FSB:
Snail mail may be slightly out of fashion, but lobster mail is doing just fine, it turns out. Just ask Dan ‘The Lobster Man’ Zawacki (photo), the self-proclaimed wacky visionary behind Lobster Gram, a Chicago-based retailer.
When his 25 employees aren’t decorating the company’s office and its 2 warehouses with new lobster paraphernalia - the place is a veritable shrine to crustacea, crowded with big inflated lobsters, posters and desk ornaments - they are busy gift-wrapping tons of Maine and Canada lobsters each year and shipping them across the U.S.
Last year Lobster Gram’s revenue rose 38%, to $7.8 million, and the company, which is profitable, expects it to rise another 30% this year. ‘I try to make selling lobster as fun as possible,’ Zawacki says, ‘but this is really serious business.’
He attributes the bulk of Lobster Gram’s recent revenue growth to an online promotional strategy known as affiliate marketing. Zawacki pays an affiliate management firm to deliver customers by placing links to his site on other sites. Those partner sites, called affiliates, generally pocket a 10% commission on the sales they generate by sending customers to Lobster Gram’s Site. The affiliate management firm takes another 3% on top of that commission.
The notion of one company’s paying another to generate sales leads is hardly new. But with its ability to rack up millions of transactions at light speed, the Internet has spawned dozens of online affiliate marketing services. Industry leaders include AffiliateLink, Commission Junction and LinkShare. Read more about his viral marketing.
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