Thirty minutes north of Salt Lake City, in a small cul-de-sac in Kaysville, Christine Krogue, a mother of six, is overseeing an army of moms, sorting wool laundry balls and assembling boxes. Her husband is looking at the numbers, and if this year is anything like last year, they have a few hundred more boxes to assemble.
It’s two months before Amazon’s annual deal event, Prime Day. And Christine knows, to leverage it successfully, inventory needs to be ready.
Christine Krogue never imagined her Smart Sheep’s signature wool dryer balls would one day become a multimillion-dollar sensation. But thanks in part to Amazon and their Prime Day sales event, that’s exactly what happened for the enterprising mother.
Krogue started Smart Sheep in 2013 as a way to earn extra money for her family, partnering with a Nepalese businesswoman, Kalpana, to create the handmade felted spheres. “I really thought it was going to be kind of a hobby, sell a few a day for a little extra money,” Krogue recalled.
But one year after opening her Amazon store, Smart Sheep took off, selling hundreds of units per day with Amazon. Within just a few years, Smart Sheep had transformed from a modest side gig into a thriving eco-friendly company, prompting Krogue’s husband to leave his career and join her in running the business.
Prime Day is Smart Sheep’s biggest sales opportunity of the year. For 48 hours, they expect sales to jump from hundreds of units to thousands, and this year was no different. Between July 16-17, Smart Sheep Laundry sold 7,000 units of their signature wool dryer balls - a 20-fold increase over their typical daily sales.
“It’s our biggest selling day,” Krogue said. “We start prepping months in advance by sending extra inventory and then we start running special deals.” Those deals, like Lightning Deals and Prime Exclusive Discounts, have been game-changers, she explained. As a small business owner, having marketing levers she can pull to drive customer engagement is crucial. “It definitely brings in extra business,” she said.
Today, Smart Sheep Laundry is a thriving small business generating between $6-8 million in annual revenue between their different sales channels. That success has allowed Krogue to grow her business and support two communities. In Nepal, Christine’s partner has expanded to four workshops employing hundreds of women with above-average market wages. In Kaysville, Krogue’s hired a team of part-time moms from her neighborhood to support her Amazon sales, many of whom appreciate the flexibility to work around their children’s schedules.
While Smart Sheep Laundry maintains some wholesale distribution to local boutiques, her Amazon store is where Christine directs most of her time and energy. Krogue credits Amazon’s suite of seller tools and programs with enabling her small business to compete and thrive.
“For a small business in a small town, there’s no way we could ever have achieved this kind of growth and revenue without Amazon,” said Krogue. “The tools and resources they provide have been instrumental to our success.”