30
de Novembre
de
2015
Act.
01
de Desembre
de
2015
In September 2010, three entrepreneurs took the plunge and launched an online supermarket. Since then, Jaume Gomà (La Riba, Alt Camp, 1974) has been the face of Ulabox, which is fighting to renew a sector that is still entirely dominated by physical outlets. Five years later, the company has some 50 employees, more than 50,000 customers and 200,000 registered users. As the company is keen to be active, on Friday it also took part in Black Friday, hoping to repeat last year's success, when its sales rose by 320% compared with a regular Friday.
In fact, the company ended 2014 with a turnover of four million euros, double that of the previous year, and without investing a cent in publicity. "This year, we are hoping for more significant growth from what we will invest in publicity," says Gomà about the campaign that has made them visible on television, radio and in street advertising. "Our rate of client loyalty outstrips the average in the sector," says the Ulabox CEO, who warns that "we want to continue shaking up and improving the sector."
Ulabox was born in 2010, but you have not launched an important publicity campaign until 2015. Why is that?
Because until now we wanted to invest what little we had in improving the product and the service. We understand that publicity serves to accelerate the sales of a good product or to help sell a product that is perhaps not so good. At Ulabox we knew that we wanted the best product and service. Therefore, before accelerating sales, we had to build. And, in doing that we have come to enjoy something that is priceless, which is that the user recommends us and does our marketing and publicity for us. And they did that because they liked our product and service; because they recognised what makes us different.
Does that mean you are now satisfied with the level your product and service have reached?
That was the way we worked for five years, and we now believe that we have a valuable enough finished product. We have more than 12,500 references, a fresh product of exceptional quality, refrigerated and frozen products, less than 24-hour delivery from 7am until 11pm, and we warn clients half an hour before we arrive... Also, our customer service is open every day of the year from 7am until 11.30pm, via all channels. We think that with this profile we are ready to begin telling people about Ulabox, saying: "Hi, this is Ulabox, which can offer you something completely different," the anti-supermarket.
What does anti-supermarket mean?
That we avoid everything we don't like about traditional supermarkets. Somewhere without queues, that you do not have to physically visit, where you do not have to wait at the check-out for the lady in front of you to finish counting her coins or looking for her coupons, a place where you don't have to walk up and down aisles looking for products. And a place where you can buy what you want, not what the supermarket makes available to you. That is the message we want to get over, that we have started a revolution we have been working on for some time and that leaves us plenty of work still to do.
You always say that you are a technology company that sells time...
Yes. But the aim is to tell the world that Ulabox exists; it is the campaign's only message. A relatively new brand that has never advertised and that does things differently. The rest are profits and specific attributes that we will gradually tell people about.
In the latest BizBarcelona you admitted the difficulties you had in securing a second round of funding. Will you again find yourself crying in front of Excel?
I don't know if I will cry again; it is not something I plan to have to do. But nor does it bother me. Once you have done it and learnt to suffer, you are hardened to it so that it is the last thing that frightens us. We are not worried about the problems, the difficulties or the challenges. What worries us is having people with enthusiasm and passion to overcome the problems. As we have that, I am not concerned. As for funding, we secured a very interesting round of investment in May and one that gives us the capacity to invest in this publicity campaign as well as many other areas.
Can digital businesses only exist in an atmosphere of risk?
I don't think so, it depends on the challenges you are facing. Risk depends on the complexity and change you are provoking. You can set up a digital company with very little risk; you do not have to take on a lot of risk, it will all depend on what you have to do. Today perhaps there is more risk opening a company that has no digital side to it.
Has the lack of flexibility of large distributors helped you when it comes to focusing on e-commerce?
No. In a sector in which only 1% of people shop online, what benefits us is opting for a better online service. The fact that they have not thrown themselves into it benefits no one. Thus, I hope they do so, and that they do so quickly.
Joan Font, from Bon Preu, said at an Aijec lunch that the reason they have not launched an online sales service is because it is not profitable...
That is the problem, that they do not understand that it can be profitable. They do not understand that it is not a question of whether you want to do it or not, but rather that things are moving that way and we have to adapt. In the end it is about a change of mentality. So far, they have set up efficient operations and have told customers to come and shop. From now on, with the digital world and new users who may be 10 now but who, when they are 18 or 20, it won't occur to them to go out shopping. It is about getting hold of the users and putting them at the heart of the equation. To tell them: "We are going to satisfy your needs and we will set up an efficient system for satisfying them." However, first comes the user, and then the efficient system for satisfying them. It is not the other way around. When they understand this shift, I think that things will move ahead more quickly. And I would be happy to explain to Joan Font, who I have coincided with at some events, that this can be profitable! You have to understand that you can put technology at the service of the user and understand the concept of scalability.
Large distribution chains have got customers used to non-branded products, which do not exist on Ulabox. How can you convince them to buy branded products at higher prices?
I believe there are two great deceptions in this world. The first is to say we like shopping. It is a lie! We have been led to believe that we like shopping but that is not true. We like to go shopping for products that gain value from our physical intervention, which is not to say you cannot do the same thing online. I do not believe that anyone is enthusiastic about going to buy detergent or a bottle of water. I do not believe it! It is a huge lie.
What is the second deception?
