Cricut Plans IPO, Free eCommerce Data, and more (The Week of Feb. 08-14 in Review)
A surprising & secretive filing for an Initial Public Offering, a free data offer from a data analytics firm, and a handful of other "News Items of Note" are in this issue of "Deseret Business Watch"
It’s not often than a nearly 60-year-old company announces plans to “Go Public,” let alone a company based in Utah.
But it happened last week when South Jordan-based Cricut quietly filed a confidential S-1 Registration Statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to sell shares in an Initial Public Offering.
{Here’s a link to the news release Cricut published last week about its forthcoming IPO.}
If the name Cricut doesn’t ring a bell for you, trust me — it is a well-known and brand name to anyone in your circle of family and friends who is a “Crafter.” {And I’m quite confident of this fact because my wife is a long-time customer and user of numerous Cricut products over the years.}
Cricut started out in the early 1960s as Provo Craft & Novelty, a firm that made crafting easier for (mostly) women everywhere.
Today Cricut is primarily known for its line of computer-controlled cutting machines (aka, plotters), and their various accessories and supplies, products used by crafters to cut, print, and create just about anything the mind of a “craft-y” person can imagine.
And Cricut has a fanatic fanbase, with over 1.2 million Followers on Instagram and 2.5 million over on Facebook. And to be clear, these customers are very engaged, sharing, commenting and promoting …
All. The. Time.
That being the case, it’s not surprising that Lehi-based private equity firm, Sorenson Capital acquired controlling interest in Provo Craft & Novelty in May 2005, with executive leadership maintaining a sizable stake in the firm.
Five years later, however, Sorenson decided to sell-off a majority of its position in Provo Craft to BAML Capital Partners (the then private equity arm of Bank of America).
But BAML was itself then spun-off as a separate PE firm less than a year later to become Ridgemont Equity Partners which is based in Charlotte, North Carolina.
From what I can tell, it appears that Ridgemont, Sorenson, and the leadership of Cricut still hold ownership positions in Cricut. So each stands to win should the IPO come to fruition.
But that’s assuming Cricut is both profitable and is experiencing serious growth, which makes sense, but that is only a presumption on my part.
For example, in 2009, Utah Business magazine reported that Provo Craft & Novelty generated $250 million in revenue that year. But since then, I can find zero publicly verified sales data anywhere for Cricut.
So until more details are made available by the company, we will just have to wait to learn more about Cricut’s pending IPO.
Free Research Data for DTC Marketeers, Salespeople and eCommerce Teams
If you market or sell products directly to consumers, you’ll want to pay attention to this news item.
Specifically, Sandy-based Analytic Index is now offering FREE monthly reports about sponsored AND organic search results culled directly from/on Amazon.com.
Having worked in various aspects of marketing myself for over 35 years, I was intrigued as to the actual value of what Analytic Index might include in such DTC reports, especially because such free offers are often little more than gussied-up LeadGen efforts.
But not here. Au contraire.
The January 2021 Amazon Report includes a breakout on paid advertising on the eCommerce giant’s platform across 18 different departments ranging from Automotive to Video Games.
Each Analytic Index Report ranks the Top 20 paid sponsors per category, while also providing a callout on several advertisers based upon their Month-over-Month (MoM) increase or decrease in monthly spend with Amazon.
In addition, the Analytic Index Report also calls out the top
Paid Keywords, and
Organic Keywords
per month. To me this is where the Reports really provide value.
Case in point, the Top 5 Sponsored Search Terms in the Health department for Amazon for January 2021 were
Blood Pressure Monitor,
Activity Health & Wellness,
Teeth,
Fat Burners for Women, and
Feminine Hygiene Products.
Conversely, the Top 5 Organic Search Terms in the Health department for Amazon for January 2021 were
Blood Pressure Monitor (same as above),
Vitamin Supplement,
Weight Loss Pills,
Toothbrushes, and
Digital Blood Pressure (similar to the No. 1 result for both Paid and Organic).
To me, the comparison between Paid and Organic keywords for this category is fascinating. And it offers some really interesting insights, as well.
The Report also includes callouts on Sales Rank results for some of each category’s top advertisers, whether they saw an increase or decrease in their MoM sales with Amazon.
