Savannah Bee Company is getting some, if you’ll excuse the pun, national buzz thanks to its thriving e-commerce business.
The company, founded in 2002 by Ted Dennard, was recently featured in Google’s Annual U.S. Economic Impact Report, which looks at web savvy companies who use Google Analytics and other web tools to grow their online business.
Since 2009, Google has picked one company per state that employs the search giant’s free products. This is the first year a business outside of Atlanta has been selected in Georgia.
“We use the full suite of Google products and have shown incredible growth over the last three years,” said Brantley Crowder, director of e-commerce at Savannah Bee Company.
Crowder said Google reached out and conducted a few rounds of phone interviews before selecting them for their economic report.
“It’s a neat process … and they get to learn more about our business and the different things we’ve promoted over the course of the company’s lifetime,” said Crowder.
In a press release, Google said Savannah Bee has utilized online sales to better achieve results without expending a lot of money, as evidenced by their website’s exponential growth.
Savannah Bee, which launched its first website in 2010, is projected to handle about 60,000 online orders this year, said Crowder. In 2013, its online sales of honey and health and beauty products brought in close to $1.35 million.
“We’ve seen tremendous growth,” said Crowder. “Between 2012 and 2013, we had 80-plus percent growth in (online) total sales.”
He credits this to the brand gaining national recognition outside the Southeast. New York City has been their No. 1 shipping destination for years, he said, but orders are now pouring in from all over the country, including Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle.
Crowder said using Google Analytics, he can see who’s on Savannah Bee’s website in real time and what city or country they’re from — some as far away as Europe or China.
Although customs regulations make it tricky, he said, the company would eventually like to position itself for international shipping as well.
Google said more than 54,000 Georgia businesses and nonprofits benefited from using Google’s web-based tool. Savannah Bee also pays for Google’s AdWords service, placing their ads next to key search results to boost traffic and sales.
Savannah Bee’s top seller online, as well as in stores, continues to be the product that started it all: Tupelo Honey.
“This is the origin of our company,” Crowder said. “Ted started with a single beehive making Tupelo Honey.”
As the company grew, Dennard eventually added other products like beeswax lip balm, hand and nail salve and a whole hive of other bee-related beauty and skincare products.
Crowder said the body care products sector of Savannah Bee is growing quickly and will eventually outpace its traditional honey sales.
For more info, go to:savannahbee.com