The other is to say that the client wants non-branded products. Customers do not want non-branded products because they do not know what they are. What they want is the best product for the best price, and that is very simple. They cannot deceive us saying that the customer wants non-branded products because we show that without them, working directly with the manufacturers and the leading brands, that we have achieved rates of growth that double every year, and without advertising.
In fact, the company ended 2014 with a turnover of four million euros, double that of the previous year, and without investing a cent in publicity. "This year, we are hoping for more significant growth from what we will invest in publicity," says Gomà about the campaign that has made them visible on television, radio and in street advertising. "Our rate of client loyalty outstrips the average in the sector," says the Ulabox CEO, who warns that "we want to continue shaking up and improving the sector."
Ulabox was born in 2010, but you have not launched an important publicity campaign until 2015. Why is that?
Because until now we wanted to invest what little we had in improving the product and the service. We understand that publicity serves to accelerate the sales of a good product or to help sell a product that is perhaps not so good. At Ulabox we knew that we wanted the best product and service. Therefore, before accelerating sales, we had to build. And, in doing that we have come to enjoy something that is priceless, which is that the user recommends us and does our marketing and publicity for us. And they did that because they liked our product and service; because they recognised what makes us different.
Does that mean you are now satisfied with the level your product and service have reached?
That was the way we worked for five years, and we now believe that we have a valuable enough finished product. We have more than 12,500 references, a fresh product of exceptional quality, refrigerated and frozen products, less than 24-hour delivery from 7am until 11pm, and we warn clients half an hour before we arrive... Also, our customer service is open every day of the year from 7am until 11.30pm, via all channels. We think that with this profile we are ready to begin telling people about Ulabox, saying: "Hi, this is Ulabox, which can offer you something completely different," the anti-supermarket.
What does anti-supermarket mean?
That we avoid everything we don't like about traditional supermarkets. Somewhere without queues, that you do not have to physically visit, where you do not have to wait at the check-out for the lady in front of you to finish counting her coins or looking for her coupons, a place where you don't have to walk up and down aisles looking for products. And a place where you can buy what you want, not what the supermarket makes available to you. That is the message we want to get over, that we have started a revolution we have been working on for some time and that leaves us plenty of work still to do.
You always say that you are a technology company that sells time...
Yes. But the aim is to tell the world that Ulabox exists; it is the campaign's only message. A relatively new brand that has never advertised and that does things differently. The rest are profits and specific attributes that we will gradually tell people about.
In the latest BizBarcelona you admitted the difficulties you had in securing a second round of funding. Will you again find yourself crying in front of Excel?
I don't know if I will cry again; it is not something I plan to have to do. But nor does it bother me. Once you have done it and learnt to suffer, you are hardened to it so that it is the last thing that frightens us. We are not worried about the problems, the difficulties or the challenges. What worries us is having people with enthusiasm and passion to overcome the problems. As we have that, I am not concerned. As for funding, we secured a very interesting round of investment in May and one that gives us the capacity to invest in this publicity campaign as well as many other areas.
Can digital businesses only exist in an atmosphere of risk?
I don't think so, it depends on the challenges you are facing. Risk depends on the complexity and change you are provoking. You can set up a digital company with very little risk; you do not have to take on a lot of risk, it will all depend on what you have to do. Today perhaps there is more risk opening a company that has no digital side to it.
Has the lack of flexibility of large distributors helped you when it comes to focusing on e-commerce?
No. In a sector in which only 1% of people shop online, what benefits us is opting for a better online service. The fact that they have not thrown themselves into it benefits no one. Thus, I hope they do so, and that they do so quickly.
Joan Font, from Bon Preu, said at an Aijec lunch that the reason they have not launched an online sales service is because it is not profitable...
That is the problem, that they do not understand that it can be profitable. They do not understand that it is not a question of whether you want to do it or not, but rather that things are moving that way and we have to adapt. In the end it is about a change of mentality. So far, they have set up efficient operations and have told customers to come and shop. From now on, with the digital world and new users who may be 10 now but who, when they are 18 or 20, it won't occur to them to go out shopping. It is about getting hold of the users and putting them at the heart of the equation. To tell them: "We are going to satisfy your needs and we will set up an efficient system for satisfying them." However, first comes the user, and then the efficient system for satisfying them. It is not the other way around. When they understand this shift, I think that things will move ahead more quickly. And I would be happy to explain to Joan Font, who I have coincided with at some events, that this can be profitable! You have to understand that you can put technology at the service of the user and understand the concept of scalability.
Large distribution chains have got customers used to non-branded products, which do not exist on Ulabox. How can you convince them to buy branded products at higher prices?
I believe there are two great deceptions in this world. The first is to say we like shopping. It is a lie! We have been led to believe that we like shopping but that is not true. We like to go shopping for products that gain value from our physical intervention, which is not to say you cannot do the same thing online. I do not believe that anyone is enthusiastic about going to buy detergent or a bottle of water. I do not believe it! It is a huge lie.
What is the second deception?
The other is to say that the client wants non-branded products. Customers do not want non-branded products because they do not know what they are. What they want is the best product for the best price, and that is very simple. They cannot deceive us saying that the customer wants non-branded products because we show that without them, working directly with the manufacturers and the leading brands, that we have achieved rates of growth that double every year, and without advertising.