We look up to companies like Loopy.ph, who see opportunities in the new and unfamiliar, and who are not afraid to take chances. In this pandemic, we've seen companies that attempted to pivot from their normal operations because of the challenges - whether that's bringing things online or something like a complete overhaul. We've also seen new business ideas - a lot of which are responses to the changes the pandemic brought.
One of such changes is having to do most things at home, and therefore individuals taking on more roles in the household. This is where companies like Loopy.ph found its opportunity. A model not quite familiar to the Filipino market, Loopy.ph provides a subscription-based grocery service so we can check off a few things off our list without having to worry about it again.
We sat down with GCC partner Loopy.ph's Kris De Guzman to learn more about the journey of taking the leap to introduce this model, and how HubSpot has been able to help in the journey so far.
What is the business of Loopy.ph?
Loopy.ph is part of a bigger business, Grupo, which started as a distributor for Nike way before 2010. We moved on to E-commerce with Nike's permission in 2012, and I joined them only as a silent investor. In 2017, we started going into FMCG with J&J.
I came from FMCG myself. I was a brand person for many years until I put up my own business. We were able to land the Nestle account and Nestle was actually the one who encouraged us to do subscription.
So, in 2018 when we got their account, we started with subscription for Good Food PH. So, we launched that, but Nestle was our main client.
In 2019, some other brands were interested, particularly Unilever. That's not all food, so we said we have to rebrand Good Food to something that encompasses general groceries. So, we ended up with Loopy.ph, because the idea is a subscription model--where I personally, it's really patterned after my needs. I don't really like going to the supermarket. I feel like it's a waste of my time especially since you do things over and over again. So, I could be spending my time doing better things, doing more productive things, having time with my kids. So, personally, I wanted a subscription service which would deliver to me groceries that I normally buy every month.
Loopy is still small. It's very promising though. We've grown so much ever since we started and Loopy only started [in] December coming from Good Food. So, just December last year. And right now, we're very happy with the results.
What are the services being offered? / How does the process go?
It's not very familiar to people in the Philippines, right? I mean, subscription is the usual, Netflix, your Globe. But in terms of groceries, it's not very common thing. Our biggest product on subscription is Dolce Gusto, which makes sense because when you buy the machine which is the Dolce Gusto machine similar to an espresso machine. You have the capsules and all that. You need the capsules, so you need to buy them. And if you are a coffee drinker, you can project how many capsules I need on a monthly basis. So, each box contains 60 capsules. I project I drink one to two cups a day. Therefore, I have x number of capsules a month I need to consume. So, with Dolce Gusto, it makes sense to have subscription. The processes is initially, when we were in Good Food, they needed to order to a plan. They need to subscribe to one plan. With Loopy, the innovation we made was they can put different things in their basket and they can subscribe to the basket. So, you can have a Dolce Gusto. You can have a Dove body wash. You can have a CloseUp. You can have a Nido, etc. So, whatever the mom needs in the basket is there and they can subscribe to it. The benefit to them is, number one, they get automatic 5 % off their order and every time they ordered they get 5% off. Number two, because it's a subscription, on month 7, so when you reach month 7, you’ve bought from month 1 to month 6, on month 7, then you get that the whole order free. So, you don't have to pay for anything. So, it's like you know, it's like, “Happy seven month to you!”, right? So, we just give it.
And then, because our principles, Unilever, Nestle, they have a lot of products that they want to sample. So, we actually give out a lot of samples to our subscribers also. We give them Knorr cubes, Nestea, etc. So, it's happy for them. For everyone.
Every once in a while, there are near-expiring items (near expiring means two months to go) which is fine, right? So, we give it to them at buy 1, take 1. We give them an extra product because the principles want to flush them out. So, those are the general benefits. On month 2, we remind you that you have an order existing. Before, it used to be automatic, we just send you the products, but I think that's the difference between Netflix and grocery. Grocery, it's tangible. You want to know it's coming. It's not delivered digitally, right? So, we have to remind you that you have an order coming. Please remember that. So, we still send you an invoice, an email every month to tell you have an order, please confirm. And then, you go through the process of confirming which is pretty quick it's just a few clicks since it's pretty pre-populated already, right? You don't have to do it all over again. The system already populated the order for you. You just have to confirm. You pay if it's credit card. You say COD if it’s COD, and then we have it delivered in a few days. So, every month on the same day, you get the confirmation [every month]. The other thing different is we partnered with Plastic Flamingo. It's a sustainability company, so they convert plastic into planks where they build shelters of places hard hit by climate change via the plastic, so the planks made out of plastic. So, we partnered with them. So, starting next month, if you’re [on] month 2, when we deliver to you the items, we collect the plastic also that you used. So, the plastic from Love, Beauty, and Planet is our pilot because it makes sense but all the things that you bought from us that is plastic, we can collect on month 2 onwards for Metro Manila. We wanted to build that in because I, personally, am also concerned about sustainability. So, I put that into that into the project.
