#632 – Life-Saving Amazon Business

Join us for an inspiring conversation with Santiago Gelvez of PetCultures.com, a Colombian-born entrepreneur whose heartwarming journey to save his dog Tango sparked an innovative adventure in the pet product industry. Santiago’s transition from a career with giants like Procter & Gamble and PepsiCo to founding a thriving e-commerce brand is a riveting tale of passion and perseverance. Discover how a personal crisis and a collaboration with a veterinarian friend led to the creation of a groundbreaking pet probiotic that not only improved Tango’s health but also caught Amazon’s attention, turning Santiago’s entrepreneurial dream into a flourishing reality.

Santiago opened up about his strategic expansion into the European market, sharing key insights into the unique challenges and opportunities he faced. Learn about his experience relocating to Europe and how it unveiled lower competition and cost per acquisition, proving crucial for growth in the pet supplement sector. Santiago emphasizes the importance of Amazon’s Subscribe and Save feature, which has been instrumental in fostering customer loyalty and achieving profitability. Through his story, Santiago underscores the need for patience and strategic planning in the competitive landscape of online supplements.

Marketing is at the heart of Santiago’s success, and he generously shares his strategies for brand growth. From offering enticing discounts to crafting compelling personal stories, Santiago’s approach is both innovative and relatable. He discusses the power of storytelling in branding, particularly the role of his journey with Tango, and explains how workshops with industry experts like Kevin King have fueled his brand’s expansion across European marketplaces. This episode is a treasure trove of advice for aspiring entrepreneurs looking to make their mark in the pet product industry and beyond.

In episode 632 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Santiago discuss:

• 00:00 – From Procter & Gamble to Pet Products
• 00:00 – Seller’s Amazon Success Story
• 04:27 – Ineffective Probiotics for Pets
• 07:44 – Starting a Business and Making Profit
• 09:47 – Expansion Through European Markets and Strategies
• 18:31 – Pricing Strategy and Amazon Subscribe & Save
• 18:37 – Pet Products Marketing and Global Expansion
• 26:30 – Amazon Mexico Regulatory Challenge
• 29:59 – Pet Supplement Brand Marketing Strategy
• 30:38 – Expanding Brand in European Amazon Markets
• 33:50 – Private Label Product Launch Strategy

Transcript

Badley Sutton:

Today we’ve got a newer seller who talks about how he started on Amazon. It all started by trying to develop products to be able to save his own dog, and that launched a brand for him. That even got him on the radar of Amazon, who’s featured his story on their website. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello, everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I’m your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That’s a completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world and for the first time on Serious Sellers Podcast in English not the first time Serious Sellers Podcast overall, because he’s been on our Spanish one we’ve got Santiago in the house. How’s it going, Santiago?

Santiago Gelvez:

really good, really good. I appreciate you having me over.

Bradley Sutton:

Now where are you located? you just said it was like 9 30 pm over there. Where are you at right now?

Santiago Gelvez:

I’m in France Paris, Paris, France.

Bradley Sutton:

Since this is your first time on the show, let’s dive into to how you uh got there. You know Santiago Galvez is not exactly a French name there, so where were you born and raised?

Santiago Gelvez:

Yes, I was born and raised in Colombia. I went to high school in Colombia and after high school I moved to the States and went to universities there, Worked for Procter and Gamble for.

Bradley Sutton:

Where in Colombia were you?

Santiago Gelvez:

I was in Bogota Okay, born and raised in Bogota.

Bradley Sutton:

and then how old were you when you moved?

Santiago Gelvez:

I was 19. 19.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, so all of your school life you were there in Colombia and then you went to US for work or for school, or both, or what.

Santiago Gelvez:

It was mainly because I wanted to go to an aviation school, right, and I actually got my first degree in aviation maintenance. So I used to work for, uh, fixed planes, used to work for DHL and fix their planes and stuff like that, uh. But then you know, everything changed when everything became um, kind of like a union in the in the aviation industry, and then I was not a big fan of the union, so I switched to business and I got my degree in business.

Bradley Sutton:

Where did you go?

Santiago Gelvez:

I went to Xavier University in Cincinnati for my undergrad.

Bradley Sutton:

Oh man, I know that mascot. What is the mascot there?

Santiago Gelvez:

The Musketeers, the Musketeers.

Bradley Sutton:

Yes, yes, they’ve always had a good basketball team.

