Many companies and businesses have had remarkable growth during the last couple of years, mainly as a result of digitization processes. In this way, a scalability trend has been created for many eCommerces. However, growth is not infinite, even more so in the digital ecosystem where “either you grow or you decrease”; This does not mean that those projects whose scalability is limited should be left aside.
In our podcast number 147, we wanted to address this topic about the limits of scalability for eCommerce. For this we once again have the company ofFounder of. Project with which he won the award Ecommerce Awards for Best Small eCommerce, with less than one million euros in turnover.
⭐ Program Sponsor:
Because what cannot be said about Nougats and sweets is that they have not looked for solutions: internationalization, deseasonalization, wide catalogue… And where are there many products that have to be there? A search engine as God commands. Which one uses Nougats and sweets? Doofinder’s, which when clicking on “Search” occupies the entire navigation, autocompletes the search, offers filtering options by different criteria. If you want to go one step further in your eCommerce search engine… you have all the info at doofinder.com
Interview with Fabián López (Nougats and sweets)
03:48 Fabián, you already passed, and then we learned about your eCommerce project and the problems you suffered from day to day with Magento, how has it evolved since then, have you modernized?
Note that I have not jumped to Magento 2, but to OpenMage which is the version that follows Magento that a group of community and Magento programmers decided to follow. Since, by April 2020, the Magento website stopped providing support; so what I have done has been throw OpenMage.
I really know that one day I will have to move to Magento 2, and it may be this year. But this decision has been due to an integration issue, here I have the integrated CRM, web hubs, etc.
06:40 Have you considered switching to another platform like PrestaShop, Shopify?
Yes always. Even if it wasn’t a project that depended on it, I would have already done it, since there is the fear that with a simple change of template this strategy could be screwed up. What I have done is create a similar niche project, which I have built in Shopify. I have imported all the products but on a platform focused on another niche, chocolate. the website is called, here I use the Shopify part of providing POS and I have it in my physical store. So I have everything integrated; and it is that I would like to spend the whole store, but I am really afraid of SEO.
I also have another niche website with nougats, only this one I have set up with WooCommerce, called.
11:20 These different pages are designed to position you in Google, but how do you differentiate it from the main one or seek to monopolize the first places?
In the end there are many experiments and in this way I am trying different platforms, the good and the bad of each one. For example, in WooCommerce in terms of management it is better planned than Magento, and even for digital products. In the end, I think each project has its platform, I also tried PrestaShop for a project, and it is more intuitive than Magento.
Now Magento has served me from the first moment, since I have multi-stores, I don’t know if I’ve ever counted it. What I do is that in my main store I have my brand, it is the main catalog; and then I have brand microsites like Grandpa’s nougat, among others. And each of these sites has its own specific catalog, which guarantees a better experience for users.
19:10 Well, turronesydulces.com won the award for best small eCommerce at the Ecommerce Awards. You competed with Masaltos.com and Colchón Morfeo. What did you expect, who did you think was going to win?
The truth is that I did not expect it, Masaltos.com and Colchón Morfeo are great projects, many times in classes I used them as examples, especially in the case of niches. And notice that in my case it is a bit strange, because it is a niche that has become a marketplace. I really like their simplicity of both, in the case of Colchón Morfeo they did a good job of and the presentation of their page.
31:30 I would have assumed that the supply crisis had not affected you, considering that it is manufactured in Xixona, but yes. In what raw materials has it affected you or processes has it affected you?
It has not been so much for food raw materials, but for boxes and so on. It hasn’t even affected me that much, but as I told you, I sell to other brands. There has been a lot of suffering on this aspect, because everyone has had this problem with issues such as bags. In the raw material, there was a shortage of glucose, but it has not been only here but throughout Spain. And now also with the transport strike it has left us with one last week of crazy campaign.
41:10 How much is the billing currently?
I can’t give you that information, but taking into account the number of orders we take out per day and the average basket, you could have an estimate. At least, Between marketplaces and stores we have approximately 100 to 150 orders per day and the average basket would be around 40. You also have to keep in mind that marketplaces like Amazon or Correos Market sometimes ask for smaller packages and lower the average. Likewise, you have to be very careful with this, because climbing is very complicated, and sometimes it is not worth growing more because the nougat is limited.
Because I sell more and more the rest of the year, but 80% of purchases are made between November and December. Being a wave that leaves the rest of the year with a much smaller workload. In my case we have covered it with training and sales of materials; but at the end of the day the nougat business is a model of life.
52:05 Considering it’s not really scalable like you’re making it out to be, is it worth raising the price?
Yes, you can even do a side project, such as a limited edition or gourmet nougat. I have something similar, but I have left it in the store in the regular catalog. This is something that has been done for many years, several companies have specific brands for the Latin market, for cheap, premium nougat, etc.
And about raising the price, it is necessary to raise it, only that there is always the issue of losing sales to the competition that may have the cheapest product. That is why what interests me now is not capturing traffic, but building loyalty, and this is where the greatest investment goes. In this, customers buy from one year to the next, so we have to make them remember us at that time.
1:07:30 Challenges for 2022? Will we see turronesydulces.com presenting itself for the best medium eCommerce next year?
I don’t think so, it’s just that it’s very difficult to climb it. I prefer to sell a little and well-sold artisan product, and not by volume; I don’t see it for the next 10 years. I think of investing in a ship, but the essence of the company would be lost, it would cease to be an artisan product and I would have to think of another concept. I have even thought about decreasing, removing product and references, I would prefer to try a parallel project and give it some love.
Stay informed of the most relevant news on our news channel
Facebook Comments
Disqus