Greenbox Art + Culture seeks a Director of Ecommerce (San Diego, CA)

GreenBox connects working artists with people seeking wall art that mirrors their individuality through each stage of life. With three brands under the GreenBox name, the firm produces and markets wall decor for children, adults, and everything in between. By partnering with a vast network of non-company stores across North America and beyond, plus direct-to-consumer websites, the GreenBox family of brands can target wholesale and retail markets across the globe.

1. GreenBox Art + Culture – GreenBox works with artists from around the world to offer contemporary pieces filled with color and emotion. A GreenBox canvas transforms spaces in both residential and commercial applications and each is created and hand-stretched in the company’s San Diego studio using the giclee method of digital printing.

2. Oopsy Daisy, Fine Art For Kids – As the most recognized of GreenBox’s brands, Oopsy Daisy is ranked the #1 source for engaging art products for kids. Founded 13 years ago by husband and wife team Tom and Karen Capp, its current collection includes more than 4,000 works of art by over 200 artists. The line includes stretched canvas wall art, plus an assortment of custom room decor options including personalized growth charts, fabric wall decals, night lights, lamps, and placemats. This job will entail prioritizing growth in direct-to-consumer sales as well as nourishing the existing wholesale relationships.

3. Wheatpaste Art Collective – Wheatpaste is the natural next step for fans of Oopsy Daisy who now seek art solutions for their tweens and teens. By focusing on the youth market, the Wheatpaste collection provides appropriate but cool art for teens and young adults, plus “totally rad” solutions for dorm and apartment dwellers. The line encompasses both stretched canvas art and wall decals, including the line’s signature “Poster That Sticks” which provides a great way to decorate without tape, tacks, or nails. As the newest brand under GreenBox, growth in direct-to-consumer sales is of utmost importance.

The day after my project kickoff call with the GreenBox hiring committee, my wife and I received an Oopsy Daisy care package and two print catalogs. My kids adored the merchandise, and the catalogs were spectacular – really first rate! If you decide to apply for this position, I would strongly encourage you to order a catalog to get a sense of the TLC that goes into each GreenBox product.

With such a tight-knit and creative environment, GreenBox tends to attract hard-working but hard-playing employees. Employees come from all walks of life and include a former horseshoe world champion, a food blogger, and a designer who lives on a houseboat — in San Diego. How cool is that?

Although GreenBox’s brands reproduce and distribute wall art, it’s a mistake to classify them as art dealers in the conventional sense. Oopsy Daisy’s products satisfy parents’ desires to spruce up their kids’ rooms with friendly art easily and affordably. GreenBox adds meaning to surroundings with real canvas wall art, and Wheatpaste allows customers in short-term living spaces (apartments, dorms, teenagers’ rooms, etc.) to flaunt their individuality with high-quality fabric-based wall decals. The company’s AOV on the web is $150, which is north of Art.com and south of Sotheby’s.

On the high end, the U.S. art industry includes approximately 5,000 dealers with combined annual revenue of ~$6 billion. On the low end, the U.S. paint/wallpaper store industry includes approximately 3,000 companies that operate about 8,000 stores with combined annual revenue of around $8 billion. All of these players are competing for the consumer’s “wall decor dollar.”

But the market opportunity is GIANT: If you have a wall, you have the need to hang something on it. Typically, trends in construction, remodeling, and home sales significantly affect demand for wall hangings. During difficult economic periods, residential customers may delay remodeling projects or use less expensive pieces – although the exclusive, one-of-a-kind nature of GreenBox’s product line insulates it somewhat against price competition.

• Vertically integrated
• Provide unique and proprietary product to a well-defined, affordably reachable, emotionally arousable market.
• Market effectively thorugh multiple channels, including the wholesale trade, Amazon and other online retailers.

Beyond that, the nice thing about GreenBox family of sites is user experience. At $6 million in yearly sales, the company is much smaller than many of my current clients. However, GreenBox’s family of sites have a unified look and feel that are “on brand” while being intuitively easy to navigate (kudos to them for getting the UX right!).

Now, the company is ready to take its online business to the next level. The trick is going to be prioritizing your time and resources around these sites.

According to Tom Capp, Greenbox’s President, OopsyDaisy is the top priority, at least in the short term. It’s the largest of the sites and it enjoys the lowest bounce rate and the highest number of email subscribers of the three. In five years, Tom would like to see the company’s consumer online business grow to approximately 25% of the company’s total sales, with Oopsy accounting for 40% of that number. Success will mean driving high quality traffic to OopsyDaisy.com while reducing Oopsy’s bounce rate.

In your first 100 days, management would like to see you dig into Google analytics to assess the company’s current e-commerce situation and develop a strategy to grow the business. Such an assessment would involve taking a hard look at Greenbox’s site as it pertains to organic search, where meaningful improvements could have a positive impact on the company’s Adwords quality scores.

Greenbox’s hiring committee was kind enough to share a BUNCH of candid information about each site’s bounce rate, conversion rate, email house file size, average order values, and more. Be sure to ask us for that when you apply. These interviews will involve an honest, reality-based discussion about your ability to grow the business.