Santiago Gelvez:

March, madness, is my month.

Bradley Sutton:

There you go. There you go. And so then, what? What was you? Did you get a bachelor’s degree from there then?

Santiago Gelvez:

yes, I got a bachelor’s degree there and then, right when I graduated, that’s when Procter and Gamble uh offered me a position and I worked for Procter and Gamble for about 15 years really developing their brands and doing some global expansion for the USA brands into Asia. So it was a great, great, great company, great learnings and really built me up on really how to develop a brand from scratch into a multi-billion brand.

Bradley Sutton:

So then you were working full-time job for Procter and Gamble and then from there, you went to another company or you started being an entrepreneur, or what was the transition, one of the times that I was working for Procter Gamble and then from there, you went to another company or you started being an entrepreneur, or what was the transition?

Santiago Gelvez:

One of the times that I was working for Procter Gamble. That’s when I moved to Phoenix, Arizona, and I got my grad school there in Phoenix for Thunderbird and once I finished that I actually worked for PepsiCo for about three years as a director of the CNG convenience and gas channel in the USA and then after that I did work for ADM on the supplements arena for humans, and that’s at the time. That’s the time that my dog got sick, and it pretty much lead me into really deep dive down into the pet industry and how to really help my dog, because he, he, uh, he got a bacteria his bloodstream and I was just trying to come out with a solution and nothing on the shelf was really working.

Bradley Sutton:

What year are we? talking about right now.

Santiago Gelvez:

Uh, that was three years ago, so that was uh 2022 yeah,

Bradley Sutton:

and you were still in the us at this time, or you were already in Europe.

Santiago Gelvez:

I was in the US. I was in the US. Yes, okay,

Bradley Sutton:

So you’re working for a company they, they, uh. And then you, you’re, you’re your dog started having these health uh issues. And then so, at the time you were, you were just looking into like solutions just for yourself as a consumer, to like help your dog out. And then so what did that? What did that lead to?

Santiago Gelvez:

yes. So then nothing was really helping him. And I one of my friends was a vet and he told me, like listen, this is what’s happening in the market. Uh, the probiotics they are right now in the market are probiotics or good bacteria that doesn’t survive when it gets to the digestive tract of the dog because of X amount of reasons. So I was like, man, let’s just save my dog. Man, like, let’s do whatever it takes

Bradley Sutton:

You have no kids, you have no kids,  right?

Santiago Gelvez:

No, no kids.

Bradley Sutton:

Your dog is like your kid,

Santiago Gelvez:

Yeah he’s my kid. Yeah, Tango. He’s right now 14 years old and kicking, so I’m happy about that. Yeah, Springer’s Peniel. So then we, so we just literally just I was working for this company at the time that I was doing the you know research and building this formula to save the dog, and we created some samples, we gave it to the dog and that was the only thing that helped them. So that was a huge shift in my life when I said, like you listen, like, um, I always wanted to have my own thing. Um, this is, I mean, sad that my dog got sick, but this is a huge opportunity that, you know, uh, it was brought upon me by destiny and have a new formula that is actually going to help the dogs and we build it and I quit my job and literally just 100 entrepreneur.

Bradley Sutton:

Well, hold on, that’s a bit too much of a jump right there. So you’re working full-time, full-time employment. Now were you like I’m just going to focus on this or I’m just going to quit my job with no income yet on Amazon, or did you already start getting Amazon or other online income? Or were you just like, no, no, I got to focus on this and that’s why I quit my job, or you quit your job because you already started having some replacement income?

Santiago Gelvez:

No, no. I have a mentality that nothing is always going to be perfect to cross the road. So if I start like tasting the waters, I might just do 10% here and then 10% there. So my mentality was like let’s just go full on right, so I can really focus on it. So I quit my job and then, within two months, is when I launched my brand.

Bradley Sutton:

And now are we still? About three years ago, or where are we at about?

Santiago Gelvez:

Yep, okay, yeah, about two and a half years ago is when we launched Okay.

