Estimated reading time: 8 Min
Ricardo Rehfeld was born in Germany but fell in love with Mexico. His trip to Latin America showed him up close the world of entrepreneurship and helped him understand what strengths LATAM has in terms of startups and business opportunities.
From one of these revelations was born Cherish, a brand of sexual products that is committed to being the main platform for love life in Latin America. In Mexico, its talks, videoconferences and professional customer service are gaining the public's trust and affection. This is its story!
Frank: Where did the idea of creating Cherish come from?
Ricardo: I am German, my first contact with Mexico was ten years ago in a social service in Puebla, in a home. I loved the experience and I returned to the university for an internship, in a consultancy called Endeavour, which is quite well known in Mexico; it was my first contact with the world of entrepreneurship, of start ups, then I finished my career in Costa Rica.
I always had the idea of doing something with Mexico, something between Germany and Mexico, in which I could support SMEs, Start Ups. So when I finished my degree I founded a consultancy in which we did very basic things like market research and analyzing whether a product from Mexico had opportunities to be profitable in Germany and vice versa.
We were able to grow our company and we achieved a joint venture with a biotechnology company in Guadalajara and to make a long story short, one of the products we made in that company was a probiotic lubricant, that was my first approach to the world of love life.
Today Cherish is a company that is dedicated to offering products for the love life, we sell sex toys and we do a lot of sex education.
Frank: Have you found any cultural and market differences between Europe and Mexico, or well, between all of Latin America and Europe, in terms of erotic products?
Ricardo: Yes, there are many differences, they are two different worlds. Europe at a social and cultural level has already accepted many things and has managed to conquer many things that in Latin America are still subject to many taboos and many stigmas. And this for a company that sells sex toys is something key to understand and master.
To understand that these differences exist is also to understand that there is enormous potential between the two regions that we can take advantage of.
Frank: Were you born as a physical store or as an ecommerce?
Ricardo: We were born 100% digital. That was precisely the idea from the beginning, because especially in the sex toy industry, it is normal that the buyer wants some privacy, or at least little interaction with other humans, and in traditional sex shops the environment is not the desired one, people don't feel comfortable.
That's why we wanted to create an online space where people feel comfortable, where obviously you have the toys but you also have a lot of information and you also have a trained customer service. We actually have several sexologists who can explain online the products and their uses.
Frank: Before the pandemic?
Ricardo: Yes, in fact with the pandemic we already had an infrastructure to continue growing and I think it helped that we were already operating.
Educating as a basis for trust
One of the keys to Cherish's success has been to establish a content strategy where the quality of the information and the educational and dissemination efforts allow them to create a community among their target audience. A community that trusts the brand and therefore consumes it.
Frank: Has it been difficult for you to enter the Mexican market? I understand that culturally in Latin America we are perhaps a little more closed to these issues than in Europe.
Ricardo: Yes, I do. And I also think there are two issues here: the culture of entrepreneurship and the sexual culture itself. As far as entrepreneurship is concerned, Mexicans are very affectionate, they welcome you with open arms, they support you, they recommend friends and business allies. That part of starting with the start up structure was an excellent experience in Mexico.
And the other part is the cultural issue of the product we have. It is true that there is still a lot to educate, to talk about, to understand about sexuality issues in Mexico, but I think that having created Cherish at this time was ideal because Millennials, our generation, is already much more open to these types of issues.
Frank: What do you think is most lacking in terms of sexuality in Mexico? At a cultural level, I mean.
Ricardo: Platforms with content and quality information. Sites with authority and knowledge, with sexologists and professionals who generate quality content and help guide people. This is where we have struggled to position ourselves.
Frank: I understand you have a team of sexology professionals at Cherish, correct?
Ricardo: Yes, in fact our first full-time employee, Celeste, was our first sexologist. And she is our star sexologist. She studied psychology and then a master's degree in sexology.
And not only do we offer customer service but we also generate content, with Celeste and with other sexologists that we have. This content is high quality, produced by professionals in their field and I think that is very valuable to the consumer.
