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New episodes come out every Tuesday and Thursday. Up Next in Commerce is created by Mission.org.
Do you drink kombucha? Do you even know what kombucha is? Don’t worry if the answer is no, you have plenty of company. In fact, various sources have put the awareness of kombucha at less than 50% for certain age demographics. Nevertheless, kombucha is big business (we’re talking a multi-billion-dollar market), and Health-Ade is right in the thick of the hunt for a slice of the pie. Health-Ade was created in a one-bedroom apartment when the founders were looking to create a product to regrow hair with the fermented tea's living culture. The kombucha liquid was just a byproduct, but after getting an offer to sell the kombucha at a local farmers market, they jumped at the chance. Health-Ade now generates more than $100,000,000 in retail sales, and is sold in 30,000 stores. But just like any brand in an emerging market, the company is looking for ways to grow even bigger.Enter Calvin Lammers, the VP of eCommerce for Health-Ade. Calvin joined Health-Ade after cutting his teeth at some of the biggest healthy CPG brands on the market, Kind, Bai, and Spindrift, where he launched a number of new products and elevated their ecommerce operations to new heights. But when he entered the world of kombucha, he had his work cut out for him. On this episode of Up Next in Commerce, Calvin talks through how he not only had to develop and execute content to help educate a consumer base, but also about how he had to build an entire ecommerce department from scratch. He gives advice to other brands who are facing similar struggles, including what to focus on when building an ecommerce team and what metrics to hone in on in the early days. Plus he discusses why it’s important to have a holistic view of the customer journey. Main Takeaways:An Eye Toward The Future: If you are building an ecommerce team from scratch or scaling up your ecomm operations, long-term planning is important. Think two or three years down the line at where you want to be and build toward that, but make sure you are not overextending or, overspending or over hiring because more is not always better. In fact, having too many resources might be crippling down the line as your organization gets into crunch time as you try to reach the next level of scale.Go Wide, Stay Shallow: Successfully launching a new product or product line is dependent on how many people you can get in front of. Regardless of if your product is niche, the goal should be to get your message to as many people as possible, and to have that message be simple and memorable. You don’t want to overload new customers or audiences with too much information, it’s more important to raise awareness. Small Tweak, Huge Impact: It’s not big or sexy, but focusing on small things like site load times and the checkout experience actually have the most impact in terms of ROI, so those are the things any ecommerce leaders should focus on when deploying their early resources.For an in-depth look at this episode, check out the full transcript below. Quotes have been edited for clarity and length.---Up Next in Commerce is brought to you by Salesforce Commerce Cloud. Respond quickly to changing customer needs with flexible Ecommerce connected to marketing, sales, and service. Deliver intelligent commerce experiences your customers can trust, across every channel. Together, we’re ready for what’s next in commerce. Learn more at salesforce.com/commerce---Transcript:Stephanie:Hey everyone, I'm Stephanie Postals, and you're listening to Up Next In Commerce. Today on the show, we have Calvin Lammers, the VP of eCommerce at Health-Ade. Calvin, welcome.Calvin:Thank you. Thanks for having me.Stephanie:Yeah, I'm really excited to have you on. I was looking through your background, and you've worked at some of the hottest, healthy CPG brands. I was looking at Kind, and Bai, and Spindrift most recently. And so, I feel like you have a lot of good knowledge, and you're a veteran in the eCommerce world.Calvin:Thank you. Yeah, knock on wood. Yeah, thankfully I've been able to be a part of some really great brands. I mean, it's been fascinating from a personal level. It's also been helpful from a selfish consumer level as I've been able to enjoy some really good product as well, while working for these companies. So, I think it's definitely shifted my taste buds, I think for the better.Stephanie:Yes. That's great. Yeah, I just started recently enjoying Spindrifts, and my two and a half year old wants one everyday now. It's probably a bad habit that I've formed. This is so perfect California kid wanting his sparkling beverage everyday.Calvin:That's amazing. No, I definitely got my niece and nephews hooked on Spindrift. And so, it's always funny whenever my family send me photos of the kids taking a big sip of Spindrift. So yeah, love it.Stephanie:Yep, you understand then. So, with all this great background that you have, how did you land on this eCommerce path? How did you first get involved, and know this is what you wanted to do?Calvin:Yeah. So yeah, I mean, it's definitely been a journey. Even just 2020 as a whole but even just getting to this point, it's interesting because I always like to say that there's no one linear path to eCommerce. I feel like everybody I've talked to that's been in this space for a while, or even new to this space, they've had a different journey than mine. So different. So, going way back when, I graduated from college and was in the mid-west in Minneapolis, and worked at Target Headquarters. Obviously, knew Target, new and loved it. So, thought that would be a great opportunity. So, worked in the snacks department there for a while. Realized, not quite for me, too corporate, very big company, and wanted to... And also was in the mid-west for a while, [inaudible] Change of pace. So, was looking to get out to New York, and looking for a retail related jobs.Calvin:And happened upon this start up, or newer company called Quidsi, which Amazon had just acquired right as I joined, and they had multiple eCommerce sites, they had diapers.com, soap.com, and a few others but obviously, I was familiar with Amazon at the time, still pretty early in the journey but was familiar generally with it but had never worked at an eCommerce company. And yeah, thankfully landed the job at this Amazon subsidiary, and really cut my teeth in the eCommerce space, building eCommerce sites, overseeing assortments, [inaudible] overall UX layouts. Really just ran the [inaudible] And I think it was exciting because there was just a lot of, what's now proven to be, it was a really good incubation for a lot of great eCommerce minds.Calvin:So, is Mark Laurie who is now the CEO of walmart.com. That was his former company, before he actually started Jet. There are a number of leaders there that they were at Jet, they started their own eCommerce companies, eCommerce D2C brands. And so, yeah, it just was really great learning around and realized I loved the entrepreneurial space, the vibe, and just loved that world. And so, obviously was working on the eCom retailer side, and decided to make the switch over to the brand, and basically be that voice and leader to build out eCommerce on the brand side, and have been doing that basically ever since. And so, as you mentioned earlier, I've been able to work either at a number of great brands, doing that same thing, in building a eCommerce focus and in channel strategies for the respective brands.Stephanie:That's very cool. So, at Quidsi, you were mentioning that there was a lot of great leaders there that you got to learn from. What is some of the advice that you remember, or that still stays top of mind from some of the people that you learned from there? Because like you were mentioning, that was a good name there, jet.com, that's great. I'm sure there's a lot of good things that you refer back to every now and then.Calvin:Absolutely. So, I think the biggest piece of advice, and I still... This is how I think I view eCommerce, and what I've carried with me, is really viewing even if it's a category, or viewing... Even if it's a certain sub-category on the site, viewing that, and as well as eCommerce, there's a whole in taking ownership, and business ownership, and really just viewing it as a business leader. So, through in through. So, while you might... Maybe you're focused on acquisition, but really having a full view of how it's going to impact the overall business where that's just going to help you work cross-functionally if you're on a team or a business leader, that's going to really carry through to being more strategic with all of your decisions, all of your investments, all of your prioritizations. Just really keeping that lens on whatever you're owning at that point in time, I think is crucial, and that's just how I've carried through to at my various stops in my career.Calvin:And even now, we're overseeing an entire eCommerce department, it really is a true business unit within the overall company since you have your separate operations, [inaudible] eCommerce divisions that companies have their own finance department, their digital marketing component. So, really having that lens, I think has been helpful for myself, and I think in general, that's just been a beneficial way to how I viewed my surroundings in business, depending on the company that I've been at.Stephanie:Yeah. I think that's an important reminder about how they are their own business unit but how do you make sure they don't become a silo? Because I think I was reading in one of the articles that when you were working at Target, the eCommerce group was in a separate building, and there was two people or something.Calvin:Yep, yep.Stephanie:And I'm like, obviously that was a long time ago, and that's how a lot of companies started out but how do you make sure that the team integrates with the company as a whole and doesn't become, "Oh, that's just the eCommerce group, that work on their own."?Calvin:Yeah. Even now, it's still a challenge, I would say but I think it's become less of an issue, or a challenge, or a hurdle, than it was when I was at Target, or at prior companies, just again with the changing views of eCommerce as a whole. But as I said, you still need to work to be integrated and fully aligned across departments, full company. And so, I think that's where... That's the other piece, is that, that's not always the case, it depends on the company. Some companies have eCommerce as it's own business unit, sometimes it lives in marketing, sometimes it lives in sales. And so, I've had differing experience but the biggest thing is, it is whether you have those individual responsibilities, or head count in the eCommerce department, or they still live in different departments, it is one of the most cross-functional areas as well for that exact reason.Calvin:Because you're touching operations, you're touching marketing, you're touching finance, you're touching brand. So, there's an innate need to interact, and work closely, and be involved with each respective areas. So, I think that's where it really the whose... Any eCom leaders, or practitioners that are either starting out, or obviously, well into their careers, really making that effort to both educate in terms of why they should be caring about eCommerce, what of the benefit, how will it impact them, how will it impact the broader company and organization? And really just being that leader, and educational voice, I guess, for the company to gain that [inaudible] And sign on. And I would say that's been one of the biggest focuses at any company, is really making those pitches, and sell-ins.Calvin:And then, obviously, at the same time, going the extra mile to show why it is beneficial for the respective department leaders to work closely with the eCommerce team, and myself personally.Stephanie:Yep. So, you were just mentioning around them being a cross-functional team, and when I think about a cross-functional times, I think about, a lot of times... And I was one of these back in my earlier days. You're not always doing the work but you're there to coordinate many groups, and bring them together, whereas in eCommerce, team having to also be a cross-functional team seems tricky. So, how do you go about building up a team like that? What are some best practices, and how do you make sure you hired the right people, and build up a good team who can do both of those functions?Calvin:Yes, I think that's... It's definitely something that I have very recent experience with. So, I think, a lot of times... And this has been the case at previous companies as well, where eCommerce was maybe less of a focus for a brand, or there weren't as many resources put into the company, or the headcount was on the lower end of the spectrum. So, you have to be very, very efficient, and careful with how you were filling any headcount openings that you had available because that might be the only one you get for the next year, or the next budget cycle. So, it's previously been super important for that reason but even now, as I just joined Health-Ade six months ago, when I joined, there was no dedicated eCommerce team. There were shared responsibilities but there was no eCommerce team to speak of. So, very quickly had to be mindful with the roles that we were building out and filling right off the bat because again, we were building this essentially from scratch.Calvin:So, had to be very thoughtful and mindful about, "Okay, over the next two years, what areas of responsibility, and what departments, or what coverage do we need? And will that last us for presumably the next two years? Because we need to be hyper-efficient, and competitive with how we're proofing out the success and viability of the channel. So, we don't want to overload, and hire a 10 person department before we break six figures in revenue." So, we want to be very strategic in that. So, with that, I think that also goes back to my mindset from Quidsi where I still very much have that start up entrepreneurial mindset. So, I've worked at companies where I was the only person on the eCommerce team for a year.Calvin:And so, it's a lot of work. I think it's been helpful for myself, as I've touched every aspect of the business, and while I don't work in a day to day at this point, I have at least a background and knowledge of how everything works, and I think that is really important for eCommerce leaders to be able to speak knowledgeably just about eCommerce fulfillment just as much as they are about eCommerce acquisition, or marketing. I think that is hugely important. And so, that's been my mindset, is hiring people that are not the jack of all trades, but maybe a utility knife, where they're able to... Quick learners, able to pick up things very quickly. They have an interest, they're super curious. But they're open, and willing, and wanting to touch multiple things of the business and not having very narrow minds that then, "Oh, that's not my responsibility."Calvin:Again, going back to having that ownership view, carries through to how I view headcount, and bringing on new team members because I think that's just hugely important. Especially early on, as you're building out a team.Stephanie:Yep. Yeah, you have to have those scrappy individuals who are ready to treat the company as if it's their own, and ready to jump in wherever needed, even if they're on a team that maybe isn't relevant to the task.Calvin:100%.Stephanie:So, let's talk a bit about…
Full show notes at the publisherIn recent years, UrbanStems has grown from operating its online flower ordering and delivery business in a few markets to processing and delivering orders from coast to coast. It’s a DTC success story, but it was by no means an easy road to get to where the company is now. Scaling is one of the most challenging parts of running a business. Where do you allocate your resources? How do you enter new markets? And what do you do when disaster strikes in a way that could topple your business?Seth Goldman had to answer those questions and more when he took over as the CEO of UrbanStems in 2017. On this episode of Up Next in Commerce, he spilled the tea on everything he learned along the way. Seth explains how to navigate through the process of scaling, finding bottlenecks in your operations, and breaks down the ways to look at ROI when trying to break into a new market. Plus, he gives some insight into best practices when adding headcount. Main Takeaways:Finding the Bottleneck: There is a tendency for everyone to think everything is the problem, so it’s important to use data to prove that you have an actual bottleneck rather than anecdotal experiences. With the data as a guide, you can zero in on the actual bottlenecks and fix them at the source.Tipping The Scale: There are various hurdles to scaling. Doing it successfully is about finding the right level of balance when it comes to allocating resources. Are the current processes failing? Is there new technology that can create efficiencies? Or maybe you should be allocating headcount in a different way. Answering those questions is the best way to determine how to stimulate sustainable growth.Welcome To [Enter City Here]: When expanding your business into new markets, understanding the ROI of moving into those cities is the first step. It’s not enough to figure out if there are potential customers. Other factors such as supply chain, cultural considerations, and non-financial benefits also need to be taken into account.For an in-depth look at this episode, check out the full transcript below. Quotes have been edited for clarity and length.