Front Row, formerly known as the Fortress Brand Group, has officially announced their brand consolidation and merger, uniting several prominent brands that include the Fortress Brand, School House, Taylor & Pond, Bizmut, and Finc3. This strategic move enables Front Row to provide comprehensive global support to clients across the US and Europe.
This holistic integration seamlessly combines a myriad of capabilities, including strategy and design, content creation, consumer and B2B digital marketing, Amazon acceleration, e-commerce marketplace management, and business intelligence through its proprietary technology, Catapult. Front Row now offers global brands access to a diverse set of specialized e-commerce services tailored to address their unique business needs.
We sat with Yuriy Boykiv, Front Row’s CEO, and the original Fortress Brand co-founders and now Front Row Presidents Alex and Matt Beer, to discuss their integrated launch.
Fortress Brand built a strong reputation for its marketplace management. Marketplaces, especially Amazon, have become important revenue sources for brands, so competition between businesses supporting this channel has become quite competitive. What is it about your business model that made you a go-to for beauty and wellness brands?
Matt Beer: We're the true end-to-end partners you've always wished for. Our Marketplace Partnership model sets us apart as we not only buy your inventory but also fully manage and grow your marketplace presence. We take on the risks and rewards alongside you, investing in your brand's future like no one else in the industry.
With our comprehensive capabilities, extensive market knowledge, and customized marketplace management strategies, we ensure that our holistic range of services is tailored to the unique needs of beauty and wellness brands. Marketplaces such as Amazon have become so complex that they require the next generation of accelerator to stay competitive. You need to produce a flywheel of fresh content, a strong paid strategy, constant testing and optimization, and a high conversion rate. Our group is uniquely positioned to provide that all under one roof.
By leveraging our powerful proprietary technology, Catapult, we operate your storefront efficiently, continually optimizing and monitoring performance in real time through our user-friendly dashboard. We keep a close eye on your metrics so that you can make informed decisions and drive success.
You have quietly expanded beyond marketplace management to build a group through bolt-on acquisitions assembling an ecosystem of businesses that power brands through commerce.
Can you share a bit about the impetus and strategy for the group you have built?
Yuriy Boykiv: Everything stems from our mission to empower our clients to win both market share and heart share with their customers. We have expanded beyond marketplace management to assemble a robust ecosystem of businesses that power brands through commerce. Whether it's leveraging marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart.com, TikTok Shop, or platforms like Shopify for DTC, retail media, or social commerce, our deep and best-in-class capabilities drive our clients' commerce success. We also provide the advantage of Catapult, our proprietary tech stack, which helps clients organize and utilize their data for faster and more accurate marketing and business decisions. This comprehensive approach has enabled our clients to enhance their commerce strategies and achieve double-digit sales growth, even in challenging economic conditions.
The businesses you acquired [School House, Taylor & Pond, Finc3, BizMut] were all successful in their own right with solid leadership. What made you decide to fold them into one entity?
Alex Beer: Through this strategic consolidation, we position ourselves to better cater to our clients and capitalize on emerging growth opportunities. By offering a comprehensive suite of services under the unified brand of Front Row, we enhance our ability to support our clients and drive their success in the ever-evolving marketplace management landscape. This merger represents the culmination of our efforts to identify and partner with leading companies possessing unique capabilities, enabling us to provide a unified and seamless experience as we actively drive global commerce for our clients.
Yuriy Boykiv: This consolidation of capabilities positions us as the world's first full-service global e-commerce catalyst. With a team of industry experts excelling in their respective fields, Front Row is uniquely positioned to drive tangible results and deliver unparalleled value to our clients and partners.
The Front Row group comprises six capability areas: Strategy & Design, Content Creation, Digital Marketing (Consumer and B2B), Marketplace Partnership, and Ecommerce Management. How would a brand best engage with Front Row given the broad range of services?
Matt Beer: We exist to empower commerce at every stage of a brand's journey. Front Row is uniquely positioned to cater to brands at different points in their growth trajectory. For brands new to the market, we offer comprehensive support starting from brand creation, packaging, content creation, and digital marketing, eventually progressing to global ecommerce and marketplace partnership. We are equally equipped to assist brands that require discovery and diagnosis to determine the best support for both short-term and long-term objectives. Our range of services is designed to accommodate large enterprises as well as single independent brands and everything in between. Whether you're just starting out or seeking assistance in optimizing your existing operations, Front Row is here to provide tailored solutions that drive commerce and foster your brand's success.
Using a proprietary business intelligence tool, you have built your business by powering brands through commerce. Under Front Row you have packaged this in a proprietary product offering called Catapult. Can you share the capabilities of the Catapult platform?
Matt Beer: We’re a commerce-focused group that propels our clients’ brands to new levels of success. And we needed a tool that let us look at large amounts of information quickly, that let us process and interpret it easily, and did all of this with results that were rich, in-depth, and highly actionable. We couldn't find anything that was good enough. So, we built it ourselves. And we built it so well that it’s taken on a life of its own. We named it Catapult, because it enables you to make the most impactful decisions for your entire commerce management using real-time insights and market intelligence.
Catapult has three report typologies:
As a group, you are primarily based in the US and Germany, but have a global perspective on how you service your clients. Why is a global solution or perspective necessary when it comes to commerce?
Yuriy Boykiv: Having a global perspective and offering a global solution is crucial in today's commerce landscape. Our expansion of global ecommerce solutions enables us to assist our clients in navigating diverse marketplaces. With our presence in over 30 countries and growing, we gain valuable data and insights from each transaction. This allows us to continuously improve and deliver a seamless experience for our clients, regardless of whether they are selling products in the US, Germany, UAE, or any other market. By understanding the nuances and trends across different regions, we can provide effective strategies and tailor our services to meet the unique needs of our clients on a global scale.
How does this announcement fit into or relate to larger industry trends in beauty, health wellness, and CPG?
Alex Beer: Brands are actively seeking trusted partners who understand their business and can anticipate their evolving needs as they strive for growth. As the market becomes more dynamic, having a trusted collaborator who understands the intricacies of the industry is crucial for success. Front Row embodies this expertise, positioning itself as the visionary partner that empowers brands to navigate the ever-changing landscape and stay ahead of the curve. By consolidating our capabilities and offering a holistic range of services, we provide brands with the necessary tools and insights to thrive in these competitive industries and achieve their growth objectives.
In the world of commerce, there’s always something new on the horizon. What trends or business dynamics should brands be contemplating and planning for to stay ahead of the curve?
Yuriy Boykiv: Brands must recognize the transformative power of data in driving business outcomes to stay ahead of the curve in the ever-evolving world of commerce. In the past, beauty, wellness, and CPG brands did not have ownership of their customer data, but those days are behind us. Today, successful brands rely on first-party and third-party data to make informed commerce decisions. At Front Row, we leverage our expertise in categories, marketing, logistics, operations, and cutting-edge tools and technologies to help clients establish deeper and more meaningful relationships with their customers. This includes understanding the lifetime value of a customer (LTV) and recognizing that customers value convenience and speedy product delivery as much as product quality. We are in an era of instant gratification, and the best brands are those that adapt to meet these evolving customer expectations. By embracing data-driven strategies and prioritizing customer experience, brands can position themselves for sustained success in the competitive commerce landscape.
