Tiffany Serbus-Gustaveson 0:18

Well, Happy Wednesday everyone. I am Tiffany Serbus-Gustaveson

a digital strategist at BWG connect. And we are a network knowledge sharing group, we stay on top, the latest trends, challenges, whatever it is, that is shaping the digital landscape, we're on track to do at least 500 of these virtual events this year due to the increase in demand to better understand everything within the digital space. And we'll also be doing at least 100 in person events. So these happen to be 15 to 20, people having a dinner and talking about a specific topic. So if you are interested in having to be in a tier one city, feel free to shoot us an email, or you can send me an email personally at Tiffany@BWGconnect.com. And we will send you an invite, we spend the majority of our brand our time talking to brands, whether it be dinners, or phone calls. That's how we get the Intel for future content. So I'd love to have a conversation with you. Feel free to drop me a line at Tiffany@BWGconnect.com. And we can get some time on the calendar is from these conversations, we get the Intel in the market. And we also learn about resident experts such as Mamenta, who's here today. So welcome you both. Anybody that we asked to teach the collective network has come highly recommended from those within the network. So if you ever had any recommendations that you need within the digital space, we'd be happy to send you a list of the best of the best. And we also know that a lot of people are hiring right now. So do note that we do have a talent agency DWG talent that we'd be happy to put you in contact with as well. A few housekeeping items. We want this to be fun, educational, conversational, put those questions comments into the chat q&a bar, if you feel more comfortable, you can email me at Tiffany@BWGconnect.com. And we will be sure to get to them. And this is a 30 minute format with about 10-15 minutes for q&a. So we will be wrapping up within the next 45 minutes. So with that, let's roll and start to learn about winning the consumer wallets a guide to engage and preserve the global economic growth. The team at Mamenta have been awesome friends in the network. I'm going to kick it off to you, Sean and Cue if you could give an intro on yourself and we will dive into the information. Thank you.

Sean Finnegan 2:26

Sure, thanks, Tiffany. So as Tiffany mentioned, my name is Sean Finnegan, I'm VP of client solutions here at Mamenta. My big focus here is really ensuring that our customers are set up for success, both before and after adopting our platform and services. So I've been in the marketplaces space, just about 20 years now in the SAS part of E commerce and then also in E commerce logistics.

Cue Orr 2:55

And I'm Cue Orr VP of Marketing for Mamenta. But with the company since the start tests, a lot of different departments now, helping different brands go globally and getting their brand everywhere, as well as getting the Mamenta's message out. 

Tiffany Serbus-Gustaveson 3:12

Awesome. But we have a lot to unpack here, I don't need to go into detail about all the challenges, obviously, that we're all facing within the market. With everything that's happening, all the changes in technology, consumer behavior, there's a lot going on. So looking at, you know, getting creative of like, how do you make that incremental revenue stream, new ideas, new avenues? And of course that that is young growing marketplaces. So let's start there. And I guess where does one start? When they are thinking about going global with the marketplace? Big question. 

Sean Finnegan 3:49

Yeah, I can start from the top. So, you know, for me and the brands and clients I, you know, speak to year in year out, I would say it's, it's all about strategic planning. From my perspective, you know, if you have to plan, you know, not only for q4, but all the seasonality issues that come along with, with the categories you're selling. And so you know, whether it is launching a new marketplace domestically, or trying to go global, or just really picking a partner for specific aspects of cross border. It's all about planning. So how does it fit into your strategic roadmap? What does that look like for you guys as a brand? What are you looking for in terms of successful outcomes? But, but definitely planning and having a strategy is is paramount to everything else.

Cue Orr 4:44

Yeah, I'd like to echo that strategy. Strategy is key in this game, especially with going global. If you don't understand specifically how you're trying to go global or enter a specific market. You'll, you know, you'll end up lost in that Understanding the the key metrics that you should be looking at and understanding what type of goal? Are you going for brand awareness? Are you going to make sales? Are you trying to offload excess surplus? Or are you just trying to spread the brand on a global level? So understanding that, and then planning that out with key partners is paramount.

Tiffany Serbus-Gustaveson 5:25

And when you are making that decision, what do you look at? First you look at the marketplace that you want to be in or the country that you want to be at. Or both. 

Sean Finnegan 5:39

It's, it's a little bit of both really, I always look at, you know, and when planning this out for a brand, we, you know, we try and do it in phases, but it's really capturing that low hanging fruit first. So assuming, if you're doing everything right, domestically, and you've captured as much of the market as you can domestically, then it comes down to saying, Okay, where do I have stock positions around the globe? Right now? What are the marketplaces in those regions that are, you know, are strategic for us that would fit into our game plan? Do we already have logistics partners that can take us there? Do we have a translation partners? It's kind of capturing those things. First, you can definitely say, you know, I want to go to China, I want to go to Japan here there. But what makes sense first, for your brand, to capture those initial sales, and then you know, how do those align with your goals? Really?