---Up Next in Commerce is brought to you by Salesforce Commerce Cloud. Respond quickly to changing customer needs with flexible Ecommerce connected to marketing, sales, and service. Deliver intelligent commerce experiences your customers can trust, across every channel. Together, we’re ready for what’s next in commerce. Learn more at salesforce.com/commerce---Transcript:Stephanie:Hey everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Up Next In Commerce. This is your host, Stephanie Postles, co-Founder at mission.org. Today, on the show, we have Seth Goldman, the CEO of UrbanStems. Seth, welcome.Seth:Thank you, Stephanie. Great to be here.Stephanie:Yeah, I'm excited to have you. For anyone who does not know UrbanStems, can you tell me a bit about it?Seth:Sure. UrbanStems is a six-year-old old company that is the premier provider of direct to consumer florals.Stephanie:That's awesome, and how long have you been with the company?Seth:I've been at the company for about three and a half years.Stephanie:Cool. What brought you to UrbanStems and what was your background before?Seth:Yeah, so it was a person actually that brought me, the founder, Ajay Kori is a dear friend of mine, and we both worked at a company called Quidsi together, which was acquired by Amazon back in 2011, and we remained very close friends from that point on. I went off to a company called HelloFresh. He went off to found UrbanStems, and we reunited in 2017.Stephanie:That's great. What did you do at HelloFresh?Seth:Yeah, I was the CEO of the US business, helping to grow HelloFresh from its near infancy in the US to a much larger business, and it was a wild ride and I had a lot of fun doing it.Stephanie:That's great. It seems like a good company to get a lot of lessons from, to bring to UrbanStems, like similar problems maybe, or things to tackle.Seth:Absolutely, both in terms of the apps, specific product, a perishable product, and a complicated supply chain, as well as I'd say the softer skills in terms of scaling a business, scaling a team and the challenges that come along with that.Stephanie:Very cool. When you came into UrbanStems, what was going on back in 2017, and how has it changed since?Seth:Yeah. When I came on board, it was great. Ajay brought me in and asked me to help beef up the operations of the company. I'd say, as a consumer, the biggest difference between now and then is that you could only get UrbanStems in a few select cities across the US at that point, and we made a big decision to go nationwide in early 2018, and that's really helped us scale the business since then. Although, we really still love our city delivery method that we still have in New York and DC. It creates that really intimate relationship with the customer and their recipient. We hope to be able to do more of that going forward.Stephanie:Tell me a bit about how do you pick cities? Of course, if it's started in a certain city, you're probably going to launch there, but how would you go about picking which cities to start in and having that city method that you're talking about, is developing a good relationship in that city?Seth:It's a pretty simple exercise of figuring out which cities are likely to have enough revenue and an ROI on that city to get in there. We believe there probably around 30 cities that we could identify today that likely makes sense. In terms of which cities we'd prioritize next, we would really rely on data. That data would help us understand what would be the revenue opportunity, how quickly we might get there. From there, we would also layer on supply chain and we would try to figure out if that city was easier or more complex from a supply chain standpoint. Finally, we'd overlay brand. We'd try to understand if there were any idiosyncrasies of that city that made it more or less attractive. Then finally, we might say, does that city have any sort of non-financial strategic importance to our business?Stephanie:Oh, great. Okay. This is a very interesting topic that I actually have not talked to many people on the show, so I want to double click into all of those, if you're happy to go there with me.Seth:Sure, let's go.Stephanie:All right. When you're picking your cities, you're talking about developing which ones have an ROI, and then of course, looking into a bunch of data for rolling out to the next cities. How do you go about developing which cities will have a good ROI?Seth:Yeah. The great news is that we have data to show what revenue we have in those cities currently. We would have to do a deep dive analysis of what zip codes we thought we could actually deliver to, depending on the city, if it's a city that we could get in with bike messengers, as we currently do in New York and DC, or if it's a city that would force us to rely exclusively on cars, which is not a major concern although we really love our brand promise of delivering via bike where we can.Stephanie:That's fun.Seth:Yeah, we would then use analytics to understand where we stand in each city revenue versus where we think we might be able to get to, where we start to have to look at some proxy data. For example, Google can help us understand what we believe our penetration in that city is versus a benchmark say of New York or DC, where we currently have our strongest brand recognition. That could give us some guidance as to whether, if we're doing X dollars of revenue, do we think if we jump in, we can increase that by 25%, 50% or more than 100%? Then we have to partner with the marketing team to understand what sort of a marketing effort would be required to get us there within a year or 18 months to break even, which is sort of, not a hard rule, but it's sort of a general proxy of what we're going to be looking for.Stephanie:Okay. When it comes to that marketing effort, what kind of channels do you look for, especially when you're launching in a new city where maybe you're not well-known and it's like, this seems like a city maybe similar to DC, but we've never been there before? What kind of things do you explore to get those new customers and brand awareness?Seth:We have to probably devote certain on the ground marketing campaigns. It could be as simple as going to street fairs, it could be that we would take some sort of local radio or other sort of top of funnel awareness advertising out. Each city though, is really going to be unique. I think that's something that we've learned, even just having New York and DC, we see small differences in the average order value. We see small differences even between, say Manhattan and Brooklyn, in terms of the percentage of flowers versus plants that the consumers purchase. So, we'll have to do some research that helps us understand the consumer and then that would help us figure out which marketing channels would make sense. But we almost certainly would be more comfortable getting aggressive in awareness marketing when we jump into a new city, because the return on that investment should be pretty strong, given that when we get into a city, the conversion rate, we would expect to be higher on our ecommerce platform.Stephanie:Yeah. That's cool. I can also imagine if you have bike deliveries, like if they had the backpack with your logo and beautiful flowers sticking out of it. That in and of itself could be a great marketing tactic to spread word of mouth.Seth:Absolutely. That is an entire romantic vision is true, except hopefully for the flowers sticking out the back, because they should be in contained packaging.Stephanie:Oh yeah. I guess I would just buy all over the place if they're just sticking out. Huh.Seth:But we do have branded everything for our couriers, t-shirts and vests, the coveted sweatshirts and hoodies. In fact, one of the downfalls of our sort of head of delivery was that he designed a hoodie that was too well loved that, not to accuse our corporate team, but they started taking them in numbers that they shouldn't have so we had to place an extra order. It really is the most comfortable hoodie.Seth:But it accomplishes two goals. The first, as we discussed is, it's really nice branding and advertising for the company. The second is it helps make these employees in these remote locations feel more part of our broader and greater team and brand.Stephanie:Yeah. I love that. Are there any other on the ground methods like that, that you're experimenting with or that you are hopeful of to promote word of mouth in maybe a new and different way?Seth:It's interesting in, especially the last nine months, we probably pulled back on a lot of that for obvious reasons. I think that it's an area where we would experiment, but I think you also have to be careful because it's hard to measure the effectiveness of that spend it takes, not just monetary resources, but really time. One of the things that I noted when I came on board in 2017 is that my city managers were being asked to do a lot of these in-person events. We hadn't really thought through how much of their time was being taken and how to think about them as an operations manager versus a marketing manager when we had a lot of work to do to scale the operations of the business. I think people just have to be thoughtful and careful about the KPIs that they're going to measure people against.Seth:But the people who are responsible for budget, but also the people whose time is going to be taken during these events. The good news is that the people love doing the events. These small scale events were very popular for the staff that, even after I told them that they should pull back, I found out months later, they were still doing them because they enjoyed them, but then they would complain that they didn't have time for other things. It did have to lead to some alignment meetings.Stephanie:Yeah. That's a really good point. So, thinking about the next piece that you mentioned was layering on supply chain when rolling out into new cities. It seems really difficult of course, with fresh items. So, how do you all go about thinking about that in a new city and building out a good supply chain that makes sure the flowers don't just die in a warehouse or something?Seth:A very sort of blocking and tackling for our goods is that you have to have a refrigerator. It has to be something that you have confidence is going to maintain temperature at around 35 degrees. And you, say very simple things like just like you're developing any real estate, make sure you give enough time to build it out, so you're not under pressure, because it's hard to come back from that if you're forcing yourself to open up on January 1, but you just can't have the refrigerator installed before then, you're going to fail. Making sure you understand your lead times. But for our business, I'd say the most important thing is understanding the notes in our networks. We have a larger facility in the Greater DC Area that helps service our New York and DC same day delivery locations.Seth:We have to think through as we branch out to more cities, if so for example, Philadelphia, we could certainly service from the same Maryland facility with limited additional CapEx, with limited additional complexity added to our supply chain. As we think to the West Coast, or as we think to, say the big populations in Texas or in the upper Midwest, if we have a facility nearby, there may be synergies where we can pull product from there and deliver it to a local facility. I would say that the farther we get from our home base, in terms of miles, in terms of being three hours and three time zones behind, you have to just ... it's hard to model it out on paper, but you have to start to acknowledge that the difficulties, things that could get lost in translation. You go from having everyone on the same eight hour, 9:00 to 5:00, to only overlapping for five hours, that can just sort of add strain to the systems.Seth:If you're going to go to the West coast, have you hired someone, did you decide that you're going to spend three months having them on the East Coast, training up, learning your culture before you send them to the West Coast, or you're going to take a gamble and just hire them on the West Coast and through more Zoom calls and maybe someone flying to California, try to build them into the culture and the brand of the company? I think those are really important decisions that don't sound like supply chain decisions, but ultimately, really help you down the line when someone is going to have to make a lot of executive calls that will impact your supply chain and will impact your ability to be successful or not on a day-to-day and week-to-week basis.Stephanie:Yeah. I think that's so important around building culture and a team. I mean, especially right now, where everything is digital and companies are still having to hire and find the right people, and it's kind of hard over Zoom. I've interviewed some people over zoom and it's like, you don't really know if you know them or how many notes they have in front of them, or what's really going on. How do you guys go about building a relationship and hiring? I think earlier you mentioned having this connection economy, where everyone's on digital tools, but people still want to connect in the real world, but maybe you can't right now. How do you think about that with teams and cultures and hiring new people?Seth:Yeah, that's a great question. We actually have hired probably about half a dozen people since the lockdowns were initiated and since our corporate sta…
Full show notes at the publisherThe fact of that matter is that the healthcare system was not built with the consumer in mind. That is, until hims & hers came along. This three-year-old company has been making waves in the industry, and for good reason. Its platform has facilitated more than two million medical visits and is valued at more than $1.6 billion. And all of this in an industry that has been immune to disruption for decades. hims & hers is the first true consumer healthcare brand that, through its platform, creates an easy, transparent, and high-quality experience for all those frustrated with their current healthcare option. Its mission is to help people finally feel empowered to talk about and get treated for certain conditions, and Hilary Coles, the co-founder and VP of Merchandising for the company, is responsible for making that happen.On this episode of Up Next in Commerce, Hilary explains why humor really is the best medicine when it comes to marketing, and she talks about how brands should approach experimentation. Plus, she provides tips to anyone who is thinking about trying to disrupt a big industry, and why she thinks it’s a risk worth taking.Main Takeaways:Everything the Light Touches: Talking about certain things is uncomfortable — especially when it comes to your healthcare. But for a brand to make an impact, it has to have a message, reach into those uncomfortable places, and make it okay for those you’re trying to reach to talk about them too. By embracing humor and truth in marketing, you create an authenticity that is often missing and you open the door for your target consumers to feel empowered to take action.Social Experiments: Making experimentation and ideation a social process is one of the best ways to bring the most creative ideas to the table. When you invite everyone to contribute, and when you are honest with everyone about what ideas worked and which failed, you create an atmosphere that encourages risk-taking and you are more likely to experiment in channels or with opportunities your competitors are overlooking.But Why?: Having an endless curiosity and need to ask “why” is the best way to disrupt an industry, and also to keep improving your processes. Too often companies or entire industries fall back on doing things the way they have always been done. The company that comes in and consistently questions how and why things are done a certain way and then changes them is the one that consumers will begin to take notice of.For an in-depth look at this episode, check out the full transcript below. Quotes have been edited for clarity and length.---Up Next in Commerce is brought to you by Salesforce Commerce Cloud. Respond quickly to changing customer needs with flexible Ecommerce connected to marketing, sales, and service. Deliver intelligent commerce experiences your customers can trust, across every channel. Together, we’re ready for what’s next in commerce. Learn more at salesforce.com/commerce---Transcript:Stephanie:Welcome back to Up Next In Commerce. This is Stephanie Postles, co-founder of mission.org. Today, I'm really excited to be chatting Hilary Coles, the co-founder at hims and hers. Hilary, welcome.Hilary:Thank you so much for having me.Stephanie:Yeah, I'm really excited. I think we're going to have such a good conversation and there's so many areas where we can take it. I was doing a bit of research, and there are so many case studies built around you guys. Did you know that?Hilary:I didn't actually know that. Is that true?Stephanie:Yeah, I found at least three and so many articles diving into your business model. So, there's a lot of content I want to cover, and maybe first we need to start with what is hims and hers?Hilary:hims and hers is really the first consumer health care brand, and what that means is that we prioritize the consumer and really thought through every aspect of the business in order to suit the consumer, in order to give them choice, in order to give them control, in order to give them transparency into how they take care of themselves because we thought it was way too hard to take care of yourself today and navigating the health care system is incredibly difficult. And that's really because it's never been built with the consumer in mind, and so everything we've done from the beginning has been really just to champion the consumer. And so, today hims and hers is a platform that allows you to treat everything from dermatological conditions like acne to sexual health and wellness, to metal health, to hair care, all conveniently from home, which after this year has never been more important.Stephanie:So, as a new customer, I can essentially get on there, have a virtual doctor's visit, maybe even get a prescription for something I need, and then even order it on your platform, like it's everything from start to finish? Am I thinking about that correctly?Hilary:Exactly. Everything happens on our platform, and the reason why we did that is so that we could ensure that from start to finish we were in control of the level of quality that you would experience as a consumer. So, from the moment you come on to our platform, you select what you're interested in, what your health care goals are, you are given education, you are given a direct relationship with a provider, you are given product options, and you are able to make that decision that's right for you. And then, you're able to skip going to the pharmacy, skip taking off work, finding child care, taking off time in your day to go see a doctor, and able to talk to a doctor from wherever you feel comfortable. And then, having that product shipped directly to you and managed by you, which is again, just totally revolutionary from the way we've thought about health care to date, which has never prioritized the customer's needs but has focused really on everyone else in the healthcare industry except for the patient.Stephanie:Yeah. When I was looking through it I'm like, "Oh my gosh, this is what I've needed all my life." I've always thought everything with health care feels backwards and old school, and I'm like, "How have I not heard of this?" I mean, I'd heard of you guys before but I didn't know it was also for women.Hilary:Yeah, it's such a good point, and the reason why we developed hims and hers is because when we looked at our lives and the level of control and choice we have with with, you can choose a hundred different things to be delivered to your house in the next 20 minutes for lunch. You can choose your mode of transportation, you can choose what kind of couch to get delivered to your house. You can choose what kind of workout you're going to do today at whatever price you want, but when it came to your health care it was like this weird thing that you put off doing because it was so inconvenient. You never knew what it was going to cost. You were made to kind of go on a maze to figure out who's the right provider, are they covered by your insurance, how do you pick an insurance plan? And it's so unlike the rest of our world works today, and I think consumers are too smart for that and they expect better. And so, we really just developed something that fit into the rest of our lives.Stephanie:I love that. So, just so everyone knows the scale of where you guys are at, because I saw a lot of numbers from all my research, everything from evaluations, your revenue numbers, but I'd rather hear it from you and know it's accurate. Where are you guys today? What's your evaluation or what revenue numbers can you share just so