplified manufacturing process while offering our customers our most popular features, all at a lower price point and higher margins. These changes increased conversion rates by 10.5% and decreased delivered costs by 21.8%, positioning us for sustainable growth and profitability.

New Zen Habitats 3.0 in “Timeless Oak”

The WeGro Co Story

Building On Our Success: Zen Habitats thrived by leveraging effective marketing techniques such as SEO optimization, social media, and influencer partnerships. Our strategy placed hundreds of keywords in Google's top 3 positions, achieving visibility scores 370% higher than top our competitors. With over 70,000 followers, our social media presence generated 21 million views in 2023, with a massive 10.8% engagement rate. We collaborated with over 100 influencers, driving significant website traffic and sales. Our success in marketing was due to our talented team, including content creators like Em Lock, our Director of Partnerships, who excel in growing social media brands and negotiating sponsorship deals.

From Zen Habitats to WeGro Co: Recognizing the opportunity to expand, we launched WeGro Co, Inc. in March 2024, making it the parent company and transitioning Zen Habitats into a wholly owned subsidiary. WeGro Co leverages our eCommerce and marketing expertise to assist other pet-centric brands and creators in maximizing their growth and earnings.

Early Success: Since launching WeGro Co, we've begun managing marketing and affiliate campaigns for Blue River Diets and secured agreements with Essential Reptile Enclosures and EcoZoo. Our beta eCommerce sites for creator eCommerce stores, including emzotic.com, shop.reptifiles.com, and tylerrugge.com, have shown a 26% increase in orders and generated higher commissions than they had previously earned using only affiliate links.

Blue River Diets Marketing Campaign

Creator Store

Industry Overview

The pet industry is booming, especially online. Over the past five years, the pet-centric eCommerce market has grown at a 12.49% annual rate. Looking ahead, it's expected to grow by 20.72% annually over the next five years. With more people owning pets and spending money on pet care, there are fantastic opportunities for targeted marketing strategies.

Target Market

WeGro Co focuses on pet-centric influencers and small to medium-sized pet product brands. We help them enhance their online presence and sales by managing eCommerce stores and leveraging our expertise to meet the growing demand for online pet products, personalized pet care, and subscription services. Our goal is to expand influencers' reach, monetize their content effectively, and assist brands in maximizing their digital footprint with tailored marketing strategies.

Competitive Analysis

The digital marketing world is crowded, but WeGro Co stands out with our specialized focus on the pet industry, backed by Zen Habitats' success. This niche focus, combined with proven strategies, enables us to offer superior value to our clients, making us a leader in pet-centric digital marketing.

LET'S GET GRO-ING!

How We Help Content Creators

Building Personal Brands: Guiding creators to become full-time content creators.
Brand Partnerships: Connecting creators with brands to build and manage mutually beneficial projects.
Revenue Diversification: Maximizing and diversifying revenue streams.

How We Help Pet Brands

E-commerce Management: Handling customer service and order management.
Social Media Management: Enhancing brand visibility and engagement.
Brand Partnerships: Connecting brands with creators for effective collaborations.

Products and Services

E-commerce Store Management: We provide end-to-end management of e-commerce stores for brands and creators, ensuring their offerings are well-presented, marketed, and sold through optimal online channels.

Brand Support Services: Our comprehensive services include SEO optimization, social media management, and strategic affiliate marketing to boost brand visibility and enhance sales.

New Brand Launches:

In collaboration with one of the UK’s largest reptile products brands and distributor, we are set to launch Essential Reptile Enclosures in 2025, offering affordable, yet high-quality products to capture a broader market segment.

Cold-Blooded Caffeine has developed an eco-friendly brand of reptile products, specifically utilizing waste coffee products and bio-degradable plastics. WeGro Co will manage their entire sales and marketing including managing their social media, eCommerce, and wholesale.

Marketing and Sales Strategy: Our marketing strategy leverages advanced SEO techniques, robust social media campaigns, and effective affiliate marketing to ensure high visibility and engagement. We use data-driven analytics to refine our strategies and provide personalized marketing solutions to our clients.

Partnership and Collaboration: We plan strategic partnerships and collaborations with key influencers and brands to extend our market reach and enhance brand recognition. Our goal is to add two new $1,000,000+ brands and six new influencer stores per year, focusing on those with significant followings and engagement rates.

Pricing Strategy: Our competitive yet profitable pricing model ensures clients achieve a good return on investment while remaining affordable for small to medium-sized enterprises.

