LTM#122: Low margins on marketplaces - how does it work?

The marketplace business continues to produce remarkable success
stories – such as those of Carolin Langer and LaCaTho. With an
average shopping cart value of only $4, her business is
profitable, scalable, and growing. In this episode, she talks
about how she started out on eBay and now supplies over 40,000
customers a year with bee-friendly seeds. For her, automation is
a must, not an option. Many tools make her work easier, but they
are all reviewed every six months. There are clear
responsibilities in her small team, with everyone having a
specific area of responsibility – for eBay, Amazon, and Shopify.
And because Carolin loves to shoot short videos of seeds,
flowers, trees, and bees everywhere she goes, she is able to
market her products without expensive ads – which are simply not
feasible with such low-priced products. Instead, they generate a
decent amount of sales in their own shop via TikTok. She also
reveals how she manages her time – she works full-time as a
mechanical engineer.


Note from  the sponsor exporto:


Internationalization and its challenges are a big concern to
brands and sellerrs. Shipping, returns processing, tax
regulations and one-stop shop procedures – all of this can cause
quite a headache. Service providers such as exporto can help.
exporto has spezialised cross-border e-commerce logistics in
Europe. With automated technology and a strong partner network,
exporto ensures that online retailers can ship internationally as
smoothly as they do in their home market. And the best part?
Exporto has an attractive discount for you: If you register with
exporto by August 31 and sign a contract, you won't pay any basic
fees for the first two months. Register right now here:
https://mag.exporto.de/marketplace-universe-offer


 


Note from  the sponsor base:


Base is a SAAS e-commerce solution provider originally founded
2006 in Poland. The platform offers features such as automations
for order management, inventory management and fulfilment, a
marketplace management tool for lots and lots of B2B and B2C
channels, and integration options to include other backend tools
in real-time. Base is present in 11 countries, the solution is
already used by companies such as OBI, Kärcher, MediaMarkt,
Samsung, Decathlon, Intersport, Develey. If you would like to
learn more about Base, join us at our Connect Event with Base on
September 17 in Cologne. Register right now:
https://webforms.pipedrive.com/f/1wBV5bM8AALuEq8GfFLwj7tLJ80w9AZL4cf4DN1nvG4uMLrSOfA5NxaV1X0qvNAC7


 


Chapters:


00:00 Introduction to Marketplace Dynamics


02:46 Carolin Langer's Journey: From Side Hustle to CEO


06:38 The special market situation of LaCaTho


12:27 Marketplace Strategies: Automation and Customer Experience


17:32 Volume in the main and off-season


21:06 Bestsellers and the tricks of algorithms


24:31 The power of Videos and of TikTok


31:46 Scaling and Future Plans for LaCaTho