Bradley Sutton:

So you had some savings. I would assume you know like it’s not, like your bank account was zero and you’re just like oh, I’m going all in, and if I become homeless, I’m homeless. But OK, I had some savings, and then you’re like let’s do it, and then manufacturing USA or

Santiago Gelvez:

Yes, yes, in Oklahoma City, so it’s really close to Dallas. Yes, what I was, what I was based on at the time, and yes and yes, no. So I had some savings and I just wanted to give it, you know, 100 percent. No, don’t have facet, you know, and I just I went for it and it’s a decision that I would never regret. I am the happiest guy I am. I am, I’m helping dogs. The best gratification thing is seeing comments and emails from dog owners when they say like, oh my God, Max is back in action. You know, my dog is not having digestive problems anymore. It’s like man. Those things are so gratifying, they just makes me happy

Bradley Sutton:

that I don’t get those messages by selling coffin shelves.

Santiago Gelvez:

I can’t relate. I can’t relate.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, so then what was your first full calendar year of selling Like was 2023 or that was in the middle of 2023 you started, so was 2024 your first like full calendar year?

Santiago Gelvez:

Full calendar year was 2023. Okay, full calendar year, yes, yes.

Bradley Sutton:

And then, how did you do in sales that first year?

Santiago Gelvez:

I mean it was about $40,000. Okay, you know what I mean. It was really starting up

Bradley Sutton:

So then, for profit, then you know that that’s not enough, obviously, to have replaced your job so, like, did you just have lots of savings or did you have to, like, get other, you know, forms of income, or how was the transition like that?

Santiago Gelvez:

yeah, no, I had some savings. Uh, I had some savings that kind of kept me going, um until, like, we have a more profitable, uh, sustainable growth. Uh, at the beginning, especially for the supplements, it takes a lot of education to the consumer and it’s a really competitive arena. And there’s also the other factor of you have to really understand if any of the listeners are in the supplements arena is that you always have to keep in mind is the lifetime value of the product right? Like you know, you might not make money on the first you know bag that you sell, but when the people come back and they continue to replenish the product, that’s where you actually become sustainable. So it does take some time to be able to, one, educate and, second, to be able to be profitable with the lifetime value of the consumer.

Bradley Sutton:

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Santiago Gelvez:

It was more of a personal reason. I met a girl in Paris.

Bradley Sutton:

That sounds like a Netflix TV show or something.

Santiago Gelvez:

Okay, yes, yes, but it’s just like things in life happens for a reason. When I moved to Europe, I started realizing the cost per acquisition for the consumers are like way, way less. Why? Because the supplements arena is more restricted here in Europe, so not all the brands actually are able to come in. So with less competition, the cost per acquisition is actually lower than in the States, right? So that’s one of the reasons like, okay, we’re at a long-term growth. You know, I’m here in Europe. It’s something that I really want to kind of leverage is being able to leverage a lower cost per acquisition to be able to expand the business.

Bradley Sutton:

So have you launched already in Europe, or you’re still planning to, or you did already?

Santiago Gelvez:

No, yeah, yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

When did you start there?

Santiago Gelvez:

That was about three weeks ago. We started,

Bradley Sutton:

Also brand new?

Santiago Gelvez:

Yeah, brand new. We literally just started. We are in UK. In UK, we are in field by merchant from the USA, which is not sustainable because we’re waiting for the VAT to come in for UK, for France, we are already FBA.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, is it the same ASINs or do you have to do different ASINs due to maybe different formulation or different requirements or packaging or things like that? Or are you using the same exact ASINs as the US marketplace?

Santiago Gelvez:

Yes, yes, that’s a really good question. I am using the same exact ASIN for a couple of reasons. One is just the ability for Amazon to share the reviews from one country to another.

It makes it so much easier for your conversion rate in the new markets, right. So that’s something that I really wanted to leverage. The other reason why I was able to do that is because the formula that I have in the US was the one exactly the same one that was accepted here, so I didn’t have to change anything. So I was really lucky about that, and so I am using the same essence all across Europe right now. Yeah, so it’s really a huge benefit about it, and that’s something that I would recommend for any of the listeners is like try, if you are in supplements arena, try to continue with the same ASIN, because that will help tremendously your conversion rate as you move forward with other marketplaces.

Bradley Sutton:

Now on the US side. How long did it take to get profitable?

Santiago Gelvez:

A year a year in the supplements, yes, yes, mainly because education bringing in a new brand, right, it’s always challenging. It takes a lot of, yeah, education really, compared to people don’t want to just give, like my dog is my kid, right, it’s the same for the pet parent, right? They want to make sure they’re cautious, they want to make sure there’s nothing that is going to even harm the dog, right? So it does take a lot of education. But after you see it in the orders in Amazon, when like okay, this username already had like 20 purchases, 30 purchases, it’s like okay, this, this username already had like 20 purchases, 30 purchases, it’s like it’s like okay. So then you build in the loyalty there, um, and that’s something that it takes time. So approximately like a year to really become profitable in, uh, in the supplement arena.

