By Thomas A. Parmalee
Timing is everything – and when the dotcom bust of 2003 hit, it could not have come at a worse time for Michael Madore, who suddenly found himself laid off from his job selling data and technology solutions to the automotive industry.
With a baby on the way and a new mortgage, he knew he had to provide for his family, but he was reluctant to stake his future on a job that could so easily be taken away.
“I knew just enough to be dangerous about e-commerce, and my father-in-law owned a Maine-based funeral supply company called Turner Sales Associates (now Turner Memorial),” he said. “So, I asked him, half-seriously, ‘If I build an urn website, will you ship what I sell?’”
His father-in-law was in a tough spot.
“He sort of had to say, ‘yes,’” Madore said, observing that the alternative would have been to have a son-in-law trying to take care of his soon-to-be grandchild without any source of income.
“That was the unlikely beginning of Mainely Urns,” Madore said.
More than 20 years later, the online retail business looks a lot different than when Madore launched the company.
We recently caught up with Madore to learn more about what he’s learned along the way and how he’s building alliances and partnerships with funeral homes he once considered adversaries.
How did you go from being a sales executive in the auto industry to building an online urn company?
I was selling data and technology solutions in the automotive industry, working with Mercedes, Subaru, and BMW, when the first dotcom bust hit in 2003. I was laid off, a baby on the way and a new mortgage. I knew just enough to be dangerous about “ecommerce,” and my father-in-law owned a Maine-based funeral supply company called Turner Sales Associates (now Turner Memorial). So, I asked him, half-seriously, “If I build an urn website, will you ship what I sell?” He sort of had to say yes, he had a grandchild on the way and a son-in-law without a job. That was the unlikely beginning of Mainely Urns.
You started the company more than 20 years ago when the Internet was pretty new. What are some of the biggest changes you’ve had to make as a business owner over that time?
It was a completely different world. Families weren’t used to making these kinds of purchases online, and funeral directors saw me as competition. Directors would hang up the phone as soon as they realized I sold directly to the public. The challenge was building trust, one family at a time, by answering every call, handling every order personally, and proving that an online business could deliver with compassion and reliability.
Over time, the landscape changed. Search engines, online reviews, and cell phones reshaped how people shop, and we adapted by becoming experts in e-commerce and digital marketing. Personalization then became the next big shift, families didn’t just want an urn, they wanted a unique tribute. That pushed us to innovate with design, engraving, then laser engraving, then UV printing, and even how we presented the products online.
It was challenging to stay ahead of technology and not lose the “Maine” personal touch.
What do you wish you knew starting out that you know now?
I wish I had understood how quickly the Internet would evolve, and how much of my time would shift to mastering SEO, logistics, digital marketing, and now AI. I thought it was about putting tons and tons of products online and waiting for orders. I was very wrong.
I wish I’d appreciated sooner the importance of partnerships. Early on, I saw funeral directors as adversaries because they’d hang up on me. Now, the relationships I have with directors, suppliers and technology partners are the most valuable parts of the business.
Do you make your own urns, sell the urns of others … or is it a combination of both?
It’s a combination of both.
We design and manufacture several exclusive lines like our Homage vase style, Stonewood, Eternal Reflections, and our Made in Maine Cherry series. These are all products you won’t find anywhere else. These “core products” are the foundation of our business because they allow us to control quality, margins and innovation. We also sell urns from other manufacturers that complement our collections and give families the ideal amount of choice.
Finding the precise mix has been key to our growth. By making and curating our own urn lines, we can offer personalization options that set us apart. And by carrying a very few select lines from others, we round out our offerings and make sure we’re meeting families where they are. It’s a balance we feel we’ve almost perfected in our UrnSpiration collection.
In addition to urns, you also sell sympathy gifts and keepsakes. How does this fit into your business?
Urns will always be at the heart of our business, but over time we realized families were looking for more ways to honor their loved ones. It started organically, with families asking, “Do you have something smaller I can keep at home or give to my children?” From there, it became a natural extension of what we already do.
Those products are an important part of the business, but they’re still secondary to our core urn lines.
What are a few of the most interesting items you sell?
It isn’t the products really; it’s the inspiration behind them. Through our UrnSpiration Galleries, families can see how others before them have personalized urns in hundreds of different ways. The “pay-it-forward” experience we have is where one family’s memorial helps spark ideas and comfort for the next. Instead of static catalog photos, families get to envision possibilities and create something that truly reflects their loved one’s life.
Do most of your sales come directly from consumers?
For most of our history, most of our sales came directly from consumers. Families found us online looking for better options than what they saw in a funeral home catalog. That direct-to-consumer foundation helped us build trust, refine our products and develop our exclusive lines. Now we’re sharing what we’ve learned with funeral homes, and they are absolutely loving it.
The last few years we’ve been building partnerships with funeral homes and funeral home groups through our UrnSpiration program. In short, we’re giving funeral directors better tools, so they can offer inspiration and bring a renewed emphasis on personalization. It’s still a very healthy direct-to-consumer business but with a growing B2B side.
Funeral homes typically sell our merchandise at a slightly higher price than what families would see on our retail sites. But we are allowing directors to bridge the gap between their historic much higher pricing and what someone might expect from a third-party retailer. It’s normal in this industry to charge more because funeral homes are providing in-person service, guidance and convenience at a time when families need it most.
When funeral homes offer our products, they do so under our UrnSpiration brand. UrnSpiration isn’t a competing website, it’s a set of tools designed to help directors and allow families to explore and be inspired.
You’ve mentioned “UrnSpiration” several times. I guess I should ask you what that is?
It’s about time you asked.
