Overview

Marcella’s Appliance Center has been a trusted name in appliance sales and repair since 1957. Based in New York’s Capital District, the family-owned business has grown from a single-store operation in Schenectady to include a second location in Clifton Park. With a reputation for expertise, customer service, and competitive pricing, Marcella’s successfully competed with big-box retailers.

The original store offered a traditional mix of high-end and mass-market appliances. Confident in the region’s potential, Marcella’s opened a dedicated high-end showroom in Clifton Park in 2016 to better serve an area they believed had the Affluent Audience™ to support premium and luxury sales. But despite their best efforts, the new showroom struggled to gain momentum—until they stepped into the SMARTER GROWTH™ strategies with AffluentBridge™.

Challenge

Despite its strong regional presence, Marcella’s struggled to connect with affluent consumers interested in premium and luxury appliance brands—particularly in their new high-end Clifton Park showroom. The traditional marketing tactics that had worked for years at their original location were not resonating with the higher-end customer base they were trying to reach.

“We were doing a lot of trial and error with reaching the high-end customer with various results,” says Nick Madelone, Director of Marketing at Marcella’s. “It really needs to be the right messaging with proper tactics and a consistent effort that is managed day to day.”

Without a clear and focused strategy tailored to the Affluent Audience, Marcella’s was missing critical opportunities to position the new showroom as the preferred destination for luxury appliances.

That’s when Nick approached AffluentBridge—and Marcella’s took the leap into SMARTER GROWTH.

Solution

AffluentBridge stepped in to implement a hyper-targeted growth strategy tailored to the Affluent Audience. The approach included:

• Hyper-Targeted Advertising: Launching a precision-targeted advertising campaign aimed at affluent consumers, leveraging income data, lifestyle triggers, and online behavior to reach the right buyers.
  
• Self Promotion Plan: Guiding Marcella’s through an intentional investment in their own brand presentation—ensuring their premium offerings and expertise were consistently showcased across every customer touchpoint.
  
• Branded Viewbook Creation: Designing an elegant, high-end viewbook that reflected the experience and selection available at the Clifton Park showroom. The polished design and updated messaging positioned Marcella’s as the go-to partner for both luxury-minded homeowners and builder trade professionals.
  
• Ongoing Campaign Management & Coaching: While AffluentBridge focused on the Self Promotion and Funded Advertising Campaigns, Marcella’s in-house team gained the clarity and confidence to evolve their online presence—successfully balancing messaging for both high-end and mass-market consumers.

Results

The results were clear—and measurable. In just two years, the new high-end showroom in Clifton Park experienced a 75% increase in sales volume, directly tied to the SMARTER GROWTH strategies.

“They have helped us accelerate our sales growth of premium appliance brands to high-end customers,” says Nick. “We keep building more and more momentum, which results in increased market share.”

By trusting the proven strategies for reaching the Affluent Audience, Marcella’s transformed what had been a slow-starting showroom into a thriving high-end appliance destination. With a refined marketing approach and a strong partnership with AffluentBridge, Marcella’s has firmly established itself as a leader in the luxury appliance sector.