Bradley Sutton:

Um, you know, your story was also featured on the Amazon website, um, where it talked about your, your brand and stuff. And then I believe in there, uh, in my notes here that uh someone gave me. It says that even like 60 percent now of your purchases, I think uh are from subscribe and save. Is that? Is that an accurate uh?

Santiago Gelvez:

yes, it is the bread and butter. Uh, and the subscribe and save is a tool that amazon gives us, that is, I see, a price list as soon as anybody sell the supplements there. If you are a new brand, especially on the private label, uh, as soonest you can get into the subscribe and save, that’s something that I highly recommend, because they spend more money, more loyalty. You do have some drop-offs there, you know what I mean, because people sign up and then they just want to get the extra discount for the first order and then they don’t come back and then you see them coming back later on. But it’s definitely bread extra discount for the first order and then they come back, they don’t come back, and then you see them coming back later on. But it’s gonna, but, but it’s definitely, it’s bread and butter for the business.

Bradley Sutton:

So then, was that the key of maybe why it took a long time for you to be profitable is because your cost of acquisition was very high with PPC, but then, as the subscribe and save grew, that then it helps your profitability exactly.

Santiago Gelvez:

Okay, that’s exactly so. So, then, like pet supplements is very similar, then, to human supplements, where your cost per click probably is insane, but then you’re just like banking on getting that recurring revenue from the subscriptions make much money on the first or second box mainly because of the cost per click is a really competitive arena and I mean probably supplements is one of the highest cost per clips categories that are out there in the Amazon departments or categories. So definitely something that you have to keep in mind if any of the you know listeners are in the supplements and private label is, like you know, probably not the first box, but the loyalty and the subscribe and save tools that Amazon gives you is actually something that is definitely going to help you become profitable.

Bradley Sutton:

Is there anything you could have done differently? You think in retrospect to become profitable faster. You know, not a lot of people are patient like you who can wait a year to become, you know, uh, profitable. Um, like, would you have something? Or is this kind of like hey, you got to be. If you’re going to get into supplements, a very, very competitive niche, you got to be prepared for a year-long battle to build up your customer base?

Santiago Gelvez:

Yes, yes, that’s a really good question. I think something that I would recommend is for the founders or owners of the brands to keep in mind that you have to test the waters with your formulas and you have to make sure that you’re going to have really good feedback from the consumers. Luckily, I was there. But something to keep in mind is the cash flow right. If you buy a lot of product from the manufacturer at once, because the more you buy, the cheapest they’re going to give you the product right. So then, if you try to maximize your process right from the get-go and try to get the cheapest product or like the most economical price by buying bulk, but then you don’t have the terms enough to be able to sell all that product and it expires, then you’re going to have a lot of scrape right. Because this product does expire.

Santiago Gelvez:

So something that I will recommend for brands that start up, especially in the supplements arena, is keep in mind you might not get the lowest cost if you buy less, but at least if you start with orders that are smaller, then you can start really learning how much your product is going to be turning. Then eventually you can estimate more or better before your product expires. So that’s something that I would highly recommend. On the cash flow and on how much they buy right from the get-go, so they can really test the water. You might have to pay a little bit more at the beginning by lower quantities, but eventually it’s going to pay out in the long run as you really start learning what are going to be your turns of your product and each one of the formulas which one’s going to be lower, which one’s going to be faster, etc.

Bradley Sutton:

Let’s talk about your pricing strategy. I was just looking at your storefront. I see every single one you’ve got the strikethrough price. And now, unless there’s an Amazon error, does that mean that at the list price, you have gotten purchases there in the last 90 days at that list price, or how are you able to maintain that, that strikethrough price?

Santiago Gelvez:

Yeah, so I have. So during the holiday season I was actually selling it at $34.95. And now, now that we hit the January, we I did lower it to $29.95 to be able to continue to, to continue to increase the turns. So it’s really psychological when you see the $29.95, you can, once you cross that price cliff to $30, the $3.00, like you do make more profit but your turns go down right. So I’ve been able to do that try-through, mainly just because during the October, November, q4, I was at $34.95. But now I’m switching the strategy into $29.95 in order to be able to turn more of the volume.