everyone knows how big you are? Like, you're legit.Hilary:We're legit. So, in the past three years we've done well over two million medical visits, and when you think of a big company like Teladoc in this space, it took them 13 years to get to one million visits, so we've accomplished double that in three years. We are valued at 1.6 billion dollars.Stephanie:Billion, everyone.Hilary:Which we think there's so much more to do, because if you think about it, the health care industry is really the last trillion dollar industry that hasn't been disrupted. So, we really think this is just... It sounds like a big number, but it's just the really top top tip of the iceberg. The majority of our business is subscriptions, ongoing reoccurring revenue, and yeah. There's lots of excitement coming. We have more than a dozen conditions that we treat with almost 100 skus, so we've really... I think that's been a key differentiator for us in this industry as more and more people enter the D to C healthcare industry. When you look around at the landscape, so much of it is pretty niche and one condition focused, and what we've strived to do from our early days is be this umbrella company where you really can treat multiple conditions, you really can take care of yourself very practically on one simple to use platform. We're not expecting you to jump around.Stephanie:And that's great, it really is. It's like the future, it's what I've always wanted. So, I love talking about the early days of starting these companies, and especially with yours it feels like it's so intricate, especially on the back end. Probably not for the consumers who are like, "Oh, everything just works," but behind the scenes I'm just thinking about the partnerships that you're getting with the doctors, and then you got the products that you're selling and how to make everything work. I want to hear a little bit about how did you start it, what did you focus on first, and maybe what did you experience where you're like, "We would've done that differently if we knew what we knew now?"Hilary:Right. Hindsight is 20/20, of course, but we... Our first iteration into Hims was an MVP I think that we called club room at the time, and that was to learn how men were shopping for haircare products, and specifically hair loss products at the time. We explored funneling and promotions, we explored brand personas, and really how to talk to men. And we learned a lot about price points, we learned a lot about what men were looking for, and that was a really really valuable... We got enough signal really from that to have confidence that we were doing something differently with what is not hims and hers. And we knew a couple of things, we knew we would have to provide access to providers in every single state. So, by the way, that means setting up an entity in every single state, which is just a tremendous amount of work. There's nothing out of the box we could do so we had to build everything from scratch on the back end.Hilary:We needed to have proprietary products. Part of our goal and what we've continued to do is really blending both wellness products and prescription products and education, and so we had to create our own wellness products. So, I remember in the early days showing up to manufacturers in the middle of the country who looked at me like I was crazy and I was begging them to put our brand on the line and produce Minoxidil, which is generic Rogaine. And they basically said they felt bad for taking our money because this is an industry that hadn't shifted in decades, and what were we thinking, and there's no way this is going to work. And we were able to blow through what we had ordered from them in days, not months, and from there it was just kind of beyond. I think everything we processed from the beginning, or we prioritized from the beginning, was our brand. I think we knew that unlike 10, 15 years ago when you had all of these "disrupting" startups coming out your brand wasn't as important, but because the barrier to enter direct to consumer brands is so low these days with all the onslaughts of digital channels that you have, having a differentiating brand, having a point of view becomes so important and earning trust becomes so important.Hilary:And you need to do that, you need to have a deeply differentiated and personified brand today in a way that I think was not as urgently important 10 years ago. And so, that was the bet we took early on that really really paid off, as well. And [crosstalk 00:10:19]-Stephanie:You can definitely see that with all your marketing and branding, and people are eager to buy your products and you focused on a market, especially around men in the beginning, that I think wasn't being served well. I mean, you mentioned Rogaine and I'm thinking about the commercials back then of like just not very pleasant ones. I wouldn't want to buy that product based on the TV commercials I used to see around that, and it seems like you leaned into that and not only served the market but did it in a way that people were eager to even talk about it and have word of mouth.Hilary:Totally. I think the most interesting thing about our brand today, and especially in the early days, was that majority of the people coming to us for hair loss, for sexual wellness, for mental health, it's the first time they're ever treating these conditions, the first time they've trusted anyone with these conditions, and that's a big deal because it's not like you wake up one morning and you decide you're going to take action. It's usually on the heels of days and weeks and months and years of feeling unsure and feeling like it was something you had to hide in the back of your cabinet or didn't want to engage with, like the Rogaine example you just had. And so, that's really been the key unlock is that relationship we've been able to foster. And to this day, that remains my favorite compliment that we get as a business is, "Your brand empowered me. It made me believe in myself." That's really what we're getting at here, because the products exist, and for us it's about kind of slaying all the dragons of access and cost and barriers to make it easy for the customer but we can't walk you to the front door. We have to be on the journey with you and you have to believe that we're on that journey with you, and so that's really our mission at the end of the day.Stephanie:I love that. So, you just mentioned about the brand empowering your customers. How do you create that messaging, especially around topics that a lot of people don't want to talk about? How do you go about doing that in a way that has grown and seen the success that you all have?Hilary:I think one of my favorite quotes ever is that sunlight is the best disinfectant, because I think if you can't see it you can't talk about it. And so, that, from the very early days of fundraising, was a big eye opener for us because when we came into the room and we were talking about erectile dysfunction and hair loss, no one wanted to be the first to ask any questions about it. No one wanted to seem overly interested in it even, you don't want to be associated in it. And it wasn't until we changed tack and started using humor and started using numbers and saying, "Hey, every third person in this room will probably suffer from erectile dysfunction or hair loss." You need that provocation, that shock, that humor to remind ourselves that in a weird way, you're not special, like baldness doesn't... hair loss doesn't choose you, anxiety doesn't choose you. It happens and it's common, and if we're all in it together we can talk about it. We can find the education, the products, and the services to tackle it and get you feeling good.Stephanie:Yeah, that's great. All the campaigns I was looking at were funny and I could definitely see it sparking engagement, like people like... I mean, I saw t…
Full show notes at the publisherAt this point, it’s old hat to say that 2020 was a pretty wild year — countless industry experts have waxed poetic about the long-term implications of the acceleration of ecommerce we’ve seen this year. But Joe Manning hasn’t just been talking about adapting in the face of change, he’s working to make it happen.Joe is the Chief Business Officer at Shipt, an on-demand delivery service that connects customers with thousands of grocery items and retail shops like Target, Best Buy, CVS, and national and local grocery stores -- and they do it all through a single mobile app. This year Joe has been on the front lines of scaling Shipt while still delivering not only physical products, but exceptional experiences to Shipt customers, employees, and partners. Earlier this year, Shipt doubled the size of its shopper network to meet the growing demand for grocery delivery. And now, as the holiday season is in full swing, the company has added 100,000 more shoppers to its network. Not every company will have to scale quite that quickly or extensively, but ecommerce companies that will thrive moving forward will be the ones that are ready to jump into new markets, pivot quickly, and reach beyond their comfort zone.On this episode of Up Next in Commerce, Joe explains what it takes to do just that, including how to maintain a culture of happy workers and customers as your company grows and changes. Plus, he looks at what is ahead this holiday season and why last-mile delivery is an area ripe for innovation. Main Takeaways:Super Market Sweep – When entering new markets, researching the dynamics of where you are expanding is a critical step. No two markets are the same, and each new market will require investments in different areas. Taking the time to get to know who your customers might be and what their needs are will provide you with a better idea of where you should invest your resources.Happy Employee, Happy Customer – Even if you are employing mostly gig workers, helping to build a good culture and work environment should still be at the core of your business strategy. When workers feel supported and connected, they in turn will deliver better customer experiences, which impacts the bottom line.Choose Your Own Adventure – The future of ecommerce is all about providing choice, personalization, and bringing the best of the in-store experience online. Companies that learn how to capitalize on the unique needs of every customer through gathering data, implementing technology and deploying resources — whether it’s last-mile delivery, seamless returns, or personalized shopping suggestions — will lead the industry.Tech Talk – There will be more tech brought into the ecommerce experience, especially as it relates to grocery shopping. From barcode scanning, to robot shoppers, to maps to help customers navigate the aisles in-store, there is a lot coming down the pike.For an in-depth look at this episode, check out the full transcript below. Quotes have been edited for clarity and length.---Up Next in Commerce is brought to you by Salesforce Commerce Cloud. Respond quickly to changing customer needs with flexible Ecommerce connected to marketing, sales, and service. Deliver intelligent commerce experiences your customers can trust, across every channel. Together, we’re ready for what’s next in commerce. Learn more at salesforce.com/commerce---Transcript:Stephanie:Hey everyone, and welcome back to the number one ecommerce podcast. This is your host, Stephanie Postles, co-founder at Mission.org. Today on the show, we have Joe Manning, the Chief Business Officer at Shipt. Joe, welcome to the show.Joe:Well, thank you. Thank you for having me. I'm very excited to be here.Stephanie:I'm excited to have you too. How many podcasts have you done so far? You seem like a good veteran.Joe:This is my first.Stephanie:Ooh, really? Oh, this will be fun then. I love having people on for the first time.Joe:Cool.Stephanie:So before we dive into Shipt, I was hoping you could kind of touch on your background at Starbucks because I saw that you worked there, I think, for over 10 years. And I want to hear what you did there, your role and some of your learnings that you got from there.Joe:Absolutely. So, I had the opportunity to work for 10 years at Starbucks. Starbucks was an amazing company. And one of the things that I really loved about what Starbucks did, and does, and how that applies to Shipt, Starbucks is very focused on the human connection between the barista and the customer. And they're great at leveraging technology. But as an enabler for a human connection. And I think at Shipt, we're trying to do very much ... We are doing very much the same thing. We are all about creating great connections between shoppers and customers, and we're a people-first organization. And we recognize the technology is a great enabler for that. But it is about the human connection.Joe:And so when I was at Starbucks, I worked in a couple of different spots. One area was the licensed stores business, which is the store inside a store. So, if you go into a Target or an airport, that business model I worked with those retailers to really build out those businesses. And then in addition to that, I spent a few years on the CPG business, which is the coffee and the aisle at the grocery stores. And that retailers and I led the business development area for that for a few years as well. And as I said, it was a great experience and the commitment to partnerships and the human connection was really impactful. And really, I think, gave me great insights to bring to Shipt as we started to build out the Shipt business.Stephanie:That's great. So what's one of your favorite memories or stories when you were working at Starbucks and trying to get Starbucks within the stores, or getting it on those supermarket shelves? What do you have a fond memory of or a funny story from your days there?Joe:Well, I'd say, I think one of the pieces that we really focused a lot on the Starbucks cafe experiences is very unique. They take a lot of pride in that customer experience. And so it was exciting when we would bring the stories to the retailers about how to operate at Starbucks or what the brand should be within the cafe. And we started to hear where retailers were then using the same terminology that Starbucks had been using. So, it was really fun when we started to hear them repeat back to us the words and the phrases that we had used, which really signal to us that it was going to be a great partnership, that they really understood what we were trying to accomplish. And that they were embracing that for their own business purposes, which was great.Joe:So coffee is at the core of everything Starbucks does. And I had an opportunity to go to a coffee farm in Costa Rica. And I got to plant a coffee tree and connect with all the farmers, or a lot of the different farms in Costa Rica where we sourced or Starbucks sourced coffee. And it was just really inspirational. I mean, it was fun to do for sure, but hearing the stories from the farmers about how their lives have changed because of their opportunities to partner with Starbucks was really inspirational and really made us feel good that we were making a difference around the world, not just creating great coffee or creating great experiences in the cafes.Stephanie:That sounds like a really good life-changing trip. Very cool. So what had you go over to Shipt? What led you to Shipt?Joe:So in about end of 2015, 2016, everything in Northern California was focused on the gig economy. Airbnb was growing, Uber was growing, and grocery delivery was starting to grow. And I don't know, about 20 years before then, there had been a grocery delivery company called Webvan that had had some success, but then it did not last. And I had been working with grocers, and it really felt like the time was right for grocery delivery to really kind of flourish. And I started looking around at different gig economy delivery companies, and I came across Shipt and Shipt was a small company. It was headquartered out of Birmingham, Alabama still is. And the founder was talking about how the quality of the shoppers and the personal experiences between the shoppers and the customers where was the competitive advantage that Shipt was going to capitalize on.Joe:And I really thought that that really resonated with me. I do really believe people have a personal connection to the food that they consume, the foods that they have in their homes, and creating that model. And it was different than what a lot of other companies are talking about. A lot of other companies were talking about the technology, and how technology was so important, and it was changing the landscape. And again, technology is important, but I really love the way Shipt talked about the personal connection, and the quality of the shoppers, and how that was the area where Shipt was going to invest, and it was going to win.Joe:And then when I met with the founder and I met with the company, the culture was just phenomenal, and it still is today. Everybody is passionate about the mission for Shipt and really focused on doing right, making a difference in the communities, passionate about building the business, but they recognize that it's really about helping people. And if we do that, then the business results will follow.Stephanie:I love the fact that you guys are so focused on giving a good quality shopper that I can feel a connection with. Because so often, when I order from certain companies, I'll get things like an avocado that's so soft. I'm like, "Who would get this? I would never pick an avocado this soft. Or I would never pick tomatoes with fuzz on them. You obviously do not care about my groceries." So, I feel a very close connection to having someone who ... A shopper that is looking out for my best interest, and actually picking things that I want, and not just being like, "Ah, there's five avocados, throw them in a bag, or they're fine."Joe:Well, that's exactly right. And that's what we hear from customers too. It's again, produce is tough to pick. And we put a lot of effort into supporting our shoppers so that they can get the right produce. And even the product is set up so that when we ordered bananas, we order a couple of green and then three yellow because we know we're not going to consume them fast enough. And our shoppers are graded, selecting that for us, and we get what we want. And it really is impactful because getting products that you don't want or that aren't going to work for you defeats the whole value proposition and the convenience of grocery delivery.Stephanie:So tell me a bit about how Shipt has changed over this past year because it seems like ... I mean, especially with grocery delivery, people really just had to rip up their plans, and start over, and be like, "This is the new world. Now I need to figure out how I'm going to do shipping." And everything seems so hard when it comes to grocery delivery instead of like Amazon, where they're all on routes, and they can deliver 60 things in a day versus a grocery delivery just feels so one-to-one. So tell me, what kind of shakeups have you guys seen at Shipt, and what are you doing to tackle them?Joe:This year has been unreal and, obviously, unexpected. And one of the first things that we did is we ramped up our shopper network. We doubled the size of our shopper network early when COVID had spiked, and we knew demand was growing, and we