Cue Orr 6:38

Yeah, definitely, if there's, there's low, there's a lot of low hanging fruit out there for everybody. Because, quite frankly, people aren't taking advantage of the global market, especially on the marketplace as they should. But then there's also strategic initiatives where brands want to test out a region or go into a region, specifically to build that out. And going in on a marketplace is a way to ease into that and, you know, accrue a lot of the cost would that would take going shipping product in or starting a full retail business, so you can kind of test into markets as well.

Tiffany Serbus-Gustaveson 7:18

Okay, Sean, you brought up a great point is translations. I had a background in translations working with agencies, and let's just talk about that, like, what does that look like?

Sean Finnegan 7:33

Sure, yeah. So that's, that's something that, you know, obviously always comes up when we're working with brands trying to go across the border, we definitely help with a lot of hand holding there. So we have a lot of very strong partners in terms of the translation space, it's, it's really important to remember, you know, maybe easy to get translations of, you know, Google translate some automated thing. And that's, that's certainly, okay, you're an error. But when it comes to, you know, when it comes down to localization, which is key to cross border, you really want to be using a partner that's kind of using a combination of both. So being able to automate the translation process as much as as much as possible to streamline it, but then also having that human element to it, to making sure that it is, you know, translated properly and making sense on that marketplace. Because if you're not connecting with those global buyers, it's, it's going to be a turnoff for them. And it's it's really, really hard to convert into sales. So when you know, if we're working with a Mazda or other providers, it's great to have that network of partners in the translation space, who can help who can get your catalogue up and running, transmitted back to either the marketplace or the department that you're working with? So we definitely recommend partners when it comes to localization things like translation.

Cue Orr 8:59

Yeah, definitely, you want to protect the brand. And you also want to be authentic to to the end user in that region. You don't want to come off as not not knowing that the cultural nuances and you want to present you want to present them in a way that feels authentic.

Tiffany Serbus-Gustaveson 9:19

And character limits. That was one thing that came I was like, it wasn't thinking about that during the translation process. Previously, when I was a director of E commerce, we wrote it in French and now there's too many characters to fit into the fields. And so then it's like that constant revision, and it was a lot of work. So we didn't have a partner. So I, I wish in hindsight, we would have had that.

Sean Finnegan 9:40

Yeah, no, I mean, not only, you know, your, your catalog data, so your titles, things like that, but you also have to think about graphics. If you have specific content on there that needs to be translated. And then other things like size charts as well. So a size large in the US may be a different size. I'm in another country. So it's really important to have those translated also, not just the language, but there's specific sizes and how that works. So a lot of things to think about there. And, you know, certainly all things that partners can help with.

Tiffany Serbus-Gustaveson 10:15

Awesome, friendly reminder, if you have questions, put them in the chat, and we will get to them. So how do you choose the products for these new markets that you're going after? If you've never been in those markets before?

Sean Finnegan 10:30

It's I'll take that one. And then you can jump in Cue, it's it's a lot of research. So in, you know, what we do with our brands is we work directly with the marketplaces to help you understand what makes sense for you there. So with those connections, and then also doing internal audits on your data, we try and make sure there is a fit for you guys there. And it doesn't just come down to Okay, are these things that people are purchasing in that particular country? But also like, what is the de minimis for that country? Can we even price our products correctly, to succeed and win there? So there's a few variables there that you would want to look at. And then really, it's a lot of testing, getting that data back, and then understanding what's working, and what's not. But typically, it's good to start out with a broad catalog in terms of your assortment and the categories you're in to understand you know, what's going to work for you.

Cue Orr 11:29

Yeah, definitely testing and getting your full catalog is the direction you should go. Because it allows the customer to make the end decision. And a lot of times, you may think that your hero product is the product that's going to sell the most. But then once it gets up, you realize that it's, you know, maybe your fifth or sixth best SKU is performing better in a region. So it's always good to get a big catalog as you can up first and continue to test and rearrange and, and merchandise and market into that region until you kind of understand that region a little bit better. But, you know, we always do the research before and try to hone in on it as much as possible. But there's always the information that comes in once you once you do launch.

Tiffany Serbus-Gustaveson 12:17

So we mentioned q4 And I want to go back to that is one is this incremental revenue as an option for q4, could we in theory onboard a partnership, such as Mamenta before the holidays, in to what do you think the holidays are going to look like?