Bradley Sutton:

And then it says here extra 30% off when you subscribe. So is that a coupon that you always have on, or that’s just a promo that you always have on, or that’s just a promo that you have going on now?

Santiago Gelvez:

that’s always on that.

Bradley Sutton:

And then that is only on the first order if they start it, and then after that it’s just like the standard five or ten percent discount or something like that?

Santiago Gelvez:

Exactly, exactly and I mean I’m getting I mean 90 of the people maintain, once they get a coupon, there’s I mean you do see some drop-offs, but they continue to stay there, and this is a product that it has 30 sachets or 30 packs inside, so it actually lasts 30 days. So every 30 days they pretty much come back, unless they have two dogs or three dogs and they come back. But yeah, so that’s a strategy to have a 30% off right from the first order and then after that it’s a regular discount.

Badley Sutton:

The first product you told us the story of how you made. Was it the probiotics? Was that your first product?

Santiago Gelvez:

The daily one? Yes.

Badley Sutton:

Okay. So then how, uh, were all of your subsequent products? Also, you had your own dog in mind, uh? Or? Or you were doing just general market research and trying to figure out how to expand the brand, or what was the origin story of some of your other products that you started selling?

Santiago Gelvez:

So with Tango. So the daily was the original formula that I used with Tango and when Tango had it we were battling some skin issues that he had. So then when the vet was like, okay, you need to give him omega-6 and omega-3s, but give him with the probiotics so he helps absorb the omega-3s and omega-6s. So it’s kind of like if you eat omega-3s and omega-6s but it doesn’t get absorbed by the body, then it’s going to go out the other way. It’s not going to be beneficial, right? So then that’s why doing the combo probiotics with the incremental ingredient, that’s what helps the overall health. So I had that, so there was the ingredient, but then on the side for Tango I was giving him omega-6 and omega-3. So then he gave me the idea of like, well, why don’t I just like let’s have the original product but then let’s have three extensions of the probiotics with the incremental ingredient to help, to help sort the combo will help absorb the nutrition.

Santiago Gelvez:

So I did some research with Euromonitor and in other Kantar and other sources and I did see that you know, the calming was one of the biggest problems that were there for the pet owners. Another one was the heaping joint, especially for senior dogs and the omega-3s and omega-3s for allergies and skin problems. So that’s why I came out with okay, well, let’s expand from what we have, which was the one formula that I had, from what we have, which was the one formula that I had, into the four, based on the fact that one, with Tango, I was giving him omega-3 or omega-6 on the side on top of the product, and then for the other two is the Calming and the Hip Joint. It was mainly from the resources that I saw it was a developing market and developing opportunity.

Badley Sutton:

I noticed on your storefront here you actually put yourself and Tango like front and center a lot here. Was that something you decided early on? Or because I mean you got some like professional. You spent some time, you got some. Really, this is like a Hollywood level storefront here with some of the lighting and stuff.

Santiago Gelvez:

Yeah that’s my house in Dallas. No, but it was something that I really wanted to share the community of the story. Really, like you know, I launched this brand really because I really wanted to improve the health and improve the dogs and share a solution to a problem that I had before that I didn’t have a solution to, so I did. I did hire a marketing company to do the little short video and how we came to live. So, yes, it’s a little bit of an investment to be able to communicate the story.

Bradley Sutton:

Are you doing any kind of promotions to your store followers, like I see you’re doing Amazon? Just you’re just looking all over your, your, your store here I see you are doing like some Amazon post and things like that. Are you able to leverage your store followers at all with advertising?

Santiago Gelvez:

I can follow him with the Amazon, the followers in Amazon. I mean I can, we can do the promotions. And then the people that lapse, the people they haven’t bought yet or they visited but they didn’t buy, so you can create those promotions to really retarget them. But that just pretty much limits. I mean, unless there’s something that I don’t know but you cannot, I can target anybody within the Amazon ecosystem, right, so yeah. Are you building off Amazon ecosystem? Right, yeah, so yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

Are you building off Amazon community at all or like do you have, I haven’t checked. Do you have social media presence off of Amazon? Are you doing like insert cards to build this up, et cetera?