What value is Loopy.ph bringing to the sector it is serving?
I think the environment friendly is a bonus, is a plus. I think the biggest one at the level of need of Filipino moms right now, I think, and mostly it's moms and, I think, millennials because of Dolce Gusto, right? I think it's the value of time and convenience, right? So, you can be doing better things with your time. You can be learning more things. You can be spending quality time with your children or your partners, etc. So, I think it’s the value of time that you don't --even if it's online, it still takes time, right? It still takes time to order. It still takes time to go through it. It’s not that fast either. So imagine the time you save, whether it's just 10 minutes --10 minutes, you could've gone through a meeting or webinar or whatever, right? It's still a lot of time and every month, times twelve, that’s like two hours of your life spent on something more productive. So to me, it's really the value of time, the value of convenience that we give to the shopper so that they could spend their time because time is really short, right? That, we’ve learned in the pandemic with everybody getting sick. So, I think the value of time is the one that we're giving to the consumer.
Why is your business essential to your target sector?
Especially because of the pandemic and we grew so much. Our other businesses grew so much e-commerce grew so much in the pandemic because people need to stay home, right? I personally don't want to go out especially now, more than last year. I don't know. I'm more scared now than last year on going out because even if it's just a grocery for example, I don't want to spend more than the necessary in a given location. So if I can do it online, if I can automate that part of my life and minimize the risk and optimize my safety, right? Make sure I'm safe, then all of those things are super important right now. Also, the value of time, like I said, time is really short. We know that. We’re getting to understand that more. So, if I can spend more time doing things that matter to me versus mundane things like getting that same chicken cube off the shelf in the grocery then I would. I’d take that opportunity. So, definitely very very valid and very necessary to certain people. So, it really depends on the needs. We really cater to particular person who values safety and convenience and quality time with what matter most to them.
What value does Hubspot bring?
Admittedly, I haven't really dug into Hubspot as much as I’d want to because of the time spent on operations and all that, but HubSpot really has helped us in terms of customer service. So in terms of ticketing, in terms of getting, consolidating messages coming from Facebook Messenger, coming from email --all those messages we're able to consolidate through HubSpot and track them into one system so that you see, it's not confusing because our customers, they email and then they also send a message on Messenger. Before they would be separate, we would be addressing each different one. We wouldn't know that it's the same customer who emailed and the same person who messaged, right? So right now, with Hubspot, that’s eliminated. We know that this is the same person who emailed same person who sent a message via Messenger. We can see when they bought if they had bought already in Loopy, so we see that via the deals. It's basically also organization. So, what we want to give to our shoppers is what Hubspot gives to us. It’s efficiency. It’s organization. It’s primarily addressing the needs of our shopper, addressing their concerns in a very organized manner so that they themselves are not stressed more. What we want to do actually is de-stress them. Customer service should not be stressing them further when they ask questions. So, Hubspot helps us with that, helps us make it easy for the shopper to shop and get what they need.
How can Hubspot further empower businesses like Loopy.ph?
It will definitely help because customer service is a big pin point for businesses like ours, doing the ticketing and all. We’ve tried several tools along the way. I don't think we were happy that's why we're still with Hubspot now. We're happy with it. It's really helped us. Customer service is one of the things that you don't want to mess up. Even if they bought from you, it's really critical that you serve them well after, before and after and during, and especially subscription since it's, you know, repeat repeat repeat. It's building a relationship with them. So, you don't want to mess that up and you don't want the customer service platform to be one messing things up and making things worse. So, it's one less thing to worry about. Hubspot is one less thing to worry about in terms of the tool to help you get to the customers. [In] Hubspot, I forgot to mention, we also send reminders to customers via Hubspot and the emails, so that also helped. Marketing is also there. It definitely helps with sales, definitely helps with retaining the customer for future sales, right? [It] definitely helps with our employees as well. [With] employees, you want to manage their frustrations. You want to give them the best tools to be able to do their job well. So, I think Hubspot is also a critical part of giving them the best tools for the work that they need to do.
Why is your business essential to your target sector?
Oh, they can just go to Loopy.ph or they can message us on Messenger, Loopy PH on Facebook. We will gladly reply to them via the HubSpot platform in the back end.
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