Sean Finnegan 12:37

Yeah, I think, you know, it's we're definitely getting there. There's a lot of planning by everybody going on for q4. And that has started already. But I would say, depending on the size of your initiative, it's it's really not too late. It certainly depends on what you're looking to sell, and what resources you have to allocate to a launch project. But again, you know, you know, your brand the best as a seller. So it's finding a partner that is well versed already in launching those marketplaces. So who has connections to the marketplaces who can get you up and running quickly? Who can help help you build a plan of attack there. And even if you had to, you know, you want to get up for q4 to get some incremental sales. That's, you know, I look at it as like start small if you have to, and then q1 will be right around the corner, it may be a time to try and offload inventory. So if you're there already in q4, even in a small capacity, you'll be ready to go and q1 to see what that demand is like so see, I think get the ball rolling now with your go to marketplaces strategy. 

Cue Orr 13:47

Yeah, totally agree with with everything said and this is basically great to onboard at any time because it's a global market. And there's holidays all around the world at at any given time. Although q4 is the biggest, the sooner you start onboarding the sooner you're on a marketplace. And the sooner you can go to more more marketplaces. So it's, for us, it's always a good time to start the project and start evaluating what's what's going to be best. And like Sean said, you know, there's potential to get up for for q4. But if you start a little bit later, you're you're ready to go q1 and in a perfect position.

Tiffany Serbus-Gustaveson 14:30

 What is the average onboarding time 

Sean Finnegan 14:33

it's typically about six to eight weeks depending on you know, the size of the catalog, the marketplace, you're going to the resources you have to allocate to it. But you know, and working with a partner that can take can get a lot of that stuff done for you and do the hand holding who's done it before. It's typically about a six to eight week process.

Tiffany Serbus-Gustaveson 14:56

And second question, you know, what do you think the holidays is gonna look like?

Sean Finnegan 15:00

It's hard to tell, especially after the last few years of the nuances of holiday that we've seen. But I think, you know, depending on what does happen in terms of supply chain and the amount of inventory, everybody has, I think it's, it's, it's super important to be able to adapt on the fly. So be as agile as you can with your inventory. So a lot of resource planning upfront, just, you know, be prepared, be, you know, have a lot of pricing plans in place, in case you do have excess inventory. But then also, you know, be ready on the flip side, so other things that that you can get in in the last minute, that you may need to sell. So try and avoid stock outs as much as possible.

Tiffany Serbus-Gustaveson 15:49

Awesome. Question comments? Definitely feel free to put them in the chat. Thinking about, you know, once you've on boarded. Now, how do you measure? So what are the primary KPIs that a team should be focusing on?

Cue Orr 16:06

So it all depends on what your ultimate goal is, you know, some brands want to build a brand awareness for the brands, some brands want to offload excess surplus inventory. And other other brands just want to add incremental revenue. So it all, as we talked about, from the start, it all depends on what your strategy is, and how you're entering that market. And what are the reasons behind that. So as the typical kind of KPIs, but it's how it reflects back to back to you. So you're going to be looking at how many individual users will be hitting your, your, your sphere home store page, viewing your products, we're looking at revenue, looking at kind of all those key metrics as it reflects back to your ultimate goal.

Tiffany Serbus-Gustaveson 17:00

Awesome. 

Sean Finnegan 17:01

Yeah. Yeah. And just Yeah, definitely, to add to that, I mean, with all the different KPIs and you need it, as Cue said, it depends on what your goals are. So I've seen some brands, you know, kick off a marketplaces project and just say, Okay, we really just want to see what is out there. What is this? Like? Are they the same consumers we have on our on our website? Or is this a different, you know, a different flavor of consumers that may be shopping on marketplaces. And they'll they'll kind of use the first six to eight months as as testing to see to see what works and what doesn't. Maybe they need to expand their catalogue, things like that. So it comes down to the brand and what your goals are initially, because it's not always GMP. Yeah. 

Cue Orr 17:46

And also for, for some brands, it's just taking back ownership of their brand. Because for many brands across across the globe, other people are selling their products on authorized on several different marketplaces. So just being able to have being able to work with the marketplaces to take those other sellers down, is worth the investment to partner with some of these marketplaces. And that's just another way to kind of look at pet.

Tiffany Serbus-Gustaveson 18:19

Excellent. So going off of KPIs and the best practices for the people involved, the stakeholders. So can you give any insights on what would be best practice for the people process technology, when you're going into a new marketplace, a new country?