knew people were just desirous of getting products delivered. And so, we wanted to be able to support as many customers as possible. So we invested a lot to ramp up the shopper network. And even as we've gotten into holiday now, we're going to add another hundred ... We are adding another 150,000 shoppers this holiday season. And so, building up the shopper network was first and foremost and what we need to do to support the demand. But then, in addition to that, we worked really closely with a lot of grocers and a lot of retailers to help them succeed in this space.Joe:And to your point, it's a complicated model. And as you said, it's a one-to-one model. So there isn't the ability to drive around, for numerous routes all day long, you really have to put the care and effort into each individual order. And the order sizes are 25 to 30 items in the basket. And so we've worked a lot with retailers, not only to enable them on the Shipt marketplace to reach more customers. But we invested a lot in our last-mile delivery business, which we call Shipt Driven, which has really helped a lot of groceries. And a lot of retailers extend their curbside program to last-mile delivery. And that's really been impactful certainly through COVID. And we're seeing it even more so now during the holiday when again, there's a little bit more of a COVID spike. But then, just during the holidays, every retailer is trying to put together the pieces to support their customers and enable them to get the products they want in a way that works for the customer.Stephanie:Are you also helping advise some of these retail partners around coming up with the economics to make it work? Because it seems like a big Safeway has a very different model and how to get scale and efficiencies than a local grocery might have. Are you working with them to be like, here's what I see works? Here's how to make the model work for you guys.Joe:Absolutely. And you're right. I mean, we work with a lot of awesome regional grocers. And to your point, they don't have the scale of some of the national grocers. And so, in putting our programs together, we work closely with them to make sure that not only is it a good experience for the customer, but that it's economically beneficial and profitable business for the retailer. And we'll do that in a couple of ways. We'll certainly work with them on the technology and the integration to manage that so that it's as cost-effective where they get the best return on investment that they can. But in addition, we'll create marketing programs together. We'll do merchandising programs together to add items to the basket. And then, we'll collaborate on operations efficiencies so that we can pull out costs from the system so that it can be a profitable endeavor for them.Stephanie:So earlier, you were mentioning how you scaled up your shopper network. I think you said 100,000 shoppers, right?Joe:150,000 in holiday. And it was as a 100,000 earlier in the year. So 250,000, over the last six months or so.Stephanie:I mean, that's a crazy number, especially if you're trying to keep quality high. So how did you all go about hiring those shoppers? I mean, even finding that many people and making sure that they're going to be the quality shoppers that you want. How did you go about scaling like that?Joe:Part of what we did was implemented some enhancements to our recruiting process so that we were able to move through applicants much more quickly and thoughtfully, but while still ensuring we're getting the great quality candidates.Joe:We also invested a lot, as you would imagine in sourcing applicants, but we also worked with a lot of retailers back in the spring. There were a lot of retailers who were shutting down stores. And so, both our partners, as well as other retailers. We partnered with them to enable their employees who were looking for work to get fast-tracked through the Shipt application process so that if they wanted to pick up some Shipt shopping opportunities, they could, and they were great partners with whom we worked. And we got a lot of great applicants through that.Joe:And then another piece that we did ... Doing the first shop c…
Full show notes at the publisherHow to succeed on Amazon is a mystery that many DTC brands have tried and failed to solve. There are tricks to winning on the mega ecommerce site — tricks that no one tells you when you first put your product up for sale in the Amazon jungle. That’s why we’ve invited Ju Rhyu on the show. There were a lot of things that Ju wished she knew before she and her co-founders decided to launch Hero Cosmetics on Amazon. Things like what is brand gating? And how do you win the buy box? And what do you do about counterfeit products that pop up right when you start to have a little success?Ju found the answers to all of those questions and learned so much more as she grew Hero into one of the buzziest skincare brands on the market, which went from 0 to $1 million in year one, and now not only sells on its website and on Amazon, but is also featured in retailers like Target, Madewell, CVS Pharmacy and more.On this episode of Up Next in Commerce, Ju spills the beans on what it takes to win big on Amazon, and how you can level up from there.Main Takeaways:Boxing Out Your Opponent: On Amazon, the first steps to success are winning the buy box and brand gating. It takes time, but if you take the steps to prove that you are the true owner of your product or IP, you’ll be able to avoid much of the pain that comes with selling on Amazon.If You Build It, They Will Come: Getting your product into retail locations is a mix of luck, perseverance, and creating your own destiny. Relentlessly pitching your product to anyone who will listen, and then jumping on trend-seeking retailers is a strategy to get your foot in the door. Also, having a PR strategy to build buzz may help drive interest in your brand. Far Out Future: Because 2020 accelerated the adoption of ecommerce, DTC brands are in a position to set the stage for where business is headed. From bike delivery to the creation of a DTC mall, Ju has a lot of predictions on what to look out for down the road.For an in-depth look at this episode, check out the full transcript below. Quotes have been edited for clarity and length.---Up Next in Commerce is brought to you by Salesforce Commerce Cloud. Respond quickly to changing customer needs with flexible Ecommerce connected to marketing, sales, and service. Deliver intelligent commerce experiences your customers can trust, across every channel. Together, we’re ready for what’s next in commerce. Learn more at salesforce.com/commerce---Transcript:Stephanie:Hello and welcome back to up next in ecommerce. This is your host, Stephanie Postles co-founder at mission.org. Today on the show we have Ju Rhyu the co-founder and CEO of Hero cosmetics. Welcome.Ju:Thank you. Thanks for having me.Stephanie:Yeah. I'm really excited that you took the time to call in from Paris. That's so fancy when I say Paris, maybe you're like, this is normal for me, but you feel fancy.Ju:It was a fun fact that I tell people, "Oh, by the way, I live in Paris."Stephanie:So tell me a little bit about Hero. I would love to hear the founding story of how you started it. I mean, it has tons of news coverage and I was reading so many different stories. And I want to hear from you though about how you came to found it.Ju:I mean, the story is I was living in Korea. I was working there as an expat in Seoul, South Korea, and I was suffering from adult acne. I don't know exactly what was causing it. Maybe it could have been the changing environment, the lower air quality change in lifestyle, or maybe stress, I'm not sure. I was really frustrated because I kept breaking out and it was always just hard for me to find a solution that worked for me. But in Korea I noticed a lot of people walking around with these acne patches on their faces. So I got really curious. I went to a pharmacy, I bought some, and then I was just amazed at how well it worked because it sucked everything out and protected me from touching the area and picking at it.Ju:It was really gentle on my skin. And then I immediately started wondering why I was learning about it then, and not like 15 years ago and why it wasn't more available in the US so I did some research and then that's when the idea of like, Hey, I should make this available in the US I think people would really like it.Stephanie:That's so cool. I mean, it seems like Korea, all the beauty trends right now are coming from there, everything when it comes to double cleansing and [inaudible]Ju:Well, the 12 step regimen.Stephanie:Yes. I try to follow the 12 step regimen. And I got a little overwhelmed. I'm like, Oh, this is a lot to clean my face. So you found this product in Korea. What did you do next? How did you have the idea? Because a lot of people find other products in other countries. I know, I at least have, or my oldest T brands really good, or Oh, this hammock is really good, whatever it may be. And I don't always think, I'm going to bring this back to the States and do this. So what were your next steps? Why was this the product that you wanted to bring back and start?Ju:First of all, for me, it solved a real problem that I was struggling with it worked better than anything else I had ever really used. And I just got to thinking if this is helping me, this could probably help a lot of other people state side as well. And then actually in Korea, when, if you're a cosmetics manufacturer or distributor, you're obligated to print the name of the manufacturer on the back of your package, that is not true in the US actually. And so the first thing that I did was I started contacting these patch manufacturers to see how much it would cost to buy them from them, how the manufacturing side would work. If they could work with me to develop something that I thought would be suitable for the US market. So I went to a bunch of pharmacies. I bought up a lot of packages. I looked at the backs of the boxes to see who the manufacturers were. And then I started my outreach.Stephanie:What were some of the biggest surprises when you're reaching out to these manufacturers?Ju:I mean, a lot of them didn't return my calls or my emails. I don't blame them. I mean something like random person contacting them about buying up a much of their patches for a business idea that was still very nascent. And so that was a little bit frustrating, but there were a few that did reply to and then there was a little bit of a language barrier just because I mean, I'm Korean American living and I was living in Korea. But my Korean isn't totally fluent. And so a little bit of a language barrier, but I got really lucky because I landed on the manufacturer that we work with today, who was more than happy to get my email was super easy to work with was very open and developing relationship. And that's how, probably how we got to where we are today. From that one cold email he happened to respond and we've been working together for now over three years.Stephanie:Oh, wow. That's really cool. So were they open to creating custom packaging? Because I know when I've looked into this space before, it seemed very black and white. You can have our packaging or something very expensive, but like it's still going to be our design. How willing were they to have something really custom?Ju:They were pretty willing. They were willing to customize design and basically customize anything that we really wanted. So they were pretty open to that. This is their business, they make products for other companies and other brands. And so they were pretty familiar with how that whole process works.Stephanie:And did you end up using a very similar or exact product of what you got in Korea that you started selling here? Or did you make any updates or changes?Ju:Yeah, I worked with the manufacturer to adjust to some things I thought were really important. So things like the adhesion or the stickiness or the absorption power of the actual patch of the hydrocolloid patch. So there were some customizations that were made for this product because I definitely wanted to create like the perfect acne patch. And that's how we landed on what we have now.Stephanie:That's great. And do you feel like you had a leg up because it looked like you've been working in the world of digital and e-commerce prior to Hero. Was there anything that you learned from your past life before Hero that you brought into founding the company?Ju:Oh yeah. All the time. So my background is I actually got my MBA at Columbia business school and then I worked in corporate America for a really long time. So I worked at Kraft foods, American express, I worked at Samsung. That's what brought me to Korea. And I mean, I still lean on my, on all those experiences. I lean particularly on my Kraft foods experience because that was in brand management where they train you in a certain way of thinking for marketing. So, consumer is always first to teach you about the retail landscape and there's a distinction between your consumer and your customer. They talk about like the brand ladder. There's so many things that I still fall back on and use to this day. And then for some of the other companies, things like processes or even knowing about email and open rates and how to really digest analytics like that, are things that I still use today.Stephanie:That's great. So I'm going to get a little crash course in craft methodology. So earlier you just mentioned distinction between consumer and customer. What do you mean by that and how do you practice that?Ju:Yeah, it's funny because in my mind they're very different, but I know sort of in the public, they both get used interchangeably, but the way that a lot of these CPG companies work is they didn't exist before at DTC world. So they always sold through a retailer like a Walmart or Costco or target, et cetera. And so those retailers were always referred to as the customer because those were the people that were actually buying your product. And then you would refer to the consumer as the end-user of the product. So the person who would inevitably eat your Oreo cookie or use your Clorox cleaning solution. Usually the consumer ended up being the consumer of the retailer. So it's really not like if you're working at Kraft foods the consumer is not technically your consumer. I mean, it is, but by way of the retailer. And so that distinction was always very important when it was written out.Stephanie:That's good. All right. So you've got your manufacturer, you've got your product being built. What next?Ju:Yeah. I have two co-founders Dwight and Andy, and then I do a lot of the product, the marketing, the PR basically the sales person. Dwight handles a lot of the supply chain ops. And then Andy, he does all our design and creative. So we had gotten together we decided the three of us were going to do this. We had the product concepts so it came. So the next thing was to come up with the brand and the product name, the brand name. And for me, it was really important that we choose a name that was very like evokes emotion or something emotive because I felt like acne was a very emotional category. There are a lot of people who feel bad about themselves or feel insecure when they have acne.Ju:And so I wanted a name that was really, I don't know like instilled confidence or was like a just evoked positive emotion. And so that's where we came up with the name Mighty Patch. And then we had to create designs does on the box really kind of create the whole brand feel of this product. And then the initial strategy was we were going to sell it on Amazon. So we launched it on Amazon. That was how we were going to distribute it. And then once we had the distribution part then came the other part, which is how do you sell it? So we had to get people to know about it buy it, leave us reviews and things like that.Stephanie:So let's dive a bit into launching on Amazon because I always hear very mixed emotions about selling on Amazon. And I want to hear your thought process about, starting their first. And did you do research on the platform to kind of see, what the space was like? Like what kind of things did you go through before deciding like Amazon's actually a good spot to start?Ju:Well, so we started this business almost like a side hustle. It was a side hustle and we were bootstrapped, we didn't raise money. And so for us, Amazon was like the most logical place to start because you have access to hundreds of millions of buyers. It doesn't take a lot of resources or investment to launch on Amazon. You can take advantage of their backend, like warehouses and fulfillment centers to help with the fulfillment part. So for us, like Amazon made so much sense and then also, back then it wasn't... we just had a hypothesis. And the hypothesis was that if we bring this product category to the US and position it more as a beauty product that it could do well.Ju:And so for us, the easiest way to test out that hypothesis was on a platform like Amazon. So rather than having to spend all the money to build a website and find a three PL and do things like that, the easiest and quickest way to test out our hypothesis was to put a page on Amazon. We said, let's see if people buy it. If people buy it, then we'll work on phase two, which would be launching a DTC channel.Stephanie:That's awesome. I think that's such a great way to have that, like MVP products. See if it works before investing too heavily into a big website and yeah, like you said, setting up three PLS. What kind of hiccups did you experience when you launched on Amazon or started that process?Ju:So one was we actually proved out our product market fit very quickly. And we actually ran out. We either I can't remember, but I think we almost ran out of inventory or we did run out of inventory. We had like our second order on a boat and it was supposed to be released, but like the timing didn't work out. And so it was really, really tight in terms of inventory planning. The other issue was we were getting people were now brand gated, but before we were brand gated, we're getting people attaching themselves to our listings as we were getting more and more popular. And so I don't know how many people know how Amazon really works, but a lot of times when you have a product page, it's not something that you own, unless you're brand gated.Ju:It's something that other people can sell that product, leveraging your product page. And then the idea is yeah, everyone has to win the buy box. And the buy box is when you're on an Amazon product page, and you add to cart, the person who's winning the buy box is the first person whose product you would add to your cart. So I didn't know any of this when we first started, I was like, why do you have to earn the buy box?Stephanie:I had no idea. I mean, I see that from a consumer side where it's like, you have other options, but I never go to those. It's like whoever's first is who I go with.Ju:Yeah. And it's really smart on Amazon's part, because as a seller, you have to earn it either by having really good reviews, like seller reviews or you have to earn it by having the best price. And so there are a lot of sellers, they'll price a penny cheaper, or like 5 cents cheaper, and then they'll win the buy box. Which inevitably is a very dangerous game because you can just sort of discount this product to zero. So anyways, we were getting people attaching themselves for a page, which wasn't good because we wanted to protect our products and our IP and all that. And then the other issue that we ran into was we started getting counterfeits mixed into our inventory. So there was a time where and I have…
