Five years ago, you might have only heard of BUBBL’R if you’re from the Midwest or made a gas station pitstop there while on a road trip. Today, the antioxidant sparkling water is a national favorite that has been gaining attention thanks to what sets it apart. The buzzworthy beverage has a health-forward recipe of antioxidants and natural caffeine, 11 flavors and counting, and a hip brand with a loyal following.
“It was a first mover in the antioxidant sparkling water category,” says Zach Lastrilla, Brand Development Manager at BUBBL’R. “It’s really the first of its kind, so we saw an opportunity to create our own category in the sparkling water space.”
Based in Wisconsin, the brand started distributing single-serve cans in limited flavors to grocery and convenience stores across the Midwest. At the time, BUBBL’R had a brand website, but it only served as a promotional and educational hub. Site visitors could read more about the drink’s benefits, explore the different flavors, join the brand’s ambassador program, or buy BUBBL’R-branded merchandise.
But this setup presented a challenge for the brand’s growing fanbase. If out-of-towners wanted to get BUBBL’R back home after picking it up while traveling in the Midwest, they were out of luck. BUBBL’R wasn’t sold online.
Recognizing this challenge early on, BUBBL’R made the strategic decision to start selling cases of the popular beverage on Amazon.com. This opened up a much wider pool of shoppers for the brand and orders climbed rapidly. However, it still didn’t solve the problem for shoppers who’d go to DrinkBubblr.com and hit a dead end.
But in in February 2024, that all changed when the team added Buy with Prime to its brand website—again, a site where no drink sales were previously possible. This not only opened up an entirely new sales channel for BUBBL’R, but it also let shoppers use their Prime shopping benefits directly on the site. And for BUBBL’R fans, this meant being able to learn about the brand, buy merch, and buy drinks all in one place—from anywhere in the US.
Loyal fans drive growth
From its beginnings, BUBBL’R quickly built a dedicated fanbase, which eventually evolved into its ambassador programs and a network of more than 2,000 influencers.
“We had people reaching out to us, telling us how much they love BUBBL’R,” Zach explains. “So we wanted to lean into that and give back to those consumers who are telling their friends, their coworkers, everyone around them, how great BUBBL’R is and reward them with free BUBBL’R. It’s a great way to give back to those core consumers and also partner with people in new markets.”
These programs helped the brand grow organically, as ambassadors and influencers spread the word and followers tried BUBBL’R for the first time.
“It’s really exciting for us, because typically when people try BUBBL’R, they love it,” he says. “So we’re definitely looking to continue to drive that brand awareness. New-to-brand customers is a huge priority for us.” Buy with Prime merchants have seen increases in new customers, so Zach hopes to see this become part of BUBBL’R’s success story too.
In addition to reaching more consumers, selling on Amazon and now through Buy with Prime has helped the team gauge consumer interest across the country. Seeing where higher numbers of online orders were being shipped helped them evaluate which region to expand to next among traditional retailers. In April, BUBBL’R launched in Target stores nationwide, with a variety of flavors available in more than 1,700 locations.
Buy with Prime opens a new channel
Even though BUBBL’R started out as a retail brand, the team knew how important it was to build it into an omnichannel brand. Its six-year journey from Midwest stores to Amazon.com to Target and now its own ecommerce site is a testament to that belief.
“Omnichannel is super important right now because consumers have so much going on,” Zach says. “The more locations where you’re available the better, because you have so many more chances to sell to that consumer. So you need to make sure to take advantage of all channels.”
He says BUBBL’R’s core demographic does a lot of purchasing online and many are Prime members, so Buy with Prime seemed like a perfect fit for facilitating drink sales on its brand site.
“We’ve always wanted to sell BUBBL’R on our site, but there were a few hurdles, like storage, execution, fulfillment outside of Amazon, that made it not possible,” Zach says.
But when he learned about Buy with Prime, he saw how it addressed all of those hurdles and how easily it integrated into the brand’s Shopify site. “It was pretty clear that this was the easiest and most efficient way to sell BUBBL’R on our site,” he admits. “There really were no cons to it, so we were excited at the opportunity.”
Zach and the team also launched a TikTok Shop this year to make BUBBL’R available for the brand’s influencers and target consumers on a channel where they spend significant time. Because Amazon was already handling storage and fulfillment for Amazon.com and Buy with Prime orders, BUBBL’R tapped Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment to handle TikTok Shop orders. Amazon stores one pool of inventory at its fulfillment centers around the country to fulfill the brand’s orders across all three channels.
“It’s a huge efficiency being able to use the same inventory,” Zach says. “I don’t think we’d be able to execute an omnichannel strategy online without that.”
A sparkling future for BUBBL’R
Since adding Buy with Prime to its site, orders and unit sales of BUBBL’R have been growing exponentially. In the first three full months, Buy with Prime sales have increased 69% on average month over month. Additionally, units per order (UPO) have been trending upward and are 62% higher than UPO on Amazon.com.
Many Buy with Prime merchants are also seeing increased shopper conversion after adding Buy with Prime to their sites, but for BUBBL’R, that wasn’t even something the team could test. The brand went from zero sparkling water sales on its site up until January 2024 to hundreds of units sold each month since.
“We’ve definitely seen more and more orders come in each week, so that’s been encouraging,” Zach says. “I think a lot of that is driven by the ability to send consumers to one place. Instead of sending them to multiple locations to buy apparel and BUBBL’R, we can send them to one place, which in turn allows us to focus our advertising efforts more.”
Although traditional retail will always be a core channel for BUBBL’R, the team is excited to see how Amazon and Buy with Prime are helping the brand grow by reaching consumers in all the channels where they shop.
Ready to see if Buy with Prime is a good fit for your site? Get started today