Santiago Gelvez:

Yes, yes, so I have. I do have a, you know, direct to consumer website petcultures.com, and I have the Instagram and the Facebook and they do. They are great tools to really create awareness. I mean to be fully transparent. A lot of times I see the we create some advertisement in Instagram and Facebook. They even go to the website, but then a lot of times they actually end up buying at Amazon for X amount of reason, right, I think they just like the two-day delivery or one-day delivery or they just feel more comfortable, especially because it’s a new brand. But, yeah, the long-term strategy is eventually to continue to grow the Petcultures.com audience. Right now we have about 2,000 followers in mailing list and also in the Instagram and Facebook. But that’s something that we also do try. We also do have the insert cards that you mentioned. Inside of the packs they say you know, learn a little bit more about education and tricks to help your dog’s health, right, and they have the QR code and eventually takes them to our blogs that we constantly kind of continue updating and tricks and stuff like that for the pet parents. So we try to build a community that way. Yes, indeed.

Bradley Sutton:

What percentage of your revenue is from Amazon USA right now, as opposed to website or anything else that you’re doing?

Santiago Gelvez:

Amazon USA, I would say probably about 70% of it.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, that’s lower than I thought, so where’s the other 30? Is it mainly from your website or are you on other platforms?

Santiago Gelvez:

About 10% on the website and also 10% on the website and petcultures.com Also 10% on the website and Petcultures.com.mx which is the Mexico site. We had some great success in Mexico.

Bradley Sutton:

How are you fulfilling the Mexican orders? By the way, for those watching on YouTube, I’m wearing one of my Mexican baseball. My parents have a house in Mazatlan in Mexico, and this is the team over there Vedados. I wanted to go red for today’s theme, but anyway. So if I’m in my house, in in Mazatlan, in my parents’ house, I need to get something, uh, for my dog down there. I I go to your Mexican website. Where’s that order coming from? Uh, or where’s it shipping from?

Santiago Gelvez:

So we manufacture the product in Oklahoma City and then from that to Querétaro, and in Querétaro we have 3PL. They carry the inventory and once we get an order from a consumer in Mexico, then the 3PL ships it directly to the location of the consumer.

Bradley Sutton:

Are you doing FBA in Amazon Mexico too, or is that one just fulfilling from US?

Santiago Gelvez:

Right now we’re not doing Amazon Mexico. Right now we are just fulfilling pet cultures. There was a little bit of Mexican regulatory in Amazon. It’s a little bit more disorganized than it is in Amazon USA, so there was just like a little headwind there. They failed. They’re like because this is our ingredient, this is a probiotic that we pretty much developed for the dogs, but they’re not. They’re recognized as a medication in Mexico, but they’re not recognized as a medication in the USA or any other country. So then what happened is, when we launched there, they say oh, no, no, these ingredients are medication. Like no, they’re not medication. So we’re going back and forth with them right now to really clarify that, because it’s just there’s a supplement, it’s not a medication. So so right now we just live leveraging um, the petcultures.com.mx website, orders, uh, orders, although we clarified that with the Amazon Mexico. Yeah, that’s mainly what it is. Yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

Favorite Helium 10 tool.

Santiago Gelvez:

I really think the Key Tracker is the bread and butter. I mean, like it really lets you know the performance of your keywords. It’s really important for you to know how you’re doing and how you’re tracking, and I think, something that I don’t know if this has been rolled out to all the levels, but the heat map in the heat tracker, I think is priceless because it does let you see the trend and the graphic, the colors. You know what I mean. I’m a visual type of person, right, I’m fully transparent.So, like being able to see the things going, moving towards the right way or even going towards the right path, it really kind of screams to me of like, okay, this is what we need to focus on, this, we need to focus on that um, but there is, I mean, a lot of great tools that the Helium 10 there has. I mean, um, Adtomic. It just saves so much time to be able to create and even from your list of item or list of products that you, or keywords that you’re tracking pretty much automatically, uh, create um some campaigns. Actually, I think it just saves a lot of time versus going into the Seller Central and doing one by one and there’s time consuming, especially when you like, when you’re selling and have in managing a couple of markets at once. Um, saving time is really important and the accuracy of it is pretty neat. Now, and the accuracy of it is pretty neat.

Bradley Sutton:

Now some people might think Helium 10 Elite. Hey, that’s only for seven eight-figure sellers who’ve been selling for years. You’re a somewhat newer seller, yet you’ve been an Elite member. So how has it benefited you as a newer seller being part of that community?

