Erika Ottela is the co-founder and COO of eBrands – an ecommerce aggregator. We requested Erika about her journey with eBrands, the significance of Amazon and different ecommerce marketplaces, and her recommendation for entrepreneurs within the business.
Inform me about eBrands – what was the motivation behind beginning the corporate and the way does it function?
There’s a long-standing joke that Finns and different Nordic individuals are good at innovation and really dangerous at commercializing it – particularly in international markets. Subsequently, the concept of a Nordic model home, that would buy client product manufacturers instantly from entrepreneurs and assist them to scale globally, was instantly interesting to our founding crew.
Primarily based on our mixed model and gross sales expertise, we felt we might make an actual distinction by enabling modern merchandise to succeed in a worldwide viewers. As a model home, we firmly imagine in selling the Nordic values of sustainability, sturdiness, and sensible design. Along with the innovators who’ve introduced these manufacturers to life, we’re on a journey (as said in our imaginative and prescient) to make the world really feel higher.
Amazon is the plain chief in international ecommerce marketplaces, so we initially invested in some Amazon-native manufacturers to begin constructing our processes and to increase our know-how. With the operational expertise and scale that we’ve constructed within the final yr, we at the moment are shifting our focus to Nordic innovation-led manufacturers – and leveraging our experience to rapidly scale the brand new manufacturers on Amazon in addition to different channels.
How vital is a market technique right now, and what are your ideas for retail manufacturers to achieve success on this area?
The significance of Amazon in rising a client enterprise is tough to overestimate. Amazon’s market income exceeds the scale of all the international SAAS enterprise, and, regardless of its challenges, it’s nonetheless one of many quickest methods to achieve entry to an unlimited variety of shoppers. Nonetheless, for eBrands, we view Amazon as a vital gross sales channel moderately than the only focus of our enterprise. For a few of our extra modern merchandise, Amazon’s share of 2022 gross sales might be small in comparison with e.g., the product’s personal web site or bodily retail gross sales.
Many articles have not too long ago emphasised how far more tough Amazon’s vendor enterprise is changing into. Despite the fact that that’s true, I don’t assume the basics of success have modified. The important thing recommendation stays: Select the correct product! All of it begins from product choice – and you may solely discover the correct product by rigorous knowledge evaluation. This might not be a novel or glamorous reply, however it’s the fact. Over-investing within the product analysis a part of the method is essential – with the proper product, the remainder falls into place with considerably better ease.
Moreover, one rising development that you shouldn’t ignore throughout your product analysis is sustainability. Sustainable product searches have elevated by over 70% prior to now few years, and curiosity across the subject will solely enhance. This doesn’t imply you must focus solely on merchandise which might be titled “sustainable” however make sure that to analyse your product’s sturdiness, materials utilization, packaging, and cargo strategies as a part of your choice course of so that you could maximize the sustainability of the product you do select.
Sustainability is a thread for us that goes by every little thing we do – from model acquisition standards to operational choices. Even small initiatives can create important advantages. For instance, a packaging redesign for a single product eliminated 4 tennis-courts value of plastic from circulation. A few of our merchandise are extra sustainability-focused, e.g., reusable paper towels which might be manufactured utilizing solely solar energy. Nonetheless, by making sensible materials decisions, you possibly can enhance the environmental impression of just about all merchandise.
My co-founder, Robin Bade, says that “sustainability isn’t the other of profitability”. I firmly imagine on this thought and that’s what finally will get me enthusiastic about eBrands – having the prospect to develop a viable, growth-driven enterprise that does good on this planet.
eBrands focuses on classes corresponding to sustainability, wellness, sports activities, and life-style merchandise – how does this align together with your firm values?
Lively life-style, nature, and investing in your residing surroundings are strongly current within the Nordic values I spoke about earlier than. These values are additionally gaining growing significance in retail gross sales globally.
As an organization, we’ve narrowed our focus round these classes to construct actual experience on buyer wants, optimized distribution channels, and the correct companions to allow quick development. This permits us to maximise the returns for each motion we take as a result of the relationships we construct and the abilities we purchase our scalable throughout our total portfolio.
What are among the largest classes you’ve realized from earlier roles, and the way has this formed your strategy to your present place?
A very powerful side of constructing an organization is to rent and preserve the perfect individuals. And the one means to try this (long-term!) is to construct an organization that these greatest individuals could be happy with. “Firm tradition” is typically thought of a fluffy idea, however anybody who has labored in an organization with a superb tradition and one with a nasty one is aware of the distinction.
The problem is that you could’t construct a superb tradition by telling individuals what it’s. Constant role-modelling and sensible day-to-day choices present individuals what the corporate actually values – whether or not that’s according to the worth assertion or not. I’ve been fortunate in my life to work for 2 firms with a really robust value-base: Amazon and McKinsey. You may agree and disagree with the values themselves, however as an worker, you all the time know what you might be anticipated to do. And also you all the time know the way you may be valued for it. With a robust value-base, you possibly can take out lots of micro-management, as you possibly can belief everybody to do what you’ll’ve carried out. That in itself makes work extra pleasing – and extra environment friendly.
One of many first issues we did after organising the corporate was that we had an extended chat with the founding crew and outlined what values are an important to us. They focus on steady studying, a bias for execution over concepts, and being inventive find alternatives (Assume like a Pirate!). It has been lots of enjoyable to construct an organization round them.
What recommendation would you give to younger entrepreneurs, notably in ecommerce?
Don’t over-analyse. Regardless of how lengthy you concentrate on any choice, you’ll not get a ‘100%’ reply. Do a easy train of writing out “what would I have to imagine for this to be proper” after which exit and take a look at it. A ‘50%’ thought that’s carried out is extra useful than the ‘90%’ thought you had been too late with. You can be mistaken sometimes, however then you possibly can iterate, be taught and do it once more. This is applicable to product growth, channel decisions, technique decisions, and every little thing else you must determine.
And as a by-product of that: Don’t choose failure – your personal or that of the others. Solely choose what individuals realized from it.
Following a current $50m injection of funding, what’s subsequent for eBrands?
The funding will allow us to additional speed up on our present path. We have now barely scratched the floor of what’s doable, so I count on the present funding to allow us to get nearer to our mission of “constructing manufacturers that may enhance the bodily, psychological and environmental well-being of a billion individuals.”
