Carethy: The e-commerce that multiplied by 6 its sales in confinement

We continue our series of posts in which we interview e-commerce managers to tell us about their experience during the confinement. This time we talked to Carethy, an online shop specialising in health and wellness products. An e-commerce that sells in more than 130 countries, and that in the midst of the crisis, faced a warehouse move to double its storage space. That’s nothing!

To know everything about how they faced this unexpected crisis and what measures they adopted, we interviewed Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Operations Manager at Carethy

Carethy in figures

Online shop specialising in the health and wellness sector

• Sales in over 130 countries
• More than 70,000 products
• Turnover target 2020: 40 million €
• More than 3,000 orders per day

how did an e-commerce that sells in more than 130 countries react to the declaration of a global pandemic?

It is precisely thanks to selling worldwide, and especially in Asia, that we detected the situation slightly in advance. It allowed us to assimilate what was going on and to size up the company’s needs in all aspects. Moreover, selling worldwide has allowed us to soften the effects of the pandemic as it moved around the world.

how has the crisis situation caused by the pandemic affected Carethy’s turnover?

Carethy, as an e-commerce company, has benefited from the wave of growth that the sector has experienced worldwide. We have multiplied sales by 6 at the peak of the global situation, crazy! Today we have a more normalised situation but we aim to more than double the sales plan we had for 2020.

what measures were put in place as a priority?

The first measures that were adopted were in terms of health and prevention, facilitating teleworking in all possible departments and enabling all necessary measures to work in a healthy environment. In the case of the logistics team, as there is no possible way to prepare orders from home, we separated the shifts by a minimum of 30 minutes so that shift 1 would not overlap with shift 2 and minimise the spread of those affected, if any.

The following measures were focused on customer care.

• Delivery times were lengthened in anticipation of the problems to come. We did not want to aggravate the situation by giving customers false expectations.
• Thenumber of people assigned to attend to customers and resolve any doubts or incidents caused by delayswas multiplied by 4 .
• Thewarehouse was moved in record time. In just 3 days we had a new warehouse with twice as much space that would allow us to dispatch all orders and absorb the increase in stock levels. Given the situation, the supply of product showed significant problems.

With these three points in place, we set to work to meet the needs of our customers to the maximum.

Of the measures that have been taken at Carethy, which ones do you think will stay and why?

As of today, all the measures are still in place, in fact, except that we have staff back in the offices and we have resized the customer service team to the current volumes, the rest of the measures are still in place.

which product, or range of products, experienced the greatest growth in sales during the months of confinement?

Of course, growth was driven by the personal care and surface care categories. The wonderful hand gel was a tough hurdle to jump, followed closely by weight management products and beauty care products. Customers have been preparing themselves for long stays at home.

In view of the increase in sales during this period, how did the transport sector behave and was it generally possible to meet delivery deadlines?

The particularity of Carethy as an export company has marked the service a lot. Delays in deliveries due to excess volume in the agencies added to markets that have literally closed their borders, have strained our service KPI’s a lot. However, with physical shops closed or closing all over the world, we have observed a less demanding customer in delivery times.

In terms of packaging, how did you deal with the flood of orders and how do you rate the cooperation and reactivity of the RAJA Sales Team during this crisis?

I sincerely believe that we have been lucky with the service of our suppliers, who have always given their best. And in specific cases like yours, this luck has been brought by the commitment received. Calls and preparations on a Saturday/Sunday at any time with the RAJA® management team have been an invaluable help to facilitate and digest the situation. Thank you!

In your opinion, what new challenges or opportunities are e-commerce facing in the wake of COVID-19, and specifically in the beauty and personal care sector?

The most resented part of the equation has been the service of suppliers who are not global and have not been able to adapt to the needs of the online customer. There are still many improvements to be made in the supply chain in order to solve problems and not affect them fully.

On the other hand, the mix of the need for hygiene and confinement has made possible a significant leap in consumption levels. We have noticed more new customers, more purchases of “complex” products and in short a more confident customer who is more open to exploring products online, reducing the need to go to a physical boutique to see and touch them in person.

do you think the online consumer has changed, or will change in the post-pandemic stage?

Clearly the consumer has changed and has become more understanding as well as demanding. He is more permissive in many aspects such as service, but relentless in demanding solutions. User experience is an essential subject for the viability of online businesses, either you are able to adapt to the needs or your competitors will pass you by!

Finally, what has this crisis meant for Carethy and how do you face the uncertainty of the coming months?

The situation we have been through has literally given us “a kick in the pants” in all aspects. It has allowed us to confirm that listening to the events that happen all over the world allows us to prepare ourselves in time to act. It has forced us to focus even more on the customer at the centre of the company and above all to see that e-commerce has a long way to go and that it has only just begun to walk.

thank you very much for your time!

If you want to read more testimonials about confinement, here you have more e-commerce interviews:

• Tradeinn: The e-commerce that despite COVID-19 has been on Black Friday for 3 months
• Vinissimus: The wine e-commerce that increased its online sales by 193% during the confinement.