With dry instructions for use and long lists of technical facts you do not gain customer hearts that’s what the Shopify retailers of Generation YES know. In the online shop, they therefore only sell household appliances that they have thoroughly tested. First in the team and later in front of the camera. With the video based concept, the passionate hobby chefs take up the well-known teleshopping principle.
The founders of Genration YES, Matthias Berchtold and Moritz Putzer, explained us in an interview about how this reaches the customers. And also, how they convince the community with innovative AR functions.
What sets Generation YES apart from other retailers?
Moritz said, if you look at e-commerce, you find out that it’s very information driven. Often, users already know about what they want to buy. Googling for it, comparing prices and finally leaving it with product information.
Matthias added, in a mixer, for example, the customer hears the watt and revolution numbers. But that says nothing! The interested party does not know for a long time whether the mixer is good or if it is suitable for its own purposes.
This basic idea is Genration YES is they show products completely different. It does not matter to them if a device has 300 or 500 watts.
Rather, they want to show potential buyers what they can do with it and how it simplifies their own lives. they rely on inspiration instead of information.
Moritz further said, their motto is not buyer finds product, but rather product finds buyer!
How did Generation YES come about?
About this, Matthias explained some time ago, he worked for Philips in the online team and was responsible for online trading. He noticed that there are many great products that could not be sold online. Either the product was too complex to quickly explain in newsletters or other channels, or it was simply completely unknown.
During this time, he have seen how his colleagues have been able to successfully sell products through teleshopping channels, that large e-commerce retailers could not keep up!
That was the sparkling idea. They wanted to use the aspect of teleshopping and show how a product works exactly and what the customer can do with it.
Generation YES founders Matthias and Moritz
He then founded Generation YES together with Moritz as a pilot project in 2016. And since he is a passionate amateur cook, he started with a kitchen product. At that time, they tested the pasta machine pasta maker in his own kitchen and made videos for two months without a dishwasher. These were hard times! Afterwards, they went on an investment search and got off to a good start in the spring of 2017.
Why are their customers confident in Generation YES?
Matthias siad, he think they have a very personal contact with their customers. They are not so necessarily perceived as a dealer, but rather as a purchase advisor.
And Moritz added, they are a bit like the retailer you have around the corner. That’s what their customers appreciate and that’s why the community is very strong. This is also reflected in the resale numbers.
Matthias stated that, do not leave their customers with the product after the purchase. They want the buyer to have as much fun with their new device as they do. Which is why they give the community so much inspiration. They show what you can try out with the product new and thus stimulate a mutual exchange.
How do you reach the target group?
Matthias: We are the social media teleshop and our concept is clearly video based. Especially in the channels Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest and Instagram, we are strongly represented and find buyers for our products there. We produce different advertising campaigns for each product depending on the needs of the users. For example, for our Pastamaker, there are several groups of buyers, one of which may be gluten free. For us, this means that we only play our recipe video for homemade, gluten free noodles on people who are interested in this diet.
Customer value is always our top priority, and in this way the product finds the consumer.
Our buyers are between 50 to 100 years old. We already had some 90 year old customers who bought over the phone from us because they saw Generation YES content on social channels!
What does a product have to bring with it so that it can move into your shop?
Matthias: It has to make sense first of all! Of course, I can not say that every product is absolutely suitable for everyone in the world. That’s why we define use cases and potential buyer groups very well in advance, and for those, the device has a great added value.
Moritz: It also has a lot to do with how we personally like a device. This is the very first step the gut feeling. If the product is also fun and useful, chances are good!
Why did you choose Shopify?
Matthias: We did not use Shopify from the beginning. First, we had an agency with a developer who developed a shop for us with Drupal. We are desperate about that, the shop did not work in front and behind and did not look good. It was a disaster!
In a night and fog action I pulled the ripcord and put on the shopify shop within 1-2 days. Since then we are enthusiastic Shopify users!
Moritz: And that, even though Shopify was initially intended only as a quick-fix!
Matthias: We just wanted to finally have a working shop. Shopify has simplified that for us. This shop system is simply ideal for making adjustments yourself to experiment and implement your own ideas directly, without having to run through a third party.
On your webshop, you offer an augmented reality feature that allows users to project a food processor into your own environment.
Matthias: Yeah, Shopify Augmented Reality was a new feature that I read on the blog for the first time! We found that directly super cool for our shop!
This is a huge plus of Shopify: features that are advertised in the trade press as novelties, there are at Shopify partly for years for every dealer. In addition to the use of augmented reality in the shop, we can also run the complete communication via the Facebook Messenger. This helps a lot to build a good community!
What we have been able to use since the beginning is now circulating in other shops.
What added value does the AR function offer?
Moritz: Of course, this feature is not only user friendly, but also a big advantage for us, because it minimizes the return rate. If you consider the purchase of a food processor for 600 €, the color must be 100% correct, otherwise you do not spend the money. This is exactly what users can look at through augmented reality.
This AR feature can be crucial to the purchase decision.
Matthias: We receive many inquiries from customers who are interested in the look and the exact colors of the devices. If the product can then easily be projected into your own kitchen, that is of course a huge added value!
In 2016, the food angels invested in their concept. Only recently did you win the Internet World Shop Award. So you get encouragement from many sides.
Matthias: Of course that’s great and an honor for us! Realizing that others believe in the concept is a good experience. Through an investment like the Food Angels, we also got the opportunity to implement all our ideas.
We are also very grateful for the award. We are still a relatively unknown shop and the award helps us to show that we are a very trustworthy trader who not only sells good products, but cares about the whole thing.
Moritz: Of course, we also had to accept setbacks in the meantime.
We can tell startups that they should not give up. Just stand up, carry on and believe in your idea!
What has changed since the start of Generation YES?
Matthias: Shortly before Christmas we started to diversify our product range. Our goal is to cover that complete house with our offerings from the bathroom to the living room to the coffee.
Our concept makes sense not only for kitchen appliances, but it is an added value for all household goods requiring explanation!
Moritz: Also this year is our PottAR app, with which we want to take the customer holistically by the hand. We have just integrated a new AR video platform into the sales process.
Matthias: The initial problem was that nobody reads manuals anymore because they are complicated, long and boring. We know the products well and can separate the important aspects from the unimportant ones. That’s exactly what we associate with an app. When we send a product, we always add a thank you card. With our new PottAR app, buyers can now simply hold their smartphone over the map and via AR starts the video explanation directly on the map.
Moritz: The buyer gets so once again a personal introduction to the device. Of course, this personal thank you and explanation will further enhance your shopping experience. The community idea is lived with us from beginning to end!
What are the future plans for Generation YES?
Matthias: We want to be strong this year in these new categories and achieve the same success as is already the case with kitchen appliances. Since we are constantly testing new products for our shop, all sorts of exciting new products will be added!