Full show notes at the publisherFrom the baseball field, to the Nascar track, to the tennis court, in sports, ads can be found everywhere. Brands and sports have been linked together through sponsorship for decades. And now, with the rise of social media and influencers, athletes can create even more profitable relationships with brands than ever before. But a sponsorship should be more than just a way for a brand and an athlete to make money. Today, more than ever, that message matters. The story you tell makes a difference. And the purpose behind a brand is what is drawing people in and converting them to loyal customers. At POC, that belief is what has been driving the company since its founding, and it is influencing its unique content strategy, which is successfully driving people to its website and into its ecommerce channels. POC is a Swedish company that makes top of the line protective gear for athletes around the world. David DeMartini is POC’s Global Chief Marketing and Digital Officer and on this episode of Up Next in Commerce, he explains why the purpose- and data-driven content strategy the company has devised is working, and what other brands can learn from what they have built. Whether it’s more of a focus on original, serialized video, or a different approach to working with influencers, POC’s marketing strategies have far outperformed traditional methods. Learn how and why on today’s episode! Main Takeaways:Propose a Purpose: More than ever, consumers are driven to brands that have a clearly-stated purpose or mission. But simply having a purpose written out on your website is not enough. Brands that develop an ambitious purpose, stress test it, and look beyond the problems of now to understand how their purpose can drive them in the future are the ones that will succeed.Don’t Be Old School: Athlete sponsorships are not new in the marketing world, however, brands like POC are finding creative ways to expand those partnerships. By investing in different marketing channels like video series, movies, and other long-form, engaging content, brands can set themselves apart and tell stories in ways customers will connect with. More Than The Data: Every organization should be using data to guide organizational decisions, but data should never be the only factor. Data should be used in conjunction with what you know about your customers on an intangible level to create a balance that is analytics-based but still feels human.For an in-depth look at this episode, check out the full transcript below. Quotes have been edited for clarity and length.---Up Next in Commerce is brought to you by Salesforce Commerce Cloud. Respond quickly to changing customer needs with flexible Ecommerce connected to marketing, sales, and service. Deliver intelligent commerce experiences your customers can trust, across every channel. Together, we’re ready for what’s next in commerce. Learn more at salesforce.com/commerce---Transcript:Stephanie:Hello, and welcome back to up next in ecommerce. This is your host, Stephanie Postles, co-founder of mission.org. Our guest today is David DeMartini, the Chief Marketing Officer at POC. David, welcome to the show.David:Hi, Stephanie. Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.Stephanie:Yeah, I'm really excited to have you too. I just went into a Wormhole watching some of your guys' videos with the skiers, flying down the mountain at lightning speed and I was like, "Could I do this? No, probably not." But they were great to watch.David:Yes. Oh, well, thank you. And I sure you could do it. We have an amazing roster of athletes that do a great job of telling our brand story through their actions and our goal is to do everything we can to keep them safe. So, it's fun to create content or let them create content and it helps us tell our story.Stephanie:Yeah. I love that. We'll definitely be diving into all of that in a little bit, but first tell me or anyone who's listening, what is POC?David:Yeah. So POC is a Swedish company that was founded in 2006, 2007 timeframe. We are a protection brand. We're the world's leading protection brand, currently servicing athletes and participants across bicycle sports and snow sports. And so, we have a really strong mission and purpose to save lives and protect those pursuing their passion, and enable people to really find more joy in life through using our products to keep them as safe as possible when they're doing the things that they love.Stephanie:Yeah. And you have very nice looking products as well. I haven't been snowboarding in a while, but I'm like, "If I was, I would want this helmet here and they even have mouth guards nowadays, which is mind blowing to me." I mean, very helpful, but I have not seen any other companies. You have a helmet with a... Is it called a mouth guard? What is the word for that now?David:Yeah. Well, on the snow side, we have a couple of different disciplines that we service. And I think the product you're referencing is one of the helmets we have on the race side of our business. When slalom skiers or even some GS skiers are running gates. There's a chin bar that attaches to the helmets to make sure none of [crosstalk] end up smacking them in the face as they're making their way down the course. So, always looking for ways to better protect our athletes in our customers. And that's a pretty handy service with that chin bar because taking a slalom gate to the face is not much fun.Stephanie:Yeah. It does not sound like it. I also looked at them like this would be perfect for my two and a half year old, and he is always falling and hitting his face somehow, or his chin I'm like, "You guys need some kids versions of this."David:Yeah. That's a good point. We have an amazing children's line that we call poquito-Stephanie:Oh, cute.David:Kids helmets and there's some really cool safety pieces built into that. We found that the most accidents that happened with kids on a ski slope or on a bicycle are scenarios where someone larger than them, whether it's a larger kid or an adult just simply doesn't see them. And there's a collision that happens. So we have a really great visibility story built into our kids' products, but we hadn't thought about the chin or face protection for the children, but maybe we [crosstalk 00:03:28]. Yeah?Stephanie:Yeah. So when I was looking through your LinkedIn [inaudible 00:03:33], I also saw that you have a background in media and sports, and I was wondering what drew you over to POC?David:Yeah, so I of cut my teeth at an agency in Colorado working across an amazing book of brands that the agency Backbone Media service at the time. And it was really an amazing opportunity for me because I got to really dig in and understand some of the challenges that brands have really all maturity level, where we're trying to overcome. Everything from a larger, more established brand, like Eddie Bauer or YETI Coolers, all the way up to startups looking at how do they just continue to raise some money to propel their businessDavid:And so, as I was working through and learning and absorbing and working with all these amazing people at Backbone Media, I was really fine-tuning the things that were interesting to me and knew I always wanted to be in marketing and direct-to-consumer but really found an understanding of what specifically in those areas were interesting.David:And then after about five years with Backbone, POC was one of the clients of Backbone for a long time. And one of the accounts I worked on and an opportunity came up to join POC internal as the marketing director for North America and I took that and I've been lucky to find myself in some opportunistic positions within POC. And my skillset has allowed me to rise to the ranks here as well which has been really fun and really rewarding.Stephanie:Yeah. That's great. I also love how POC has the same messaging across all the platforms. It was very clear about what you guys stood for. So tell me a little bit about... Did that draw you in when you saw, "Here's our purpose. Here's why we're here." How did that impact your decision to jump over to work with them?David:Yeah. I think that one of the key attributes that you see as particularly important and something that a lot of brands in the outdoor space focus on is purpose. And the term purpose can be applied to business or the way that a company operates in a lot of different ways. But I realized early on that a trend that I was seeing with the brands that I worked with at Backbone Media, the ones with a solid foundation, a clear purpose and a really clear and ambitious but not to the point where the brand platform and the mission of the vision didn't really mean anything. Those are the companies and the brands that were doing the best.David:And so, I quickly realized how important that was. And so, as I thought about what was next, I knew that, that was core to any organization that I could see myself at, for an extended period of time. And so I made that one of my priorities and starting to look around for whatever was next for me was that purpose has to be there. And I have to really be able to connect to that purpose in a meaningful way because if I can't, in a lot of ways you're trying to fake it to make it, and that just gets really taxing and is tiresome and hard to do. And it comes back to, if you can act to the purpose it's very easy to find the motivation to really give everything you have to the business and these days you have to do that.David:So, POC has had it. It's a really amazing a brand platform and admission and vision. That's been with us since day one and credit to the founder, Stefan Ytterborn who created the brand in 2006, to address a problem that he saw in the form of... His kids were becoming ski racers. And he looked around at the head protection at the time and said, "This doesn't seem all that great and I think I can do this better." And had the foresight to realize that spending the time and really ironing out what he was there to do and what their mission and vision looked like, was crucial to make sure he built something that could continue to live on and be successful.Stephanie:That's great. Your kids always seem to be a driving force sometimes with businesses or new products. And I love that story, having an actual reason to develop something and being like, "Oh, everyone actually needs us in this industry. And it's not good enough. I'm going to fix it right now."David:Yeah. He saw a problem that was specific to him and where he was in his life and realized that, he's probably not the only one feeling this way and really created something special and it's been a fun ride since then and continues to do well. So, again, it goes back to the core purpose of the business is real and meaningful. And that's really valuable and making sure that we make the right decisions on a day-to-day basis.Stephanie:So, since you've been able to see many brands, especially why you were working at the agency, what are tips or best practices around maybe a new brand coming up with their purpose, but then actually following through, because I think that's a tricky thing with a lot of these new companies popping up it seems like a lot of them say they have a purpose or here's what we're doing, but it doesn't actually come through. It's just like the messaging. You don't see actions behind it. Is there any advice or things that you saw when you were at the agency of like this work and this did not work, everyone should not do it this way?David:Yeah. It's a good question. And I think the answer to that can take many different forms but really what you're looking for is something that's balanced in something that is, it can stand the test of time. And so what I saw at Backbone was it used to be that you could identify a problem, find a solution for it, and then take that and run with it. And I think that that worked for a long time and that was the traditional approach to starting a business. But I think the consumer today has evolved so much to where they look for more than just helping them solve a problem. You really have to be invested in the solution and in the problem itself to a point where it's authentic and real.David:And so I think for anybody who's thinking about starting a business and can't stress enough, the importance of making sure you spend the time and put the work in on building a brand platform and then pressure testing that through all different mock scenarios thinking about where you're going to be in five years, 10 years, 15 years, and beyond. And making sure the verbiage you use in the core of that brand platform can remain constant. I see if a new company is... It's almost like you can't be too focused on the problem you're trying to solve, you have to think beyond that problem, that future problems, and make sure that your approach and what you're creating can solve future problems as much as it can solve the problem here and now.David:And it's a really hard thing to do, and it takes a very specific approach and creative mind. And it's not easy to achieve. And so I feel lucky to be part of an organization where, we were able to achieve that. And the founders that started POC went through that exercise and it's cumbersome and difficult. But I think it's super important.Stephanie:Yeah. I completely agree. It reminds me of... I don't know if you've heard of the, Clock of the Long Now, it's a 10,000-year clock, and it's all about encouraging long-term thinking. And every time I start thinking about longer-term thinking, and where is this headed? I always think about that clock, it's my motivation.David:Yeah. I think that's a great connection point. And it's really hard to visualize and come up with mock scenarios as to what could happen in 10 years because who knows what's going to happen in 10 years. But I think just going through the exercises and putting the time and the effort and we'll help you find the right balance between to immediate here and now, and then on the other end of the spectrum is... I don't know if you know a guy named Scott Galloway, but he uses the term, yogababble where you use so many buzz words and it's so conceptual that it actually completely loses all of its meaning. You got to find someplace in between there that is balanced and can stand the test of time to a certain degree.Stephanie:Yeah. That's a good mentality. I saw you have another title, which you didn't mention in the intro, and I'm not sure why, of executive producer. I was looking at the one video, American Downhiller, which is really good. I only got to watch 10 minutes of it, but I think it's a good segue Into some of your marketing and content strategies because the video was so well done. I mean, is it on Netflix? If not, it should be. Tell me a little bit about how you guys go about thinking about developing videos.David:Yeah. I'm really glad you brought that up because that's a really, really fun and amazing project that we just launched to the world earlier in... I think it was in October actually. I was going to say November but, launched in October with a world premier here in Park City, Utah, and then a distribution program with U.S. Ski Team and skiracing.com. And like I mentioned, we got our start in ski racing and it's incredibly important in Colorado business. Compared to other snow sports categories, or the bike category. It's relatively small, but it's so important because in the athletes... Really on any lev…
Full show notes at the publisherThe ecommerce industry has historically been dominated by some familiar verticals: apparel, footwear, home goods. In 2020, the world of ecommerce exploded to include a few more at the top of the list, including grocery and fitness. One industry, though, hasn’t necessarily emerged as a leader in the ecommerce zeitgeist: home security. But just because you don’t always think about an industry as a part of ecommerce doesn’t mean that it isn’t making waves among its digital peers. The perfect example of this is Ring. Ring was founded in 2013 as a company called Doorbot, which failed to get the investment of any Shark Tank sharks, yet persevered to become a leader in home security before being acquired by Amazon in 2018. Today, Ring is valued at more than one billion dollars and, through its website sales, is bringing home security to customers everywhere. Robin Choe is the Head of Ecommerce at Ring, and on this episode of Up Next in Commerce, he explains how Ring has built a successful business through creating a community of neighbors and what it means to be driven by a shared goal. Plus, Robin touches on his past experience working in ecommerce overseas and what the differences are between the Asian market and what’s happening stateside. Robin also details why he believes that companies that are able to foster a sense of community and safety are the ones that will rise above the fray in the business world. Main Takeaways:United Nations: China has been ahead of the curve in its ability to build a digital landscape that permeates throughout its society. The country is more adept at creating social connections via technology, building direct, dynamic marketplace models, and optimizing the supply chain. But other countries, including the U.S. are starting to close the gap and create more widespread access to those same experiences.If You Stand for Nothing, What Will You Fall For?: Leadership is critical in any organization, but it is even more important in one like Ring, which was acquired by Amazon, one of the biggest companies on the planet. Creating specific team-by-team missions that all ladder up to the top of the organization and then also falls in line with your parent company is a difficult task, but a necessary one if you want to have long-term success and buy-in from all parts of the company. Having those shared missions also sets up the possibility of setting measurable goals and a true north to strive for and build toward.Avoiding the Upsell: Customers don’t want to be sold to, they want to be offered solutions to real problems. Rather than trying to push products on people, a better approach would be to understand each customer’s specific use case and deliver personalized solutions to meet those needs. That technique is much more likely to lead to a sale than simply shoving the newest and coolest products at potential customers.For an in-depth look at this episode, check out the full transcript below. Quotes have been edited for clarity and length.