Specializing in hard-to-find and high-end kitchenware, Central Chef opened its online business in 2005 out of CEO Michael Eisenberg’s hometown of Tampa, Fla. After its first year in business selling solely on www.CentralChef.com, the company began Selling on Amazon with a limited array of products.

Central Chef maintains its own warehouse and staff to pack and ship most orders, but Fulfillment by Amazon is used selectively by the company during busy periods and to move heavy volume of key products. “Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), the division of Amazon that stores, packs, and ships orders for us, helps us keep up on orders over the busy holiday months, which allows us to service our customers in the way they expect,” says Eisenberg.

FBA helps Eisenberg from a logistical standpoint, and as a sales tool. “Customers demand free shipping – and Fulfillment by Amazon helps us offer this to customers” says Eisenberg. “FBA helps the customer to feel good about the sale, and they like the idea that they’re not wasting money to have the product shipped.”

Eisenberg attributes much of his continued success on Selling on Amazon to Amazon’s interest in the sellers and the wealth of information available to them regarding customer feedback, selling statistics trends, and inventory management tools. Through this bundle of Selling on Amazon services, Central Chef has gained the attention – and sales – of a much larger audience of consumers than they could have hoped to reach through CentralChef.com. Many customers are repeat shoppers and they have store loyalists all over the country. Using Amazon Services has more than tripled the number of customers that have purchased from Central Chef.

“We’ve consistently received great feedback from our Amazon.com customers over the years, and happy customers not only return, but incite others to buy from us, too,” says Eisenberg. He continues “Amazon is a great channel for us to move volume of products, especially those at specific price points with mass appeal.”