Here, members of the marketing team: Fran Peacock, Fiona Hilton, Jamie Munro and Tim Price, explain what goes into making Yuppiechef South Africa’s ‘best e-commerce store’* for six consecutive years…
What would you say Yuppiechef is best known for?Fran: When people talk about Yuppiechef there are a few things that consistently come up and it’s likely that the most talked about thing is that we really care about our customers. The most prominent illustration of this would be our handwritten cards, which we send in almost every order, thanking people for shopping with us and wishing them well with their new purchase. We find this is a way of keeping our customers at the heart of our business and allows everyone in the business a chance to connect with our customers. On top of this we constantly strive to offer excellence from the products that we sell through to the experience on site, as well as after-sales and customer service.
What have been some of the major contributing factors to its success?Fran: Yuppiechef started 10 years ago with almost no budget but a lot of heart, energy and integrity. This combination became the catalyst to what we think are our most successful marketing tools. If you give someone a good experience, if you treat a customer the way you would like to be treated, if you value each and every customer who comes through your doors (or onto your site in our case), then they feel that and they tell their friends about it. Good word of mouth was, and is still, our greatest marketing tool. From this we added things like a strong and ever-evolving content marketing strategy, a highly engaging and effective social media strategy, and a nimble and fast-moving marketing team who are constantly searching for opportunities to surprise and delight our customers.
Describe a typical work day in the marketing team at Yuppiechef.Fiona: Most of the team arrive between 8 and 8.30am, some quiet time is spent on email, and then nothing else can proceed without coffee. The coffee culture at Yuppiechef is alive and kicking, and everyone in the business knows how to use our bean-to-cup machines and is taught basic barista tips when they arrive!
The rest of the day is incredibly varied for everyone, as our team is made up of strategists, designers, copywriters, campaign/production coordinators and photographers – so it's a mix of strategy meetings, shoots, creative reviews, writing and more - all peppered with plenty of laughs and a healthy amount of silliness. None of us take ourselves too seriously! The one part of the day that we do all aim to spend together is lunchtime, when we gather in the HQ test kitchen to live out our brand purpose by connecting over food.
Describe your target market and, if possible, how they would describe Yuppiechef (based on feedback you’ve received).Fiona: Our core target market (and we know this thanks to a recent research study) is a highly educated 34-year-old female, living in Johannesburg or Cape Town whose household income is R50k+ and who is fit and healthy but loves cooking, food and wine. She’s a foodie, in every sense of the word. That's not to say that guys or the lower LSMs, etc. do not engage with and buy from us – they do – but if we had to be really specific, that's our true TGM today.
We are fortunate to have a highly engaged community of customers who regularly give us feedback. I'd like to think they'd describe us as a company that genuinely cares about its customers first, who always go the unexpected extra mile and who are fun, honest and full of integrity.
Yuppiechef has its own brand, which competes with the multitude of external brands you market.Jamie: Within the past two years we’ve introduced and expanded our Yuppiechef-branded range, plus a number of private label brands including Jimmy Public and Humble & Mash. The majority of the rest of the products we sell are branded goods you can buy at other stores too, and in such a competitive marketplace, this makes it challenging to differentiate what we offer. So, by introducing unique ranges, we’re able to promote a line of products that can’t be bought elsewhere.
Jamie: The main benefit is definitely the ability to set yourself apart from the competition, by offering a unique range of products. If you look at Woolworths or @Home, they have almost exclusively own-branded offerings. Having our own branded lines also allows better profit margins, as typically you deal directly with the manufacturers, so there is no middle man or distributor taking his share of the profit. I wouldn’t say there is any real disadvantage to an own-brand line, other than the fact that it can be more resource intensive for the team than simply purchasing a finished product from a supplier. You may need to be set up to manage some level of product and packaging design, plan and budget for the arrival of large quantities of stock, hold relationships with the factories, etc. Also, once you put your brand name on a physical product, you need to be confident that the look and quality of the item is up to scratch and a good reflection of your brand image.
Jamie: At the moment, our own brand lines are still a very small percentage of the total range and, initially, we have used it to fill gaps within our existing portfolio, i.e. where we have seen opportunity to offer more choice for our customers in a particular category, or a different price point. We’ve only introduced products that we’re proud to put our name on, so product quality and functionality is very important. We’re also focused on ensuring the best value for our customers, so we like to think that the Yuppiechef branded range is very fairly priced.
How would you compare branding online to offline, or marketing for e-commerce as opposed to bricks and mortar?
Tim: Both have their pros and cons, but some of the main differences are:
It’s often been said that the handwritten cards aspect of the business is part of your marketing strategy. Please explain.
Tim: The cards as a ‘marketing strategy’ is somewhat accidental. The idea was born in the early days of Yuppiechef when the founders simply wanted to express their gratitude to customers who were not part of their immediate family. As we’ve stuck with this tradition, we’ve realised that the cards not only still convey this sentiment, but also serve to show shoppers that there are real human beings behind all the tech and that we really, really do care about giving them the best possible online shopping experience.
*South African eCommerce Awards