---Up Next in Commerce is brought to you by Salesforce Commerce Cloud. Respond quickly to changing customer needs with flexible Ecommerce connected to marketing, sales, and service. Deliver intelligent commerce experiences your customers can trust, across every channel. Together, we’re ready for what’s next in commerce. Learn more at salesforce.com/commerce---Transcript:Stephanie:Everyone, this is the Up Next In Commerce Podcast. I'm your host, Stephanie Postles, Co-Founder at Mission.org. Today, we're chatting with Robin Choe, the Head of Ecommerce at Ring. Robin, thanks for joining us.Robin:Thanks for having me.Stephanie:So, I was looking through your background a bit. I wanted to start there, because I saw that you had worked previously at Mattel for a while. I think it's a good starting point. Then we go through your background in the world of ecommerce before coming back to Ring.Robin:Sure. Yeah, so I started in Mattel in 2008. My first role there was customer strategic planning, so everything around retail strategies and working closely with retailers to try and drive share of voice, market share, and ultimately, sales and brand growth at the retailers. What was unique around the starting point there was I had a hodgepodge of different channels and accounts. So, everything from Kmart, believe it or not back in the day, which is a much bigger retailer back then.Stephanie:Wow, bringing it back.Robin:Exactly. Also, working across what they call the emerging channels. Part of that emerging channel group, everything from grocery and department stores, drug channel, tried to grow our leadership share there. But Amazon was the one that really stood out to me back then, because it was still evolving, it was still smaller, but it was one that was growing substantially year over year and starting to catch the attention of our leadership and obviously something that I was preaching about internally to make sure that we're aligning and prepping ourselves to grow with them.Robin:From there, for about five years in the US, I moved to Hong Kong. I became the Head of Shopper Marketing or Customer Marketing for the Asia Pacific region. So, did that for about two years, and was also playing a hybrid role where I was the ecommerce excellence, best practice lead for the region, working closely with our regional accounts, our specific local accounts that are a lot bigger today like the Tmalls of the world, Lazadas, which are growing and ultimately trying to drive greater ecommerce best practices across the region.Robin:From there, I pivoted to a general manager role. So, I've had an unconventional career, where I was asked to take on the Country Manager role for Korea. So, everything from leadership across all the various functions, supply chain, finance, accounting to marketing and sales. And then my role expanded from Korea to North Asia. So, I had Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan, which are all the best food markets, still residing in Korea. My role expanded to the North Asia cluster, again, driving all the sales and marketing commercial activities and leadership there.Robin:And then in 2018, decided to come back after being five years in Asia, and take on the role of Head of ecommerce for Mattel, which was quite unique. It was a newly formed role, where they consolidated a lot of different functions under one leader. Four different pillars that I would say we focused on, the first one was our direct-to-consumer site. So, think about Hot Wheels collector and Barbiecollector.com and trying to drive our sales and our engagement with them. Also, all websites across the world was under the first pillar. The second pillar was CRM acquisition, analytics and design to everything regarding fueling the acquisition efforts, engagement, and also the experiences on our sites. Also, even our retailer sites, believe it or not.Robin:Third one was digital operation. So, this is a team that really was sourcing the best-in-class assets and copy, everything that really fuels a great merchandising experience on our own sites, but also on our third-party retailer sites. So, we are basically managing all the PDPs, the brand stores for our bigger retailers like Amazon and Target and Walmart, and syndicating and deploying assets there. And then the last pillar was around digital customer marketing and digital shopper marketing, where we have a team that was specifically focused on growing our share of voice, our leadership share with Amazon.com, Target.com or Walmart.com.Robin:So, we had this full end-to-end scope of responsibilities where they were all connected. They were all in need of similar assets and strategies. Obviously, there was nuances between what we were doing internally and externally. But overall, it was a challenging experience but a great one, because it was broad, but also, we could see how things were lifting each other up as we're going through the process.Robin:And then about a year ago, made the move to Ring. Really the objective behind that was to go deeper into this ecommerce in general. I think I had a pretty broad role at Mattel. Even in my previous experience, I worked a lot with digital retailers. But being able to just dive into a brand that I love and that I was able to use as well before I even came to the company, just the mission around the brand of making neighborhoods safer, it was just one where everything just made sense for me to go in.Robin:It's pretty clear, and I made this clear with my boss back then. I'm not the most technical savvy guy. I'm not the guy that's going to be doing your coding and development. But I'm a guy that can come in and really drive some vision and strategy in terms of, "What are our immediate needs? How do we serve them? At the same time, how do we identify a vision for the mid- to long-term, so that we can be ready and planful and execute against what we believe to be the evolving changes that will happen and we can embrace them and ultimately deliver upon them in terms of customer expectations?" So, it's been quite a ride. Happy that I'm still here and that things are relatively going well.Stephanie:That's awesome. Yeah. So, I have Ring cameras around my house. Specifically, the one I love is the front camera with the floodlight on it, because it would blast people if they walk by and I think they're a little bit shady. But yeah, I really like Ring. It seems like a very different transition, going from Mattel to Ring, especially when you were for a little bit there focused in Asia, which in a lot of ways, I think Asia is actually very ahead when it comes to ecommerce and social stuff and community building. Were there any best practices that you learned throughout that journey that you're maybe bringing to Ring now?Robin:Sure, I think there is a ton to learn. Like you said, you had a variety of different business models out in Asia. For example, you had the direct model, which was unique. It wasn't normal like it is here in the US with Amazon, for example. But it's one where it's more of a marketplace model, where you're basically the manufacturer that's selling on a respective third-party platform. So, whether it's Timo, whether it's sites in Rakuten, in Japan or even in Korea, where you have coupon, you have such a dynamic and a different approach as it relates to how to connect with a customer.Robin:So, I would say some of the things that I was able to carry over here is you're right, it's very digitally connected in most of Asia. They are well advanced in terms of just being able to stay connected from a digital platform perspective, but also connecting with consumers in unique ways. So, I feel like maybe what they've done in terms of social commerce, for example, or being able to find ways to navigate supply chain challenges or complexities, they've done a great job to accelerate that. I think they've been ahead of the curve in terms of the US for probably another... They're probably ahead by one or two years, but I think the US has been catching up.Robin:So, I would say best practices, back to your question, it's basically how do you connect with the consumer in a way that is relevant for what they're looking for? For example, PDP pages in Asia are very long and extensive, meaning you could scroll for miles. That's what they're expecting there, because they want to make sure that they know what they're buying, that it's quality, that it's a trusted brand.Robin:Here in the US, it's not as long, obviously. You do have some scrolls to get to the bottom of the page, but you're not looking for as much. Maybe ratings and reviews are more important here in the US. It's also important there, but they're also featuring, "Is this the best seller? What's the ranking on the skew versus the category?" So, that's a good question. I think, for me, it's connecting with communities and also just best practices in terms of merchandising and how they do it differently and how we can take some of those and deploy that here in the US.Stephanie:Yes, yeah, I love that. I always think it's something good to watch, because I mean, they are much more mobile first. Whereas a lot of people here-Robin:Sure.Stephanie:... grew up on desktop. All those people actually just leapfrogged past desktop and have just been used to doing everything on mobile. I know especially around the podcasting space, it's an area that we also keep an eye on, because they have so many social functions that they're just used to. That I'm like, "Why don't we have that here?" So, it's always good to keep an eye on what other markets are doing.Robin:For sure.Stephanie:So, let's get back to Ring a little bit. So, Ring's owned by Amazon now, right?Robin:That's correct.Stephanie:So, I think that would be really good to talk about how that relationship is working, specifically around earlier you mentioned leadership. I want to touch on what that transition looked like from Ring being its own separate company to then being acquired. I'm sure you had new teams that you're working with. You had to really distill your mission and the shared values and everything that you had, the influence with the new team or company in general. So, I want to hear a little bit about how you led that or how you're leading it now.Robin:Sure, yeah. I think the beauty of Amazon and Ring is you're taking the strengths of each company and you're marrying them together. I've worked for big companies like Mattel. I've also worked for small companies and startups as well. So, I love the mash up between the two where you're able to be entrepreneurial. You're able to really be nimble and agile in this small setting of what Ring actually started off as, as a startup.Robin:And then taking the successes of a startup and then marrying that up with this successful company, Amazon, the biggest ecommerce company, at least in the US. In the world, I would say at least a leader. It's one where you're able to leverage the infrastructure, the resources, the mechanisms and the processes that they've been able to deploy, and they've been so successful with. So, that's something that I find to be very interesting.Robin:I think with Ring, we still are led by our founder today. He's our CEO and our Chief Inventor. It's one where he does drive a lot of vision and strategy in terms of not only the mission of establishing that, but also everything around products and services. That continues to grow as we speak. In terms of team and leadership, I apply the same model that I do in every circumstance that I've been in. It's like I spoke on earlier, I've moved to three countries in a matter of five years. That's not easy with-Stephanie:That's crazy.Robin:... a family of kids. Being able to embrace change and being able to pivot and establish yourself amongst different cultures and teams and environments and business models is quite hard, even with language barriers as well. So, I think coming into Ring, I applied a similar approach in terms of leadership. It's one where we have to pause as a team, because the team could be in any sort of condition in terms of their history. Whether they were without a leader in the past or they have gone through significant changes where they we're acquired, whatever the case may be, what I typically do is I come in. I spent some time, just parking time with the team and our leadership to say, "Hey, look, how do we get focused on what matters most?"Robin:The first thing I want to do is, "Let's establish a shared mission. Why do we exist? What's our purpose? W…
Full show notes at the publisherSome brands are lucky enough to have a built-in audience of millions, while others need to develop an audience from scratch. Chris Mainenti has been on both sides of the coin and he knows that in either situation, once you have a base of potential customers paying attention to you, the next challenge is converting those browsers to buyers. Chris is the Director of Commerce Strategy at Discovery, Inc. where he is helping turn the millions of viewers who tune into Discovery’s channels such as HGTV, TLC, Food Network and more, into customers who buy across various platforms. On this episode of Up Next in Commerce, Chris explains how he put his history of building audiences at previous companies to work at Discovery — including some tips for young companies on how to utilize newsletters. And he discusses how to use the data you collect as a starting point for creating a more personalized, one-to-one relationship with your audience on various platforms. Plus, he looks into the future to predict how shoppable experiences will be made possible with universal add-to-cart and buy-now options. Main Takeaways:Developing Your Audience: Audience development goes beyond marketing. When you are building your audience, you have to know who you are as a brand and understand the audience you have and want to bring in, and what they want and need. In the early days of a brand, certain audience development strategies work better than others, including tapping into the power of newsletters.Lights, Camera, Take Action: Every company is collecting immeasurable amounts of data, which then needs to be sorted, analyzed and acted on. But the actions you take should be nuanced and applicable to the specific needs of specific audiences. For example, it would be wrong to lump together all of the women in your audience because a woman who is exploring your dot-com presence is likely looking for something different than a woman that is scanning a QR code on their TV. Those segments of women shop differently, and therefore should be approached in unique ways after the data tells you what they each want.Dreams of a Universal Cart Experience: Many believe the future of ecommerce revolves around the development of a universal cart experience. Every business wants to create shoppable moments and engage with customers across many different platforms. But getting to this nirvana means you also have to remove all the friction points.For an in-depth look at this episode, check out the full transcript below. Quotes have been edited for clarity and length.---Up Next in Commerce is brought to you by Salesforce Commerce Cloud. Respond quickly to changing customer needs with flexible Ecommerce connected to marketing, sales, and service. Deliver intelligent commerce experiences your customers can trust, across every channel. Together, we’re ready for what’s next in commerce. Learn more at salesforce.com/commerce---Transcript:Stephanie:Welcome back to Up Next In Commerce. This is your host, Stephanie Postles co-founder of mission.org. Our guest today is Chris Mainenti, the director of commerce strategy at Discovery Inc. Chris, welcome to the show.Chris:Thank you, Stephanie. I appreciate you having me on and talking all things commerce here in the current climate that we're in.Stephanie:Yeah. I am very excited to have you guys on. I was just thinking about how long Discovery channel, and all the other channels, HGTV, and Food Network and Travel Channel have been in my life and with that, I want to hear a little bit about your role at Discovery. I mean, it seems like there's so much going on, so many digital portfolios that you guys have over there, and I think just a lot behind the scenes that an average consumer wouldn't even know. So, I'd love to hear what you're up to at Discovery. What is your day-to-day look like?Chris:Sure. So, I would say, first and foremost, for commerce specifically in the digital media space, we're probably slightly different than a lot of others. We're really multifaceted in terms of how we work, and who we work with across the org. Obviously, like you said, Discovery is huge, has a ton of major, major worldwide brands. So, we actually sit on the portfolio wide level with our lifestyle brands, and we're really in the weeds with them on the day-to-day basis. And, that really starts with, obviously, our editorial teams. That's our bread and butter, that's our voice and our authority in this space. So again, that's really where we begin, and that's obviously where we're doing our content output, and producing all of this great shopping content for our different audiences, and again pulling our experts from all of these different brands to come together.Chris:So again, folks are really getting the full spectrum of expertise in all of these different categories. And from there, it just really starts branching out into other groups. So, we work heavily with our ad sales and branded content teams, where we work on much larger partnerships and deeper integrations which we can talk about today as well. We have a licensing team, where we work on licensed products, and we take our learnings that we're seeing on our shopping content on a day-to-day basis, and analyze that, and then speak with licensing to see where there may be some room to actually create a new line with one of our partners.Chris:We also, believe it or not, and I know you don't know this, we have a video games team at Discovery, and we work closely with them as well on trying to find those shoppable moments, and again bringing our brand and our voice into those games when they're being built. So again, we're always serving the reader no matter who or where they are, and again pivoting as necessary. So, those are just a few groups, and obviously our marketing and ops, and audience development teams were heavily embedded with as well when it comes to promotion.Chris:So again, there are just, I would say, a lot of areas that we focus on. I know in the beginning it was always all about, commerce is part of diversifying your revenue streams at a digital club. But, we see it more as now, we're trying to diversify our commerce stream into all of these other areas. So again, a lot of exciting stuff has already happened, and we're working on some cool stuff too as we head into next year. So, a lot of exciting stuff in an area that's obviously blowing up for a variety of reasons.Stephanie:That's a lot going on there. It's actually really interesting because you just mentioned video games, and I just did a recap episode with one of my coworkers for the first 50 episodes of this show, and the one thing I was bringing up was like, "I think there's a big opportunity in having shoppable moments in these worlds or video games." And, we were mentioning Unreal and Epic Games specifically, that I hadn't really seen that yet. So, it's interesting that you guys are starting to explore that arena, because it feels like that's something of the future, but it's needed, and that's where everything's headed.Chris:Yeah. And again, I can't stress enough. I mean, our portfolio is just so suited for so many of these different, avenues that we could always find something where, again, we're not being gimmicky just to say we're there. This is our bread and butter, and we're making sure that we stick to our tried and blue, into who we are, and not shy off too