When it was time to scale their business beyond their four-million strong social following, Ahmed El Shourbagy and his wife Ashley Paguyo turned to paid social media ads for growth. They built their high-quality dog gear and apparel business, Lucy & Co., for their ‘Dogs of Instagram’ community. If their followers loved something, so would other pet parents. It was working, but advertising on social media was expensive and built on impulse buys. Once they were selling in the Amazon store, they learned there was an entirely different customer to capture: those already searching for the products they sell.
“It’s a new way to think,” said Ahmed El Shourbagy. Instead of hooking social media users on something cute to convert a sale on their website, the Lucy & Co. owners are leveraging their brand reputation for high-quality goods and 5-star reviews to turn up in an Amazon search for keywords like ‘Dog Leash’ or ‘Dog Harness.’
“Amazon creates a fair playing field,” El Shourbagy said. “You don’t have to have an enormous ad budget or a big name. If your idea’s good and priced well, it will succeed.”
It’s a notion that El Shourbagy and Paguyo said they wished they realized sooner. The pair, who started Dogs of Instagram, had millions of followers at their fingertips when they launched Lucy & Co. in 2014. “People were thinking differently about their dogs and willing to spend money on that relationship,” they said. They realized this trend had staying power and decided to capitalize on it.
It’s a brand that was built on a social media following. From leashes to harnesses, sweatshirts and bandanas, Lucy & Co. gave customers the joy of dressing up their fur babies—and Dogs of Instagram gave them a place to share that joy. “It was a lot of impulse buys of like, ‘This is really cute, I’ve got to buy this,’” said El Shourbagy.
They had their social following and a loyal customer base on their website. In their minds, they didn’t need to sell in Amazon’s store because they had already built a successful business model themselves—fulfillment center and all. They funneled customers straight from social. They would post on Instagram and sell on their website. Some products, like dog sweatshirts, would sell out in minutes. As the business grew, they leveraged social media more, spending money on ad campaigns to attract new customers to the Lucy & Co. brand. It was expensive, but profitable.
In 2021, when looking to expand, they realized their greatest untapped potential: Amazon. They learned their customers were already in Amazon’s store searching for their products. “They were there, and we weren’t,” said El Shourbagy. “It took a long time for us to come to the realization that the priority should be on the customer finding our product wherever they prefer to shop.”
Now that they’re selling in Amazon’s store, El Shourbagy and Paguyo are leaning into the tools Amazon provides sellers to help them grow and scale their business. “With the insights Amazon provides, we’re learning a lot about what things people are actually looking for and why people actually buy our product,” El Shourbagy said.
New pet parents, in addition to those looking for upgraded gear, are now part of Lucy & Co.’s once-untapped customer base. And, unlike the customers Lucy & Co. was acquiring through social media ads, people discovering Lucy & Co. in Amazon’s store have a high intent to purchase.
In the past year and a half, Amazon has become one of Lucy & Co.’s primary growth channels and is now a core part of their growth strategy. The company’s owners believe that just as social algorithms change, small businesses like their own need to continually look at how their customers like to shop, and where.