UrnSpiration is our B2B brand created exclusively for funeral homes and direct cremation providers. It’s a set of tools designed to help funeral professionals inspire families during the urn selection process. Its foundation is segmentation, simplification, and personalization. Every urn includes personalization, pricing is both transparent and intelligent, and the collections are data-driven, built from serving 450,000+ families over 20+ years. With curated lookbooks, inspirational galleries and interactive displays, UrnSpiration makes the selection process easier, more personal and more inspiring. It’s not an urn store; it’s like nothing the funeral industry has ever seen.
Is your business concentrated in a certain area or region of the country?
We’re based in Maine, but our business has always been national in scope. We’re not limited by geography. Families from California to Florida could find us just as easily as those here in New England. Our customers are spread across the U.S., with higher concentrations in metro areas where cremation rates are higher.
Most families find us using search engines, but reviews, and word of mouth have been huge drivers for years. More recently, our UrnSpiration Galleries have become a powerful discovery tool, because families share them with others and funeral directors use them during arrangements.
What do customers think about the name – Mainely Urns?
The Mainely name has definitely been a conversation starter over the years. Initially I was worried it might be too playful for such a sensitive industry, but families have embraced it. It’s memorable, it ties us to where we’ve built the business, and it adds a touch of humanity to what can otherwise feel like a very heavy subject.
Our logo is “Maine” to the core, and that’s intentional. We’ve built the company around Maine values: authenticity, craftsmanship and integrity in how we serve families. People like knowing they’re working with a family-owned company rooted in those principles.
How does your shipping work?
We ship about 95% of our orders from our 10,000-square-foot facility in Maine. Centralizing operations allows us to control quality, oversee personalization and make sure every order is packaged with care. We keep deep inventory on our exclusive lines and also stock many of our partner products.
We also offer expedited turnaround options, Rush / Super Rush. We can take a completely personalized urn from proof to production to shipping in just a few hours. That is something families and funeral homes really value when timelines are tight. And we of course offer expedited delivery, including overnight.
What do you think you do better than anyone else?
Build trust through personalization and inspiration.
We inspire families and that inspiration builds trust. Through our UrnSpiration Galleries, families can see how others before them have personalized memorials, creating that kind of pay-it-forward experience, in a format they are used to. Think Pinterest meets memorials. Instead of picking from a static catalog, they get to imagine the possibilities and design something that truly reflects their loved one’s life.
On the personalization side, we’ve built processes and invested in technology that allow us to deliver highly custom products quickly and beautifully. Laser engraving, UV printing, unique medallions … we can take an urn from proof to production very quickly. Our blend of craftsmanship and turnaround is something we’re very proud of.
Listen, it’s not just about selling urns, it’s about helping families create meaningful tributes and that must start with trust – and that is where we really shine.
And what do you need to work on?
Like any business, we’re always a work in progress. Our focus of late has been on efficiency, streamlining operations, managing inventory and making sure our systems keep up with growth. The demand is there and always growing but scaling without losing our level of personal service is an ongoing challenge.
We’re still mostly direct-to-consumer, but our UrnSpiration B2B program is expanding rapidly, so we want to make sure funeral directors see us as an ally and not just a supplier or retailer.
MainelyUrns.com has always been our flagship, but over time we realized that having dedicated websites for specific audiences made some sense. CremationUrns.com focuses only on our core human urn lines, while PetCremationUrns.com gives families a dedicated space that feels right for them. Families grieving the loss of a pet don’t necessarily want to be on the same site as human urns, so separating the two has worked really well.
CremationUrns.ca was an important step. It gives families in Canada a local experience with pricing in Canadian dollars, easier shipping and fewer cross-border complications.
And behind all of these sites, Mainely Urns has evolved into the manufacturer that supplies the other brands. That’s been a big shift – we’re not just a retailer anymore but a supplier to suppliers and funeral home groups.
And UrnSpiration isn’t a retailing site. Rather, it provides a set of tools we built to make the funeral director’s job easier and to help them inspire the families they serve.
Do you think it is more acceptable now for people to grieve the death of a pet than in years past?
Absolutely.
There’s been a huge cultural shift in how people view and grieve the loss of a pet. Years ago, pet memorials were an afterthought, but today it’s widely accepted that pets are part of the family, and the grief is equally as real.
For us as a business, it’s meant recognizing that pet families deserve the same options, inspiration and personalization as human families. That’s why we launched PetCremationUrns.com, to create a space where people could honor their pets without feeling like it was “less than” or secondary.
How much do your urns typically cost?
Our average selling price for an urn is typically in the $200–$300 range for people, and somewhat less for pets. We serve a wide spectrum of families. We have simple options that are more affordable, premium handcrafted pieces that run higher and everything in between.
What keeps the average in that range is our focus on offering high-quality urns that we manufacture, and all of them personalized. We’ve always believed families shouldn’t have to spend a thousand dollars to create a meaningful memorial. By controlling our own manufacturing and doing personalization in-house, we’re able to keep prices accessible without compromising on craftsmanship.
Do you have any final thoughts you’d like to share with our readers?
Yes. It’s never been about selling urns; it’s about helping families honor a loved one.
The industry doesn’t need thicker catalogs; it needs to inspire. From here in Maine, we’ve built a national brand on compassion, craftsmanship, creativity and inspiration – and that’s why families continue to trust us.
From our most tenured employee of 22 years to our newest hire, we all know we know we’re doing it for our customers. We understand deeply that with every product we lovingly create, our work means so much more to someone else. And while we look to sell our products, we are driven to imagine, create and deliver compassion like no other brand ever could.