much, and again just try to say, "We did something here or there." Really making sure we're always serving our audiences and giving them what they want on the platforms they want.Stephanie:Yeah. Which I think that's a really good jumping off point, then because that was actually my one biggest question I had of how do you strategically think about what an audience wants without disrupting the content? I mean, it seems so tricky, because you see a lot of shows, and whatever it may be where you might have product placement in a show or a movie, but it might not actually uplift sales, because it wasn't done correctly. Where I was also just talking about the Netflix original, the organizing show where they partnered with the container store, and how they had an instant, I think was a 17% uplift in sales after that show aired. That worked, and many others don't. So, how do you guys think about making those shoppable moments, and actually having it work?Chris:Sure. First and foremost, I think, you have to be honest and say, "Look, not everything is going to hit." And honestly, it's not always meant to always hit. So, I think we go into that, first being real with the current situation, and understanding not everyone is going to want every single thing. We're always talking about integrating, promoting, so on and so forth. So, I would say that's first. Secondly, again, we start with, what's our expertise? What do we believe in? And, what do we want to showcase to our various audiences across all of these different platforms? And then, from there is when we start to really start getting down to the nuances.Chris:And look, we have created what we dub internally as the commerce hub, where we're bringing in data feeds from all different platforms, our affiliate networks, our in-house reporting platforms, social, so on and so forth, bringing that all together. And again, understanding, what are people consuming? And, what is their mindset when they're on social, versus linear, versus a DTC, or our dot-coms. And, really starting to look and pull out trends from that. I always like to say I prefer the term data influenced versus data driven, because you can't just take a dashboard of data, and sort in descending or ascending order, and say, "Okay. Whatever is at the top or bottom, do or don't do." And, call it a day.Chris:We focus much more heavily on insights, and use that data as a jumping off point, but then do very, very deep analysis, and pull actionable insights out of that for all of our different brands and teams for when they're creating new content, or when we're optimizing old content. Again, wherever that is. And then, I think lastly with that comes, how do we visualize that to the audience. On digital.com, is it more about, again, really simple to read, simple call to actions to buy items. Again, on linear, what is that? A QR code experience? Is it some type of more deeper integration with a smart TV company on our TV E experiences? Is it more deeply integrated where you can actually tap to purchase within the app? So on and so forth.Chris:So again, there's just a lot of things that we're looking at. We never make it cut and dry, that's probably because personally I don't think anything is ever cut and dry, especially this space and shopping behaviors across, not only brands but the platforms those brands are on, and that's how we look at it. I know that's a lot, and that sounds a bit crazy, but we do really pride ourselves on, again, using these things as a jumping off point and then really diving in deep and making sure that we're serving our audiences, again, where they like to consume this content.Stephanie:Got it. Yeah. It sounds like everything is very custom, and every channel and project you start from scratch where you start figuring out what your audience might like. But, do you have any internal formulas where you're like, "Well, we always follow this in the beginning." and then, it goes crazy after that, because we find other things out. Is there anything that's similar among all the campaigns or projects that you're working on, at least from a starting point?Chris:Yeah. I think, honestly, it's probably not surprising whenever you're talking about items on sale, or whenever we're talking about certain merchants, or price points, or categories, like organizing and cleaning is always up there for us. We know very specific furniture categories that do very well for us. So, we do have our basic what we call playbooks that we start off with, but like you said, we still are always constantly learning and pivoting as necessary. I think a perfect example is in the beginning of the year, I don't think anyone in this world saw what was coming, so we were doing our thing, and then when everything started to unfold, we got together and we had to pivot. And again, the good thing about Discovery's brands is, again, we are so widespread in terms of the categories that we're experts in, that we were able to easily pivot and, again, make sure we're giving our audiences what they need at that moment.Stephanie:Do you see more companies starting to shift? Like media companies turning into ecommerce companies, and ecommerce companies turning into media companies. I've heard that saying quite a bit, especially over the past six months, but it feels like you guys have been there for a while. Do you see other companies looking to you for maybe best practices of like, "How do I make this shift?" Or, "Should I make this shift?"Chris:100%. I think, the beauty in that is that we can coexist and really do things that benefit each of us. I don't think this is an either, we succeed or they succeeded. This is, I think a space where we can coexist. The way I always like to frame this when I'm talking to our merchant partners, and talking internally, is we're really here to humanize the star review. When you come to us, you're not just going to see, again, this is a four out of five, or this is a five star, item, and that's it from the random ecosystem of the internet. We are heavily focused on saying, "Look, here are the things we recommend, and why." And, I think that's where our partners can really leverage us, and where you're really seeing us shine. Again, we don't have to just throw a bunch of random stuff out there and hope for the best.Chris:Again, given our brands and our standing in this space, we can really leverage our expertise and authority there when growing this portfolio with all of our partners. To be honest with you the thing that drove me to Discovery the most was, "Wow, these are huge brands, with huge audiences, and huge respect. Now, we just got to tie all of that together, and go from the moment of inspiration to action." And then again, that's what we've been working on.Stephanie:That's really cool. With all the data that you were mentioning earlier, since you joined have you seen any changes in consumer shopping behavior?Chris:So, yes. Obviously, the biggest one occurring this year, and that was with online grocery. I think it's no surprise that it's been building up now for a year or two in terms of mainstream, but it never really caught on. It's only a five to 10% of folks are really engaging and entertaining the online grocery space. But then again, obviously, earlier in the year when things started to shut down, and people were uneasy about going out, we did see huge spikes in that space, obviously, on our FoodNetwork.com site. And, I would say that continued for a bit, and did peter out a bit recent months which, again, is obviously expected. So, I think that's probably one of the big ones.Chris:The other thing that we have seen, not so much in terms of major shifts in shopping behaviors, just more increased sales in categories that we already know are performing. So, organizing and cleaning is always been a winner for us, and then as the months went on, we've just seen it doing better for us. I think we do a lot of buying guides where we talk about the best cast iron skillets on Food Network, or the best humidifiers on HGTV. We started to…
Full show notes at the publisherEntrepreneurs are, by nature, risk-takers. But most would still think it’s crazy to invest your entire life savings on 300 gallons of rosé. Nevertheless, that’s the true story of how Alix Peabody started her company, Bev. Sold online and in-store, Bev is a made-by-chick alcohol company famous for its canned rosé. Alix says that Bev’s secret to success is built on some key pillars, the most important of which might surprise you: customer service. On this episode of Up Next in Commerce, Alix explains why ecommerce brands should be investing heavily into their customer service operations. Plus, she reveals how she is capitalizing on the huge percentage of buyers that come from mobile. Main Takeaways:Integrate Customer Service into the Company Culture From the Start: Too many companies gloss over the importance of having a good customer service operation that is integrated into the company as a whole. There is a real importance to this team, and it is critical to understand how influential and impactful they are when it comes to new product development or flagging recurring issues that could turn into beasts down the road.The Influence on Mobile: A staggering percentage of ecommerce orders are taking place on mobile (I bet you can’t guess exactly how high this percentage is for Bev!), which makes investing in a frictionless mobile experience a must-do for brands.For an in-depth look at this episode, check out the full transcript below. Quotes have been edited for clarity and length.---Up Next in Commerce is brought to you by Salesforce Commerce Cloud. Respond quickly to changing customer needs with flexible Ecommerce connected to marketing, sales, and service. Deliver intelligent commerce experiences your customers can trust, across every channel. Together, we’re ready for what’s next in commerce. Learn more at salesforce.com/commerce---Transcript:Stephanie:Welcome to Up Next In Commerce. This is your host Stephanie Postles, Co-Founder at Mission.org. Today on the show, we have Alix Peabody, the Founder and CEO at Bev. Alix, welcome.alix:Thank you so much for having me.Stephanie:I'm excited to have you on. It feels like the perfect environment to talk about beverages with everything that's going on.alix:Oh, my gosh. Yeah, I mean, so much consumption in my world for sure. It's been a little bit of a crazy time.Stephanie:These days, I have to limit myself. Wait, did I just have wine yesterday, the day before, and the day before? I need to chill. I have to pull myself [crosstalk 00:00:39].alix:Yeah, 100%. I mean, it's funny too, because we've got moms with kids working from home and people trying to separate their days and all that kind of stuff. So, I feel for them, but glad we can be here to help.Stephanie:Yes, me too. So, I have read your backstory a little bit of it. You have a crazy backstory of why you started this. I was hoping you could start there where you go through, "What led you to starting it?"alix:So, it's a crazy story. When I first moved to San Francisco, I was 24. I'd been working in finance for a couple of years. I moved out there thinking I wanted to learn a little bit more about the whole startup world and all that stuff. I took a job as an Executive Headhunter helping startups place C-suite level employees essentially. Right when I moved there, I got pretty sick. So, I had a whole bunch of issues with my reproductive health system. I was totally drowning in medical bills. I was trying to figure out, how I was going to pay for all this stuff. I had to freeze my eggs. It was a total nightmare. I started throwing these parties. I was charging tickets for these parties, which people didn't realize I was using to pay down a whole bunch of medical care.alix:I went to a school that was very frat centric. I worked in finance, and I was in tech. I've always cared a lot about gender dynamics and drinking culture and how we interact with one another when our guards are down. I started to notice that there was just a really different energy when you're in a female-owned social space. At that point, I realized that I wanted to do something that addressed that in a way that was positive and fun and approachable. So, I started looking around, realized that I was going to really need a product to sell if I wanted to have a brand and a mission. Alcohol seems like the lowest common denominator. So, I weirdly ended up in wine.Stephanie:At the perfect spot to land. I mean, so tell me a little bit about you come on to this decision that you want to start in the alcohol industry. What happened next?alix:Yeah. So, I knew nothing about booze, I knew nothing about the industry. I really wanted to make a voice for women, and we say, good dudes, in a space where there just really hasn't been much out there. So, I tried to figure out, "How was I going to sell this product?" There's so much legal stuff that goes into the industry in general. It's so hard to get on a shelf, because you have to go through all of these different loopholes. So, I realized that there was a loophole to the system, specifically in wine.alix:The reason for that is basically that if you're a California vineyard, you can have a tasting room and a wine club. So, I realized pretty quickly that I was going to need to have a wine-based product if I wanted to be able to sell online. So, that I could have a proof of concept before trying to get onto the shelf. That's how I ended up with rosé in can as our first product.Stephanie:And beautiful can.alix:Thank you. Thank you so much. It's funny. My cousin's handwriting is actually what's on the side of the can, once our origin logo.Stephanie:That's good handwriting. I would not have known that's handwriting.alix:Yeah, yeah, we had to make our own font. It's funny, but anyways, yeah. Basically, at that point, I realized I had a 401k from my first job, but I'd forgotten about. I cashed the whole thing, bought 300 gallons of rosé. We were off to the races.Stephanie:That's amazing. Where did you even send these 300 gallons of rosé?alix:Yeah. Actually, I wasn't even... Don't tell anyone I said this, just kidding to anyone who's listening, but I wasn't even licensed at the time when I made our first proof of concept. So, I wasn't allowed to sell it. I technically purchased it from a winery under their license as a direct to consumer sale. So, I used the product to go seed investors basically. I would bring it to all of these different parties. And then a couple days later, I asked for an introduction from a friend to a potential angel investor. They'd be like, "Oh, my gosh. That stuff was everywhere." But I actually put it there. So, it was just the hustle is starting together original around the funding.Stephanie:So, since you bought that 300 gallons of rosé for $20,000, have you changed the product? Is it a new different wine now? From where it started, where is it today?alix:Honestly, we hit it pretty well in the beginning. Wine is so interesting, because there's so much chemistry that goes into the profile of making it. So, we basically done a whole bunch of blind taste tests of a bunch of different types of rosé and just went to our winemakers. We're, like, "Build us this backwards." So, there's definitely been some fine tuning and making sure it's as delicious as possible and sugar free and all that stuff. But it's pretty similar to what it was at the beginning. Now we have additional products as well that all have a similar profile but are different varietals.Stephanie:Okay, cool. What's the strategy behind putting it in the can?alix:Yeah, at the beginning, people ask me this a lot, because they're like, "Oh, cans are exploding. This is such a new category." When I did it, it was not normal. It was super hard to find somebody who would even can it. We're talking three years ago before you really saw any canned wine on the shelf. The reason I did it was pretty practical. I had no money, right? So, I was like, "How am I going to make something that is branded, and that people recognize if you pour it into a glass and you don't know what it is?" Right?alix:So, in my mind, I was like, "Well, if I make it almost like Red Bull-esque, where it's a really identifiable can, it's cute, it's Instagram friendly, the product will start to market itself." That's how it ended up in a can't honestly. It was no real strategy at first, but I also wanted to really be able to play against the beer culture, which that seemed to make sense at the time.Stephanie:Yeah, I mean, that seems like such a great way to get that word of mouth marketing working for you, just like it worked in the beginning with investors, but also, having something that people share where it's different. I mean, even thinking about the amount of bottles of wine, I wouldn't think to share one of them or even remember half the time where it came from or the brand that's behind it. So, it seems like a really unique way to get people to share for you.alix:100%. If it's cute enough and fun looking enough and whatever, people want to take pictures with it. They want to be seen holding it. I think, beverage is such an interesting category, because people don't realize how emotional it is. But brands really drive a lot of the purchasing power in terms of what people choose to consume, because it says a lot about who you are. Think about Monster versus Red Bull, Fiji or whatever it's called versus smartwater. It's more emotional than people realize off the bat.Stephanie:Yeah, I love that. So, how are you going about garnering that emotion and developing that community, which seems like a very important part of why you even started this company? How do you do that day-to-day now?alix:Absolutely. I mean, there are so many different ways. I think we really are digitally native brands, which is such an overused term, but we've really been able to build out a community online and get our message across through our social platforms and all those types of things, where people really know what we're about and who we are and why we exist.alix:Originally like last year, there was a lot of event-based marketing that we did, where we had actual events that people could really get to know the brand and obviously that all came to a quick halt in early 2020. But now we have brand ambassador programs that actually have community ways that they communicate with each other. They find people to go out with together, even like housing. It's really become more than just a brand ambassador in the traditional way, but a real community where they are communicating with each other as well as with the company.Stephanie:That's great. Have you seen any success with virtual things? I mean, you mentioned that brand ambassador and building a community online, but are there other things that you took your event budget and moved it over to something new to try out virtually?alix:Yeah, I mean, we've done a few virtual events. I think people got a little tired from them a little early on. I think, where we've seen a lot of word of mouth growth and that kind of thing is actually because of the form factor, it's so easy for social distancing, right? You don't have to split a bottle of wine and use glasses. It's sanitary, stuff like that. We've seen a lot of word of mouth coming from people ordering cans and being able to sit outside far