E-Commerce Success Stories » Sambi Used SellersFi Funding to Save Black Friday

INDUSTRY

Arbitrage (Mostly Electronics)

CHALLENGE

A different lender withdrew funding two days before Black Friday, leaving Sambi stranded.

RESULTS

SellersFi provided $200,000 in funding in under 48 hours. Q4 was saved with 15% year-over-year growth.

SOLUTION

From Not Enough Money for Black Friday to How to grow on amazon $5 Million in Revenue

Overview

Ibrahim Toure is a serial e-commerce entrepreneur running his US-focused e-commerce business, Sambi LLC, from sunny West Africa. Opting to go against the grain, Ibrahim found success through the arbitrage and wholesale models before they became mainstream — and the rest is history.

With razor-sharp product research skills and a keen eye for electronics, Ibrahim built a multi-million-dollar company with just two employees in under five years.

But it’s not always been sunshine and rainbows.

The Challenge: Retracted Funding 2 Days Before Black Friday

2020 was a good year for Ibrahim. He doubled his store’s revenue, giving him more access to capital, and by Q4 he had an e-commerce funding provider lined up to help make sure he had enough working capital to make it through the infamous end of year sales rush.

Or so he thought.

Out of nowhere, Ibrahim found himself facing the one thing worse than not having funding in Q4 — having funding retracted.

“It was the end of last year, which is the busiest season for Amazon sellers, and I was working with a different online lender. The experience was not as positive as I’d hoped it would be. The lender took back their capital. I had two days to find money because Black Friday is the biggest day for online sales. For us, it’s also the biggest day for online purchases. So, I was shopping around for different partners who could provide the capital quickly.”

The e-commerce entrepreneur found himself with an undercapitalized store and just two days to find cash before Black Friday.

The Solution: $200,000 Delivered in Under 48 Hours

With time against him, Ibrahim’s race to find a suitable funding provider began. His plan was to test a few solutions simultaneously — but luck struck quickly and SellersFi (formerly SellersFunding) soon caught his eye.

 

He could see almost immediately that SellersFi would be the best option for Sambi. Here’s why:

 

  • Straightforward working capital solutions
  • Clear repayment terms
  • Quick access to funding

 

But the stars really aligned when Toure got in touch with a SellersFi customer success rep, who jumped straight in to meet his super tight deadline.

Toure needed $200,000 in just two days. So SellersFi’s customer success rep worked closely with the compliance team and other departments to make it happen.

“I called SellersFi at the same time as other online lenders, and SellersFi was just easier. It’s not tricky, like some other people out there. You have a certain amount of time to pay the funding off, the interest rate is clear, and the repayment schedule is straightforward.”

And it worked.

Toure received funding just in time to save his Black Friday sales. But more importantly, SellersFi Working Capital gave Toure the chance to go full throttle on his business. 🙌🏽

“It’s very difficult to get $200,000 in two days. I could tell that our rep was doing everything possible. She gave me advice on how to do the necessary documents that I needed. And we were able to pull it off. The fact that I could get $200,000 in November in such a quick period right before Black Friday enabled me to buy way more products than I would have. It was such a straightforward process.”

The Result: Increased Buying Power and $5 Million in Sales

After a successful Black Friday, the real fun began.

The Working Capital from the SellersFi and the resulting sales surge allowed Toure to scale his Amazon store faster than ever by boosting his buying power, broadening his product range, and increasing his purchase quantity.

The result?

Toure ended the year with a whopping 15% growth rate, leaving the store’s revenue at $5 million — a 25X revenue increase from when they started just 4 years ago.

And that’s not all. With SellersFi’s help, Ibrahim was able to:

  • Strengthen predicted growth for 2021 and 2022 (10%-15%).
  • Pay off more expensive loans.
  • Stock up on inventory.
  • Plan a wholesale extension.
  • Consider expanding to Amazon Europe.

Now that Ibrahim’s store has the funding it needs, the only way is up. He and his team can scale stress-free — and the additional cash means he no longer needs to rely on Amazon’s unpredictable payouts.

Ibrahim now has the freedom to set his sights on bigger goals, and we can’t wait to see what he and the Toure team will accomplish next!

Ready to scale your brand?

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