Read more: HoliHerb, bringing natural balance to all of Mexico.
Frank: What kind of products does Cherish have?
Ricardo: We mainly sell sex toys, that's where we focus, especially in products for beginners, products for people who are buying a sex toy for the first time. We attack that target because we want to be the ally that guides you through the world of sex toys.
These products are simple and economical and seek to create a good experience. There we have different products for couples, for women, for men and then we also have a catalog of wellness products such as lubricant and stimulant gels and a catalog of candles and gift products for dates such as Valentine's Day.
Frank: What do you think is your main lead generation channel?
Ricardo: I think that, in general, the informative work we do. For example, the sexuario is our blog where we generate content, videos, meetings and now we are starting with specialized appointments where you can talk directly with our sexologists.
This has gone all digital because of the pandemic, but we have a project that we're picking up that is the famous Cherish meetings, which are similar to Tupperware Parties. They are events where the sexologist comes to your house for a bachelorette party or for a reunion, and does educational work in sexology.
In addition, we have returned to different bazaars in Mexico City and hopefully soon in other cities.
Frank: Do you have a lot of offline activities?
Ricardo: We are very limited by social media and Google guidelines. Because of the type of product, they don't usually let us run ad campaigns and we have to resort to forms of promotion other than paid online marketing campaigns. We have to be more creative.
For example, those of you who live in Mexico City have surely seen the Cherish van with a giant toy on top and we have copied the famous message from the old Mexico City iron saying "Vibrators, dildos etc... for sale" and I think it is very funny and we have had very good results, because people get a kick out of seeing that, in a positive way, and it generates laughter and good times. And that's what we want the Cherish brand to be: a happy experience.
Discreet, on-time and perfect deliveries
By the very nature of the product Cherish sells, deliveries must be discreet, on time and with continuous communication with the customer. These elements define a perfect delivery and for Cherish this is not optional, but the norm: all deliveries must be like this. That's why they sought out Cubbo.
Frank: How do you get to Cubbo?
Ricardo: We came to Cubbo because our business angels, our investors, recommended it to us. I had very good contact with Josu and Brian, who are the founders of Cubbo, and looking for them was the need to solve a happy problem: we had grown so much that we could not control the logistics issue well.
We needed an ally that could operate in the perfect way in the logistics area. And I approached Cubbo when it started its operation last year, we evaluated and decided to wait a bit until our volume of orders was optimal and now we changed the logistics operation and left it in Cubbo's hands.
We want to offer the best customer service in delivery and in our case more. The issue of discretion has to be perfect. The customer has to be well informed, the product has to be delivered discreetly and on time. And we are seeing that Cubbo delivers on this and we are achieving it.
Frank: Was Cubbo your first logistics operator?
Ricardo: No, we had another one before, but we made the decision to switch to Cubbo for several reasons: first, scaling. We have activations on dates such as Valentine's Day or the Hot Sale, where we have up to 500 orders in one day. These flash sale points used to take up to three or four days to process, but now, with Cubbo, we get through the first flash sale point and get it out in 24 hours.
Then there is the interesting issue of Cubbo's same day delivery, which allows us to be competitive with Amazon and Mercado Libre, especially in Mexico City, which already offer it. And finally, the issue of cost and operation. Cubbo has a good price in terms of cost per volume and is ideal in terms of operation. Before, it took our team a long time to process the logistics, but now this is in Cubbo's hands.
Frank: What are your future plans for Cherish?
Ricardo: We want Cherish to be the number 1 platform for love life in Latin America. And for that we need to expand to other countries. There I think Cubbo will be fundamental again because they are already creating that logistical network in different Latin American countries and we will continue to partner with them, expanding as a team.
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During 2021 in Cubbo:
* Our clients recorded savings of 21% in operating costs.
* 97.1% of the products received were processed and ready to sell within 24 hours.
* We had a 99.7% compliance in shipments.
* We record an order picking accuracy of 99.9875%, i.e. 1 error per 8,000 shipments.
* 60% of our deliveries in CDMX were made on the same day.
* We deliver nationwide in 1.3 days on average.