Santiago Gelvez:

Oh my God, I mean tremendously, because I feel that it’s a community, right. Like we have that touch base on the Fridays and it’s kind of like more sharing. I mean we don’t only strictly talk about Helium 10, right, we talk about, like, things that have worked, things that hasn’t right, like, for example, you know, last Friday we were talking about, hey, you know, there are some reviews there that they are not relevant to the product itself, but we got like one or two stars but, but they’re talking about shipping or they’re talking about something completely irrelevant of it. So then there’s like another person that that they, they, they, you know, proposes like, oh yeah, use this company to actually, uh, yeah, those people to get those reviews to be removed because they’re not relevant to the product itself. So just sharing, reapplying with other elite members I think it’s just really priceless and really get to know what other headwinds other sellers are having. It makes you feel that you’re not alone as well, right, so it’s a really good community. I really enjoy it.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. Well, if anybody wants to join and be on these calls with Santiago h10.me/elite and you guys can join that community. I’ll be seeing you in just a little bit because we’re going to be in Germany next week at Elite Workshop. We have quarterly in-person workshops. If anybody wants to join who is not an Elite member, you can get more info, h10.me/berlin. You’ll be able to meet Santiago in person and myself, Kevin King, will be there.

Bradley Sutton:

Depending on when you’re listening to this, this will be on January 24th, so there’s still some time to get tickets. Uh, um, that there was a. There might’ve been a 50% off coupon, but still it’s under a hundred euros to go. Obviously, Elite members don’t have to pay if they go, uh, but it’d be. It’d be cool to see anybody out there. If you guys are in um in Europe now. Now, what’s the future hold? You’re in the process now of launching across different European marketplaces. Are you going to keep expanding out this brand? Uh, try and start a different brand? Um, you know, go on other platforms. What’s the next? Uh, we’re here at the beginning of 2025, uh, at, if I, if we were to have a podcast, which hopefully we are um beginning of 2026, what would you like to be able to have said you accomplished this year?

Santiago Gelvez:

Yes, I think you know ways to grow. The brand is like you know you got to get more people to buy your product right or either to be more profitable with the same users. Something that I’m really focusing on for 2025 is really leveraging the Pan Europe program that Amazon has, that he actually lets you expand throughout Europe, which will allow me to reach all the European markets with only two VAT registrations. So this is a huge opportunity that I’m really focused on in 2025 to be able to leverage the European market as much as possible, and so that’s what I’m looking forward to reach this market Also, because it’s an educated market. It also has the funds for it to take care of their pets let’s just say that. But that’s definitely something that I’m really trying to reach that and leverage this lower CPA than North America has. So that’s something that I’m really focusing on as a 2025.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, awesome If you were to give like a 30 second tip or some kind of strategy. It could be about a foreigner living in Europe. It could be about Amazon. It could be about supplements. It could be about anything taking care of pets, anything at all. What strategy would you like to close this out with?

Santiago Gelvez:

I’m actually going to yeah, I was thinking about that I’m actually going to steal this strategy that I heard from our friend, Kevin King last when we were in Seattle back in September. He made a presentation and say that when you really develop a brand and you want to make sure that you and you search for a product and you’re trying to do a private label, start with the two second story that you’re going to really tell your consumers and that is going to help you convince them, right? I think having that, having the two seconds start with the marketing video, with the two, and that is going to help you convince them, right, I think having that, having the two seconds start with the marketing video with the two seconds, that is really going to help embrace and convert the consumers. If you start with that, I think the other things we kind of put together. A lot of times it’s an afterthought, believe it or not.

Santiago Gelvez:

For me it was actually an afterthought and then I realized, like shoot man, like this is the most important key. Start with that. You know we always say start with the end in mind. Well, why don’t we, as we say, start with the end in mind? Why don’t we just start with the two seconds video that is really going to help convert the people. Um, I think that was, that was a really priceless, uh, a recommendation that Kevin King did back in September in in Seattle, and I think that’s something that I really want to echo for private label owners that are going to launch. I want to start with the two seconds video. What is your product going to be so different that you can tell in two seconds? And it’s going to help you convert your consumers. I think that’s something that I really want to make sure I echo and share with every other owner.

Bradley Sutton:

I like it, I like it. Alright. Well, Santiago, thank you so much for joining us and, um, you know we’ll be seeing you in just a little over a week here and then, like I said, hopefully uh 2026. Let’s bring you back and let’s see how many of those things that you have on your list that you’ve accomplished. Maybe some more.

Santiago Gelvez:

Let’s have some plans. Looking forward to it.

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