For example, Pampers saw a 46% MoM sales increase in January, a HUGE uptick from the prior month, and the largest increase of any department leader across all categories.
Conversely, SunGrow saw a 157% drop-off in MoM sales in January in the Pet Supplies department. Ouch!
Analytic Index’ VP of Marketing, Tim Stocks, suggested such a sales drop-off was likely tied to a big run-up in sponsorship spending by SunGrow in December for the holiday season, followed by a significant cut-back for January spending with Amazon. Makes sense.
But wait, there’s more.
Although the Analytic Index news release focused on the offer to get its free monthly Amazon Report, Analytic Index is also offering free monthly copies of its similar report for Walmart.
And if you didn’t know this already, both the departments and the top paid sponsors vary between Amazon and Walmart. A lot.
But a comparison of the comparable data from one eCommerce behemoth to the other is mind-blowing!
So … to read the Analytic Index news release, go here.
To sign-up to receive the monthly Amazon Report, go here.
And to sign-up to get your free copy of the monthly Walmart Report, go here.
Other News Items of Note from Last Week
Given that this edition of Deseret Business Watch is already at nearly 1,000 words, we’re gonna change things up for the balance of this issue.
Specifically, what follows below are brief write-ups on five different News Items of Note taken from the breaking news announcements that hit our radar last week from Utah’s business community, news items we thought you might find worthwhile. Case in point …
Did you know that America’s Ambassador to Iraq is an alumnus of Brigham Young University? Us neither. As it turns out, the Hon. Matthew H. Tueller is delivering a virtual speech on Monday, February 22 from 9—10am MT in a National U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce event sponsored by World Trade Center Utah. Visit this hotlink to RSVP for the event.
Draper-based StorageCraft was named one of the “100 Coolest Cloud Storage Companies of 2021” by CRN, a leading technology media property. Why? Check out the details here.
According to customer reviews tabulated by leading market research firm, G2, Lehi-based XANT has been named as a provider of one of the “Top 50 Sales Products” on the planet, while also taking top rankings in four additional G2 categories. Read more about this here.
Utah is on the cusp of creating a legal loophole that allows inventors to temporarily develop and test a new product or service even if such efforts might run afoul of current state laws / regulations. Laid out in House Bill 217, this brainchild of Rep. A. Cory Malloy (my long-time friend and colleague) envisions the creation of a regulatory “Sandbox” within the Governor’s Office of Economic Development that lets entrepreneurs circumvent existing laws for a one-year-period as they envision, develop and perfect their new inventions.
I find this a really intriguing idea. And Art Raymond of the Deseret News did an excellent job diving into the subject in an easy-to-understand manner.
{NOTE: In software and web development circles, a “Sandbox” refers to a walled-off, digital area where developers can build and test out a new product, service, and/or features before such software or a website is released to the public.}
Lehi-based Podium continues to beef-up and flesh-out its executive ranks with the addition of two very experienced execs, including a Chief Product Officer and an EVP of Engineering. Podium supports over 70,000 local businesses with its Web-based customer messaging platform, and with its $125 million Series C round of funding it raised in April 2020, Podium was pegged at a valuation of $1.2 billion on a pre-money basis. To read about its newest executive hires, you can read the release here.
{NOTE: Such expansion of executive ranks are often part & parcel of firms prepping to 1) Raise more funds, or 2) Hit the M&A trail.}
One Last Thing: The “Square Bank” Feature Story
In case you were not aware, each week we now publish an in-depth Feature Story every Thursday morning.
Case in point, last week we took a deep-dive into Square, the mega Fintech that will officially be opening its Industrial Bank in Utah soon. {NOTE: My guess is sometime in the next 60—90 days, but, no official word from the company.}
To get the skinny on how Utah became one of the top financial centers in the U.S., plus some background on what an #IndustrialBank even is, please check out Utah’s Banking Laws Lure Square to SLC.” Thanks.
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About the Author
David Politis is a Marketing Mercenary, which is a fancy way of saying that organizations and individuals hire him to solve their marketing problems, whether on a long- or short-term basis. To learn more, please feel free to visit David’s LinkedIn Profile or the website for his business: The David Politis Company. If you have a story idea for him (or would just like to connect), you can reach him at me@davidpolitis.com.