I’m on a Zoom call with Jonathan Packer, co-founder of G.O.A.T. Foods, a family-run business and the parent company of Licorice.com. In the interview, he shares the incredible story of Licorice.com’s overnight success.
Since then, Packer and fam’ have been hard at work growing an empire.
Because, as it turns out — much like snacking — growing a fun and successful business can get addictive.
In this follow-up to our Licorice.com case study, you’ll get a glimpse into how a family of entrepreneurs are quietly turning old-school domain names into booming businesses, one snack at a time.
The G.O.A.T. Foods product line.
G.O.A.T. Foods (you get one try to guess what G.O.A.T. stands for) is a direct-to-consumer umbrella company specializing in gourmet snack brands. The G.O.A.T. Foods idea has roots as far back as 2002, when Packer's father-in-law created the first iconic snack brand in the family, Popcorn, Indiana.
When we first spoke to Packer in the summer of ‘21, Licorice.com was already poppin’ off and the parent company had just launched Pretzels.com. At that point, the pretzel shop was a simple landing page collecting subscribers. Now, less than three years later, Pretzel.com is a thriving ecommerce business doing nearly 20,000 orders per month. And Packer and team were just getting started.
Since launching Licorice.com, operations have expanded to include a total of four active snack brands including Licorice.com, Pretzels.com, Caramels.com, and Chocolates.com. Four more brands are in development. These include Cashews.com, Cupcakes.com, Taffy.com, and Truffles.com.
This family of entrepreneurs has been busy (snacking)!
To help grow Licorice.com, Packer and team relied mostly on Rebuy Smart Cart, using AI-powered cross-sells and subscription upsells to spur product discovery. After the candy shop’s success, the team began expanding its use of Rebuy to grow the other stores as they came online.
“I've seen firsthand the impact of Rebuy's solutions on our online stores,” explains Packer. “From the moment we installed Rebuy on Licorice.com, we knew we were onto something special. The results we achieved were beyond our expectations.”
While the team is constantly testing and experimenting with various merchandising methods, Packer has found notable success lately with Rebuy Checkout Optimization Suite. (Rebuy Checkout Optimization Suite includes Smart Cart, Checkout Extensions, and Post Purchase.)
Let’s see how Packer and G.O.A.T. Foods are using Rebuy these days.
The flagship store earned a spot on our Inspiration Page early on for its use of Smart Cart and checkout page merchandising. But according to Matt Kanfer, data source connoisseur and astute Merchant Success Manager for G.O.A.T. Foods, the Licorice store currently sports one of the best post-purchase offer experiences we've seen. Smiling customers, smooth UX, social proof, testimonials, gorgeous product shots. It’s all there.
As for the checkout page, the shop does an impressive job using Rebuy-powered cross-sell offers to spread awareness of sister brands (and boost sales in the process). Is it the perfect cross-sell use case?
Post-purchase offer conversion rate in the last 30 days: 10.14%.
While the post-purchase offers on Licorice.com are converting nicely, those on Pretzel.com and Caramels.com are going hard as well.
Packer appreciates the influence of Rebuy's solutions on their family-run businesses. He runs Smart Cart and checkout page offers on most of his stores, and he’s especially into post-purchase lately. As he put it, “Across our online stores, including Caramels.com and Pretzels.com, Rebuy's post-purchase offers have consistently delivered impressive conversion rates. It's clear that Rebuy's AI-powered platform understands our customers' preferences and behaviors.”
The Pretzels shop features the tools tried and tested on the Licorice store. Rebuy Smart Cart kicks off a seamless checkout experience. The multi-tier progress bar gamifies the shopping experience. Other customizations include the custom gift note, customer delivery dates, and the ShopPay accelerated checkout option.
The checkout page also features smart cross-sells and like Licorice.com, post-purchase offers on the Pretzel shop are well-designed and often promote sister brands.
Post-purchase offer conversion rate in the last 30 days: 6.99%.
Looking at Caramels.com reveals the formula the team at G.O.A.T. Foods is using to scale multiple shops. Beautiful branding. Clean, well-organized UX. Loads of social proof and photos of customers enjoying the product. Strategic data-driven merchandising at key touchpoints.
Caramels.com follows in the footsteps of its sister brands and it’s paying off once again.
Post-purchase offer conversion rate in the last 30 days: 7.9%.
As the number of online stores grows, the family-run company can continue to cross-promote its snack brands, thus building the customer base for all of them.
Scaling a commodity product is not easy. Doing it over and over again is something special. G.O.A.T. Foods is proving that once you have a recipe that works, it gets a little easier to scale future brands. (And enjoy the sweet success that comes with it.)
Packer says plans to launch more snack brands will include Rebuy’s Checkout Optimization Suite, among other features. “Whether it's optimizing our merchandising strategy or fine-tuning our post-purchase offer flows, Rebuy's platform has become an indispensable tool for our business,” he says.
•••
To keep up with the latest trends, platform updates, and more, follow us on LinkedIn.