apart and enjoying the same thing, which has been pretty interesting and not something that I would have thought of originally when COVID hit. But that's definitely been something that's worked in our favor.Stephanie:Oh, that's really interesting. Are you leaning into that trend once you started seeing it pop up, starting to create conversations around that and showing, "Hey, look at what our other customers are doing"?alix:Oh, for sure, for sure. In addition to that, in what we call on premise, like bars and restaurants and stuff like that, it's so much easier for takeaway, right? Ordering something, being able to throw a can in a bag and go do your thing has been something that's been helping the category all around.Stephanie:So, when you were building out your ecommerce platform and thinking about building out a shopping experience to sell alcohol online, especially one that caters to women, how did you think about setting up your website in a way that someone would go there and be like, "Oh, I want to order this right now," or "I really feel a connection with this brand"? What things did you implement or personalization did you implement on the website? What things did you build out that really worked?alix:Yeah, I think it's funny, because when we first built the website and my Head of Marketing, who also happens to be my husband... He's awesome. Well, that actually happened second. He was recruited once after we got married. He was telling me, "We have to invest in the website. We have to invest in the website." At the time, honestly, I didn't get it, right? I was like, "Our website looks fine. It's cute. It's whatever." I'm so glad that he did, because it's made frictionless buying... I've started to realize just how important that is. Things like Apple Pay and making sure that the website's easy to navigate has really converted for us.alix:I think the other thing, from an emotional perspective, it's been important for us to really makes sure that who we are and why we are is front and center and easily accessible. That's something that, I think, people start to poke around the website. They start to really get, I mean, I hope so anyway, who we are, and that brings them into the family more. We've seen that our repeat purchase rates are really strong, because people become such advocates of not just the product but the brand.Stephanie:That's great. Because we've talked about this quite a bit, on-the-shelf brands like Bombas or Yellow Leaf Hammocks. There's always this tricky balance between selling the brand and everything you're doing around the brand, maybe the social good aspects or things like that, but then also selling the product and making sure people know the products very good. How do you think about that balance, especially on a website where someone could quickly just come on there, look at something, and then hop off?alix:For sure. My favorite compliment is, "Wow, it's actually delicious," because that means that... We get that all the time, where it's like, "Oh, this is actually really good." I'm like, "Well, yeah. I mean, duh. I'm not going to sell you something that I wouldn't want to drink." But I love that, because it means people don't expect it to taste how it does out of the can. It's great. But I think focus is so important when it comes to that. I think the way that we really try to attack marketing is making sure that the messages that we're sending aren't too many. They're very focused on what we want to do, right. So, for us, it's really Made by Chicks, zero sugar product. Our mission is break the glass, right? That's what we really try to hone in on.alix:I think there's a lot of A/B testing that goes into, "Okay, what consumers are really looking at the products and are buying for the first time, because of the product versus buying for the first time because of the brand and the mission?" I think a lot of the times people are going to buy a product that they're excited about or that they've…
Full show notes at the publisherThey say that laughter is the best medicine. For Colin McIntosh, it’s also been a pretty good business strategy. After a couple of fits and starts in business, Colin found himself with no job but quite a few domain names in his possession, all of which were pun-based. So he cycled through what he owned and formed a plan to build a company in a disruptable industry where he could make a splash and earn some market share. What he landed on was Sheets & Giggles, a direct to consumer bedsheets company with a social good component that became the most successful bedsheets company to launch on the crowd-funding site, Indiegogo. Since then, Sheets & Giggles has grown to millions of dollars in sales. On this episode of Up Next in Commerce, Colin gives the behind-the-scenes story of building Sheets & Giggles, including how he worked backward to build an email list that led to an unprecedented 45% conversion rate. Plus, Colin dives into the pros and cons of selling on Amazon, and gives an exclusive preview of some of the ad copy he’s working on to bring more humor to the Sheets & Giggles campaigns across channels. Main Takeaways:Going Backward: In order to meet your goals, it’s sometimes useful to work backward. Define what it is that you want to achieve and then reverse engineer the steps you need to take to get there. Navigating the Amazon Waters: DTC founders agree that Amazon is simultaneously the best and worst partner you can have. There are pros and cons to working on the platform, including massive discoverability but also deep cuts into profit margin. It’s important to weigh all the pros and cons of selling on the platform and find the strategy that works best for your brand and that leaves you with more of the pros than the cons. Laughing With You, Not At You: Selling with humor is an effective strategy if you can actually get potential customers to engage. Consumers are reading less and less, so if you are going to use humorous copy, it needs to really resonate, grab the attention of the customer, and get them to keep going along the customer journey. It’s easy to be funny just for the sake of being funny, but you have to remember that the ultimate goal is to sell the product, so there needs to be a call to action.For an in-depth look at this episode, check out the full transcript below. Quotes have been edited for clarity and length.---Up Next in Commerce is brought to you by Salesforce Commerce Cloud. Respond quickly to changing customer needs with flexible Ecommerce connected to marketing, sales, and service. Deliver intelligent commerce experiences your customers can trust, across every channel. Together, we’re ready for what’s next in commerce. Learn more at salesforce.com/commerce---Transcript:Stephanie:Hey everyone, this is Stephanie Postles, Co-Founder of mission.org, and your host of Up Next In Commerce. Welcome back. Our guest today is Colin McIntosh, the Founder and CEO of Sheets & Giggles. Colin, how's it going?Colin:Pretty good. Thanks so much for having me today.Stephanie:Yeah, thanks for coming on. I was very nervous about messing that name up. I'm sure you get that a lot.Colin:MacIntosh, McIntosh. Yeah, [crosstalk 00:00:28]-Stephanie:Oh, I meant your company name.Colin:Oh, Sheets & Giggles. Yeah. No, of course. Yeah, sorry. I feel like I've gotten so used to it now, I don't even register it anymore. But yeah, you can call it S&G for short, so that way you're not laughing every time.Stephanie:There you go. I like it. So, before the show started, we were going a little bit through your background, which I think people would like to hear before we get into Sheets & Giggles. So, I'd love for you to kind of start there. How did you come to founding Sheets & Giggles, and what came before that?Colin:Well, a lot came before. It depends on how far back you want to go. I graduated from Emory University's business school back in 2012, and I started my career at the world's largest hedge fund in Connecticut, a place called Bridgewater Associates. And, the founder there, a guy named Ray Dalio, is pretty famous nowadays. And, I got fired in about five months, which was great being 22 and losing your first job in a strange state that you don't know anybody in. And then-Stephanie:What happened?Colin:Well, I was terrible at my job. So, [crosstalk 00:01:33]-Stephanie:Five months is not enough time. How did they even know?Colin:No, Bridgewater is usually... They're famous for two months or two years.Stephanie:Okay.Colin:And so, I kind of had a weird little in between stay, where after two months we were all pretty sure it wasn't going to work out, but they were like, "Ah, this should work out," and they didn't want to really pull the plug. And then, eventually I remember, they were arguing in front of me one day about... I'll never forget this. They were re-interviewing me for a different role inside of the company, and... That's how they do it. You lose your "box," and then they try to find you a new box before they totally get rid of you, because they think you're a culture fit.Stephanie:Yep.Colin:And so, they were arguing in front of me. I'll never forget, these two guys, the two managers. One said, "You know, I think Colin is a six for this role," and the other manager says, "Well, I think he's more like a seven, and I think we should hire him into it." And, they're arguing six, seven, six, seven out of 10. And then, the arbiter goes, "Look, guys. He can't get hired into the role if he's not a seven. If he's a six, we can't give him the offer." And then they agree, "Okay, he's a six-and-a-half, and we'll need to have another meeting on it." And, I just remember I raised my hand and I go, "Guys, let me do this. Today's going to be my last day at Bridgewater." I just couldn't deal with that type of [crosstalk 00:02:50]-Stephanie:Yeah, rating you.Colin:It was crazy. Yeah. And so, that was my first job experience. And, from there I became a recruiter, a third-party agency, recruiting for banks, and hedge funds, and startups. That's where I got into technology, and startups, and software. Taught myself a lot about software development and software engineering, and ended up hiring a bunch of different engineers at a bunch of different companies. And, I ended up hiring myself at one of my clients in Seattle, in a really interesting B2B software space called Application Virtualization, which was really hot in 2014; it's still pretty hot.Colin:And I ended up moving up to Seattle. And then, about a year and a half later, I got an opportunity at a company that I helped co-found with some friends called Revel R, which was a wearable tech product that got into Techstars, which is for those listening, a really famous worldwide accelerator for startups. They give you a $100,000 for 6% of your company, and put you in a room with nine other companies for three months, and give you all the training, resources, connections, and mentorship that you could possibly need.Colin:And so I dropped everything I was doing in Seattle, drove 19 hours down to Denver on a week's notice, and became a Coloradan about five years ago. And, that company... I ended up working there for about two-and-a-half years. We all got laid off at 1:00 PM on a Sunday, as startups unfortunately go. And, it was really sad. We had raised millions of dollars, and we're in Target, and Brookstone, and HSN, QVC Deals, T-Mobile stores. But, that product, unfortunately, didn't have all the legs that we thought it did. And, three weeks after I got laid off xI incorporated Sheets & Giggles, and now it's been three years since that date. And, it is now the longest I'd ever worked anywhere in my career.Stephanie:That's great. So, what is Sheets & Giggles, and how did you have the idea to start it?Colin:Well, for anyone who hasn't heard of us, it's okay; although, I will hold it against you.Stephanie:Very rude.Colin:Very rude. We sell bedsheets that are sustainable, and they're made out of a material called Lyocell, which is made from eucalyptus trees. And so, if you Google or Amazon eucalyptus sheets, we're generally the first results. Lyocell sheets is another query we rank high for. And what our sheets do is, they actually save up to 96% of the water that cotton sheets use, which is about 96%... sorry, 1,000 gallon reduction. And then, they also save in energy, they use no pesticides, no insecticides; whereas, cotton can use 16-24% of the world's insecticides just by itself, as a crop.Colin:They also biodegrade faster than cotton, they're hypoallergenic, they're zero-static, and they're naturally softer and more cooling. So, if you're a hot sleeper, they're the best possible material. The eucalyptus Lyocell is for hot sleepers. And so, it's a really wonderful product. We began manufacturing at about two a half years ago, and we now have shipped tens of thousands of orders. We raised a couple of million dollars in capital, although we are mostly revenue funded, and we grow according to our revenue. And, we are just loving life right now. We're a very socially conscious company, and it's really wonderful to be able to have fun, do good, and make money at the same time.Stephanie:That's great. So, with your company, did you see an opportunity in the market from doing research, or did you just wake up one night sweaty like "Oh, I need to build better sheets. This is [crosstalk 00:06:32]." How did that happen?Colin:So, whenever I hear founder interviews from Brooklinen, or other bedsheets companies... And, I hate to throw Brooklinen under the bus. They're a great company, and I really respect... No, I really respect what they've built. They get $100 million dollars in trailing 12 months revenue. They're a wonderful company. But, their co-founders go on these-Stephanie:However.Colin:... podcasts, then they're like, "Oh, we were staying in these hotel sheets, and we were like, 'Oh, they're so lovely. And, let me find out how expensive they were,' and we were like, 'There had to be a better way.'"Nobody starts a company because they stayed at a hotel. They saw a really good business model. They found a manufacturer who would make really good products for them at an affordable price so they could resell it a higher price, and they went from there. And that's great, and they should be proud of that.Colin:And so, that's sort of, more or less, what happened with S&G, where it was actually a business model play first. And, I'm a big... a big, big advocate of sustainability, and climate change is one of my hot buttons. I've always had a bleeding heart. I've worked at startups trying to end animal euthanasia. My last startup, the wearable tech startup I talked about, we were trying to fight sexual assault and violence. We actually sent out 60,000 emergency alerts, saved a bunch of lives, which was really a wonderful... wonderful thing that the company did. But you know, this company, I really wanted to have a sustainability mission. And so, I kind of sat down and I wrote out my perfect business model with a sustainability mission.Colin:This is a true story. I looked at all the domains that I owned, and I owned SheetsGiggles.com because I thought it'd be a funny name for bedsheets company. I have a lot of pun-based domains that I own.Stephanie:What's some other ones? I want to hear them. Any others come to mind?Colin:I've got a few really good ones, Bodcasts.com...Stephanie:Oh my god.Colin:... B-O D-C-A-S-T-S.com. I love that. I would love to do podcasts for exercise, where you don't have to watch YouTube videos, and you can just have a platform for exercise physiologists and personal trainers to do listening-only routines. I also own SunglassesHalfFull.com for a sunglass company, GiraffeCarafe.com for carafes in the shape of giraffes. I own WorkFromRome.com. Why work from home when you can work from Rome? That's a travel company for remote work. I buy a lot of domains [crosstalk 00:09:13]-Stephanie:So many companies to start, so little time.Colin:Yeah. Romanhemperor is probably my favorite one that I'll probably start one day, a CBD company.Stephanie:That's good.Colin:My nephew's name is Roman, so he'll be my little CBD mascot.Stephanie:Perfect. I like it.Colin:Yeah, I'm sure my sister will love that.Stephanie:Yeah, I think she will.Colin:Yeah. But yeah. To answer your question, a lot of them. I owned SheetsGiggles.com. I thought, "Does bedding fit my criteria?" and it fit perfectly, $12 billion U.S. market growing 10% year over year, highly fragmented, the top five players only own about 27% of the market, and it wasn't fully online at that point. It was still mostly physical retail. I kind of just put my head down, and I fell in love with this brand. That was the other thing, is I just fell involved with the idea of a funny brand in a very boring space, especially if it's a sustainable, premium product and you can still do a funny brand. That's a really hard tight rope to walk, and I really fell in love with the branding challenge.Colin:That was kind of when I put my head down in October 2017. I created a brand, Identity Map, for this pun-based bedding empire, is what I would call it to people. Me and a couple of contractors just designed a logo, and I built my own website, wrote every single word of copy myself, would stay up until four in the morning, writing, wake up at 8:00 AM, start writing again, and just totally fell in love with this weird, little company that I was creating in my bed, in my underwear. In May 2018, we did our crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo, raised $284,000 crowdfunded, love those crowdfunders and have a very special relationship with thousands of people who brought the company to life, and it's all been history of since there.Stephanie:That's really fun. What was your experience on Indiegogo? How did you get found? Because a lot of times on those crowdfunding platforms, it seems like there's so much noise nowadays. In the early days, it was [crosstalk] to get found.Colin:Yeah.Stephanie:Now it's like, "Oh my gosh, if I put something up there, there's thousands of other people trying to raise money for something." How did you make sure that people found your potential product?Colin:Yeah, absolutely. Even in 2018, it was still a pretty difficult task. There were still thousands of projects being launched every single day. 2013, 2014 would have done prime time to do a crowdfunding campaign. That was actually when, fun fact, I'm going to brag a little bit, Brooklyn did their Kickstarter in 2013 or 2014, and they did $236,000. We did ours in 2018, $284,000.Stephanie:Hey.Colin:Yes.Stephanie:Hello.Colin:Basically, there's a few hacks for crowdfunding campaigns. If anyone out there is thinking about doing a crowdfunding campaign, generally speaking, you want to do a few things. First and foremost, you want to set a goal that you can hit on day one because their algorithms reward percentage of goals hit in a period of time. They don't reward dollars raised. You don't want to go too low because then you've set expectations for people that, "Wow, you've blown away your goal, and now I expect the world from this company," but you don't want to go too high either and have a goal that takes you the full 30 days to hit because then you won't trend. For us, for example, internally, we wanted to do $100,000. Externally, we set our goal as $50,000. We though…
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