Voomi is an ecommerce HVAC distributor that works with OEMs and other distributors to provide a wide assortment of products to customers across the U.S. The company gives its supply partners access to new customer segments and regions so they can expand their reach.
Ian Heller and Jonathan Bein, Ph.D., spoke with Voomi CEO RJ Cilley about his company’s value proposition and plans for meeting customers’ increasingly demanding requirements.
Ian Heller: RJ, tell us a little about your background and what led you to Voomi.
RJ Cilley: My background over the last decade has been focused on ecommerce within different organizations and industries, spanning everything from merchandising and marketing to building and engineering products, and heavy operational experience.
Prior to Voomi Supply, I was the Chief Operating Officer at Saks Fifth Avenue. Obviously, completely different industries, but the concept of ecommerce has many similarities, whether you’re selling a widget, a dress or a mini-split unit.
However, over the past several months after joining Voomi, I gained a deep appreciation of the differences in product and industry dynamics compared to other industries in which I’ve worked.
Voomi is an ecommerce distributor that focuses on digitizing and streamlining the HVAC industry’s massive catalog of products. We created a national sales platform, working with distributors and partners to ensure a seamless ecommerce experience. Our role goes beyond just listing products; we manage fulfillment, post-purchase support, last-mile delivery and other logistics to ensure a high-trust ecommerce experience. Our goal is to remove barriers and make online ordering as reliable as picking up from a brick-and-mortar store.
Coming in as CEO, my focus has been maximizing our existing relationships, perfecting the operations and bringing on new partners.
Voomi has focused and solved digitizing the HVAC catalog. Voomi’s founders and team have really chipped away at it over the last couple of years, and it will be the biggest unlock in this industry.
Heller: How does Voomi compete with Zoro and Amazon? How do you differentiate?
Cilley: Our competitive advantage is being known as the go-to for anything in this industry. When you think about a broader experience like Amazon, it’s hard to navigate. While they have good search capability, finding what you’re looking for can be hard. Being known as a one-stop shop is super important for us. Another differentiator is the digitization of the catalog and aggregating supply with a national presence.
Bein: When thinking about the customer, how are you delivering a better experience? What are the benefits for a buyer coming to Voomi?
Cilley: While contractors are a major part of the market, they aren’t currently our sweet spot. We primarily service institutional buyers like municipalities. These buyers benefit from shopping a bid and comparing it across distributors. For larger, more complex purchases, we can quote lots of quantity of something that they couldn’t aggregate themselves.
Obviously, most of the market is the contractor market, and for us, it is something we plan to chip away at. Our delivery is around three days, which might not be fast enough for contractors. We need to get to a point where we are one-, two- or same-day delivery.
Scarcity is where we win. If someone is unable to find what they are looking for elsewhere, either we have it, or we can get it in front of them.
We also serve the DIY customer. They may be looking ahead at their next weekend job and can shop around, look at different options, and we’ll get it to them on time.
Heller: How do you select suppliers to onboard them? And how do you manage product data on a platform like this?
Cilley: Technology is always a barrier to moving forward. So, from the start, we focused on building a system that enabled everyone and in any way they want to integrate. Instead of requiring complex integrations, we created a good ingestion engine that can take data in any form — Excel API, whatever way you want.
This flexibility allows us to onboard suppliers quickly. Getting us an Excel file is kind of the bare minimum, and because we handle most of the heavy lifting, we can get people up and running in less than a week. Our approach is to be a supplier-friendly model that allows us to essentially set something up overnight.
Heller: You make it easy for distributors to sell on your platform. I would assume that a good distributor partner for you is technologically ahead of the average distributor, maybe more digital, better product data and ERP utilization? Would that assumption be correct?
Cilley: A hundred percent. Having a dedicated PIM or working with a third party to aggregate data improves performance, but success on the platform also depends on operational efficiency. The faster shipping, the more reliable, the fewer cancellations — those who excel in these areas, whether running their own business or partnering with them, tend to perform better. However, there is still opportunity for those with limited data.
Heller: Where do you see this channel going? How do you think the HVAC distribution channel will evolve?
Cilley: Continued trust is a big component, especially in an industry with low ecommerce penetration. The harder a product is to ship and the harder it is to catalog, the longer it takes to adopt. HVAC is a prime example of an industry with a challenging catalog and big, bulky things ship.
To succeed, we need to keep building a great operation. We believe in respecting the industry, continuing to bring expertise into our organization, and being the best partners we can be. Everyone in ecommerce needs to keep chipping away at that, and the adoption will come naturally. We control our controllables. The uncontrollable is when people will embrace it, but as the market continues to push in that direction, we’re ready for it.