Operational Plan

Operations Management: We streamline inventory management, optimize customer service protocols, and ensure timely delivery of services. Implementing state-of-the-art CRM systems will help manage client interactions efficiently.

Staff Requirements: To support our expanded operations, we will recruit experts in digital marketing, customer relationship management, and logistics. Our goal is to build a team that is skilled and passionate about the pet industry.

Financial Plan

Revenue Streams: Today Zen Habitats is still our main brand, driving the majority of sales and revenue. We will see additional revenue growth with the launch of Blue River Diets, and our creator stores. We will continue to diversify our revenue streams, and minimize risk, by adding additional brands, such as Essential Reptile Enclosures and EcoZoo, and creator stores. Our goal is to add at least two new brand eCommerce stores per year and six creator stores per year.

Funding Requirements: We are seeking a maximum investment of $500,000 to meet inventory needs, launch new brands, and cash-flow management. The majority of the funds will be invested in inventory of Zen Habitats and Blue River Diets, as we know sales are approximately 300% higher when inventory is in-stock vs. out-of-stock. Additionally, we will use funds to purchase inventory and to launch Essential Reptile Enclosures. The remaining funds will be used for cash-flow management.

Milestones and Timeline

2024-2025

Replace existing lines of Zen Habitats enclosures with Zen 3.0 enclosures.
Introduce Blue River Diets to the US market and manage eCommerce store.
Launch Essential Reptile Enclosures.
Open six new influencer e-commerce stores.
Increase 2024 revenue up to 25% over 2023 revenue.
Increase in total sales in 2025 between 25%-50%.

2026-2028

Expand brand partnerships and influencer networks.

Manage two new $1,000,000 brand e-commerce stores per year.
Manage six new e-commerce stores per year.

Continuously improve operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.
Growth projections of $20,000,000 to $25,000,000 in five years.
Target an EBITDA margin of over 20%.

Team

Randy Williams
Founder & CEO

Randy has spent 20+ years as a sales leader and an intrapreneur working for mid-size and Fortune 500 companies such as the University of Phoenix and Staples. During this time, Randy has been responsible for helping build programs that generated hundreds of millions of dollars in sales. He led sales teams, rebuilt struggling sales organizations, and created new sales channels, all with great success.

In 2017 Randy decided to move from an intrapreneur to an entrepreneur, designing and building Zen Habitats reptile enclosures from home. Since then, the enclosures have been redesigned for scalability and mass market production, all with the focus on creating enclosures that are functional, affordable, and aesthetically pleasing. Through innovative design and marketing, Zen Habitats has sold over 65,000 enclosures.

Randy's strategic vision and operational expertise uniquely position him to drive the company forward in the pet industry landscape. His experience in sales leadership and entrepreneurship equips him to empower pet-centric brands and creators through effective eCommerce strategies and creative marketing, utilizing SEO, social media, and affiliate marketing.

Heidi Williams
Chief Operating Officer

Heidi Williams is an innovative entrepreneur with a strong foundation in education and leadership. Heidi's journey into entrepreneurship began in 2017 with co-founding Zen Habitats Inc. Her dedication to quality, innovation, and customer satisfaction has been instrumental in establishing the company as a leader in the reptile enclosure industry. In addition, Heidi co-founded WeGro Co. in 2024 and currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer.

Leveraging her 15 years of experience as an Elementary School Teacher, Heidi brings a unique perspective and structured approach to managing operations at WeGro Co. Since dedicating herself fulltime in June 2022, Heidi has played a pivotal role in enhancing organizational efficiency and driving the company's mission to empower pet-centric brands and creators through innovative eCommerce strategies and impactful social media campaigns.

Em Lock
Director of Partnerships

Em Lock is an Animal Educator, and the content creator behind the award-winning YouTube channel “Emzotic”. Her background as a zoological specialist, along with her “edutaining” presentation style has amassed her a following of over a million animal lovers and pet keepers across her social media platforms.

Her influence as Emzotic has allowed her the opportunity to rewrite animal welfare laws, fund multiple charitable initiatives, and connect and collaborate with the world’s best-known and most trusted pet brands and influencers.

Em's appointment as the Director of Partnerships for WeGro Co. brings her the exciting opportunity to combine all of her experiences and industry connections, and to explore the possibilities of combining the power of the digital influencer, with the unique marketing strategies necessary for pet brands to thrive.