Ecommerce success: the story of Café

At Oleoshop we love to appreciate a well done job in eCommerce. We think it is always interesting to stop and analyze how some particularly interesting online stores have managed to stand out.

It could be a different business model, a different way of communicating, a unique product or, as in the case study of Café, a mix of all these things.

Join us to discover Café's story.

They are two entrepreneurs from Madrid, childhood friends who found the perfect moment to collaborate in a common project.

Their names are Kiko Requena and Miguel Sánchez. It is the first who, despite being only 26 years old, already had a great experience in communication in different areas: among other projects, Kiko had worked both on and offline for Pinterest or El Tenedor).

Together they jumped into the idea of setting up something more than a start-up more concerned about raising rounds of funding than having a real growth over time. This is a very personal project and you can see love in every detail.

Of course, it is not enough the wish to open a store. This has to be supported by an idea as well as a business plan that is as comprehensive as possible, a well-defined product and a clear segmentation.

In this case, both partners came to the conclusion that the most important thing was to start by defining their target audience in detail. They had in mind a European or North American man, between 35 and 50 years old, sophisticated, with a penchant for luxury and exclusivity, a good relationship with e-commerce and a certain environmental awareness.

They do not sell coffee. In fact, what they sell are leather products with their own design of the highest quality, handcrafted and made in Spain. Let's delve a little deeper into these 3 foundational concepts and pillars of the brand.

We need a product that is capable of justifying by itself the market positioning in the upper part of the matrix in terms of price. For this, the other two vectors come into play. We understand that a handmade product already implies that we are dealing with something unique by definition. In addition, Spain is a true reference in leather goods and leather craftsmanship.

All Café products come from Ubrique, which is undoubtedly where the best leather craftsmen in the country are located.

If there is one trend that is becoming more and more marked (and necessary), it is that of ecological awareness in brands and companies. Working with fur, by definition, distances us from certain standards and sensibilities.

But Café has been able to demonstrate that it is possible to be eco-friendly without necessarily being vegan. To do so, they have turned their production model upside down.

On the one hand, they use skins derived from the meat industry, which represents a reuse of resources. This is both ingenious and an exercise in corporate social responsibility.

But ecological awareness is not only in the choice of raw materials: it is also necessary to assume the responsibility of treating these products with sustainable processes and procedures.

For this very reason, Café has recovered the way of working that was used decades ago: they only use natural elements in the treatment of the skin, and in terms of time, the time required for it to tan under their standards.

With the audience and product defined, it is time to go into something that surely intrigues you from the beginning and that we are overlooking: why the name "Coffee" for a company that sells leather?

It is not a random decision, although it may seem so to some. Behind this choice there is a complete branding study. Kiko Requena is fascinated by the world of specialty coffee, by the care with which it is worked from the coffee plantation to the cup of a living, delicate product with an artisanal process. Of course, there is a parallelism to be used as a common thread.

In addition, coffee is associated with something pleasurable, it is a word that can almost be smelled (like leather), it has a color code that is also associated with tanned skin... so we can speak of certain nuances of neuromarketing in the choice of the brand name.

This is rounded off with great storytelling and top-notch branded content. A great way to get the message across.

This is another company that was born specifically within the online channel, with no physical branches.

Why only eCommerce? In this sense they are very sincere. They themselves confess that the initial budget they had was very important and that, in addition, they are aware of the internationalization potential of their products. Logically, it was clear to them that it would be easier to develop this strategy starting with an online store.

However, this does not mean that they do not believe in retail. They have simply burned through previous stages, selling their products in multi-brand stores or using pop-up stores in the United States and Europe. Their concept seems to be crying out for a store of its own, and it is something that, in all likelihood, will happen sooner rather than later.