Sean Finnegan 18:36

You know, definitely finding the right partner is one or multiple partners, if you're if you're doing cross border, with all the nuances that go along with it. But but for me, it's, it's working, you know, not only internally but with the partners on what is the operating model look like? Who's going to own what, in terms of execution, launching the marketplace? And then of course, post launch? So who is responsible for the customer service piece? Who was keeping up with the data? Who's monitoring all the KPIs? What are the logistics aspects look like? I think getting all of that stuff spelled out and and written out beforehand, is definitely key. So understanding your tech stack the processes that go into running the marketplace, and then who's going to own what is critical to recognize success?

Cue Orr 19:33

Oh no, Sean, covered that one.

Tiffany Serbus-Gustaveson 19:35

So what about like, the forecasting for sales, the revenue, though, somebody who forecasts a lot, I just think like, how do you where do you start? And do you guys provide some insights to give a baseline

Cue Orr 19:49

So I could start off with that one. So like Sean said earlier, we work directly with marketplaces is kind of understand the opportunity, which with as much information as we can Get. But then we also rely on the brand and their their information and KPIs that they have, you know, sometimes we start off and see where they're getting the most traffic to the website from where they have the most followers where, where their particular products or their particular products being sold by other unauthorized retailers is a really good one. So if you go to a marketplace and you see 2000 listings of your product, that's a pretty good indication that you'll be able to sell on that that marketplace. So we, we bring all that kind of information together to kind of forecast out what you know what is to be expected. But it's you know, it's always until we until you launch you never necessarily know, but it gives you a good sense of idea of like, if you have you have traffic in this country you have listings on people are selling your product on on a marketplace, the categories, a good size, and the marketplace itself is saying give you specific marketplace numbers for a certain category, then you'll know a certain kind of certain level of success.

Tiffany Serbus-Gustaveson 21:15

I love that this is the first time I've heard a positive spin on unauthorized resellers. Like you get to actually use the data that they're doing, like by selling your products that they should be selling. But hey, it could come in handy in this respect. So that's fantastic.

Cue Orr 21:30

Definitely, definitely does. We've, you know, we help many brands, go to marketplaces where, you know, people were selling a lot of their product. 

Tiffany Serbus-Gustaveson 21:41

Very interesting. For those that have distribution partners, where what role do they play?

Sean Finnegan 21:50

Yeah, so it kind of going back, I think it was one of the first questions of how to decide, you know where to go first in terms of cross border, it's, it's important to to have a really good understanding of where those distribution partners are, and what their capabilities are, in terms of just getting products out in the local country. So even if it's not a marketplaces model, you can understand from them where sales are coming from, where wholesale inventory is coming from. And then really, if you already have a presence in that country, it's much easier to say, Okay, well, we do have distributors, they already we may be able to utilize them to some extent, in terms of launching marketplaces within that region. So there's a lot of different ways in which they can be very valuable to the operation when going cross border.

Tiffany Serbus-Gustaveson 22:46

That's it. Well, we're in the last five minutes. Final call here for any questions or comments. I guess, in closing, you know, any final thoughts, recommendations? I'm curious, like, the don't like the big takeaway, like whatever you do, if you go into international marketplace, don't do what?

Cue Orr 23:12

I would say don't not get started. So that's the big because that's what we we've seen the most is, people, people will wait people will procrastinate and, and then by the time they want to be up and live there, they're rushing, and they haven't kind of plan things out. So it's like, the longer the longer you wait, the bigger opportunity you're missing out on. So.

Sean Finnegan 23:41

Then I think, you know, don't, don't overwhelm yourself, really, and don't make it out to be harder than it is. So it is difficult to go cross border, but there's so many partners and so many consultants out there that can help with all these nuances. It's, you know, for me, it's like, take your time, start small, phase it out, build what your strategy and your phase looks like. Even if it's just one small region at a time. It's definitely possible. And with the amount of help out there, with automation and just everything, it's it's not as difficult as it as it once was so

Tiffany Serbus-Gustaveson 24:22

and who should be the stakeholders in the room in those early stages when you're deciding to go ahead? 

Sean Finnegan 24:28

That's a good question. Yeah, Cue?

Cue Orr 24:33

Yeah, so it all depends on how you're organized organizations build out, but definitely someone in the the E commerce lane, whether that's a director, VP of E commerce, you oftentimes work with the sales department, depending on how their sales is set up. Sometimes we work directly with CEOs or vice versa CMOS that are trying to just get They're brand out out globally. So it all depends on who's owning that. The initiative internally and where that initiative is being it's coming from. 

Tiffany Serbus-Gustaveson 25:12

Got it. Awesome. That's a wrap. Thank you so much for the conversation and great Intel always appreciate it. We definitely encourage a follow up conversation with what with the Mamenta team and love to have a conversation with you as well. So with that, I will let everybody go get a couple of minutes back their day and hope to see you the next step. Thank you so much chatting to you. Take care