Mowtown USA is an online lawn mower parts supplier. When they started their business in 2001, they catered exclusively to commercial landscapers, but over the years, they saw more and more savvy homeowners ordering professional equipment. In 2005, Mowtown USA launched a consumer-facing website and began to sell on multiple eCommerce platforms. They joined the ranks of Amazon sellers just one year later, adding leaf blowers, snow throwers and power tools to their lawn mower parts product offering.

When Mowtown USA president, Douglas Hellebuyck, made the decision to target consumers, he wanted to try all of the leading eCommerce sites. "In the beginning we were on all four of the leading eCommerce sites. Selling on Amazon was just another online shop," says Hellebuyck. "But after 18 months, it blew all our other sales out of the water and we’ve never looked back." Since they started Selling on Amazon in 2006, Mowtown USA has consistently seen 50% year-over-year growth in their Amazon sales. In 2007, they doubled their inventory on Amazon, and watched as sales continued to multiply.

Amazon Webstore is also a key part of Mowtown USA's consumer-facing business. They use the eCommerce platform to experiment with various storefronts, and group together like- minded products—snow removal tools, gardening supplies and do-it-yourself products—from their 200,000 SKUs. "We use every offering available to us from Amazon—Fulfillment by Amazon, Amazon Webstore, you name it," says Hellebuyck. "We've been a featured seller since joining Amazon in 2005 and every time we add a new offering, we see a positive impact on our bottom line."

In 2009, Mowtown USA started using Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) to eliminate the need to hire and train temporary workers during busy seasons. "We started with just our top 100 SKUs," says Hellebuyck, "but now that we’ve seen such success, we've expanded this to 250 and also use FBA for our orders that are sold outside Amazon.com." FBA also allows Hellebuyck the flexibility to take vacations and travel—a rare luxury for a booming small business owner. "You can never predict when warm temperatures will kick in or when snowstorms will start plaguing the countryside," says Hellebuyck. "But FBA helps us stand at the ready. It's grown our business faster than weeds."