Welcome to Season 2 of Safety Stock! Dan and Will kick off the season with Seller Universe CEO Martin Zerrudo. The three talk about when is the right time to choose an ERP, how Seller Universe can help you scale, the trends they’re seeing with ecommerce vs in-person shopping, and what new market is exploding on Amazon right now. Tune in for more!
Read TranscriptWill Davis (00:06):
Hey, everybody, we’re back. Dan & Will here, and we’ve got a surprise for you in this first episode back. It’s not just Dan & Will, but Dan, who’s our, uh, surprise guest?
Dan Magida (00:17):
Is this a surprise? I mean, it’s season two, that’s the surprise. But we’re back and we’re, you know, going heavy on guests this year, hopefully. And we have our first guest with us, and we’re excited to welcome into our podcast world from Seller Universe, CEO Martin Zerrudo. Welcome. What’s up Martin?
Martin Zerrudo (00:38):
Thank you so much for, for having me. Uh, super excited. Congratulations on season two.
Dan Magida (00:43):
It was a tough renewal process lot, you know, <laugh>. Yeah, we had to, we had to go through so many corporate levels, but you know, it, it was just too good to be true.
Martin Zerrudo (00:53):
No, no, I, I hear you. But you know what, uh, according to some stats, cuz you know, I’ve been looking into, you know, podcast benchmarks and if you’ve passed, I believe you’ve way passed 30 episodes, then you’re actually in the top five percentile of all podcasts around the world. So congratulations for making that benchmark. It’s, it’s actually something that’s a lot more difficult.
Dan Magida (01:10):
The first time Will has ever been in top five percentile for anything. So this is, this is momentous.
Will Davis (01:15):
You know, I might actually, um, I’m one of those people who rarely prints off the, um, certificates for the random trainings and classes that you’re forced to.
Martin Zerrudo (01:25):
Oh right, right, right, right. The LinkedIn learnings
Will Davis (01:27):
<laugh>, the LinkedIn learnings, um, you know, Dan might think opposite, but I don’t have any right now, but top 5% in podcasting right now. I think I could put that up there.
Martin Zerrudo (01:38):
Absolutely. Yeah,
Dan Magida (01:39):
Absolutely. Tagline.
Will Davis (01:41):
Yeah, why not. Worst case, you know, it’s a good conversation starter.
Martin Zerrudo (01:45):
I got one more before you, but I’ll save it till the end.
Will Davis (01:47):
Oh, well now that’s a tease. Um, that’s why Martin’s in the top 1% <laugh> because he, not only does he know the stats, but he also has the content to back up. So Martin’s. I’m trying, yes. I think number one, right. Seller Universe. Can you explain for the listeners what you’re doing there? Um, and overall, what’s the company’s goals?
Martin Zerrudo (02:09):
Yeah, so again, thank you for having me on the show. So Seller Universe, uh, which is short for Seller Universe Ecommerce Group or SUEG. We’re a small little scrappy startup that really provides services in three verticals, NetSuite, Amazon, and Shopify. But we’ve really primarily focused on the NetSuite vertical and what that means for those who are listening. NetSuite is an ERP or enterprise resource planning tool, and it’s a piece of cloud software that allows you to integrate all your different departments in your business. Now, if you’re listening to this, or if you’ve heard of NetSuite before and you need to buy the license in order to start using it, we can provide that as well as an official Oracle NetSuite solution partner. If you already have NetSuite and you’re kind of having issues implementing it and transitioning all of your different tech stacks onto the ERP, then we can provide some services and implementation as well. Or, um, if you have any kind of project-related needs or if you want to integrate certain connectors or certain applications to help kind of bolster your current NetSuite implementation, then we provide ongoing solution support. So really it’s end-to-end, um, all NetSuite solutions within the direct-to-consumer or e-commerce space. That’s kind of what we do every single day. May not sound super sexy, but it’s pretty fun.
Dan Magida (03:18):
Why, why NetSuite? Why is that the anchor point in this landscape of so many ERPs that are, that are out there?
Martin Zerrudo (03:26):
Great question. So while NetSuite definitely can provide some, you know, ERP solutions for SMEs, um, they really put a lot of emphasis on SMBs or small, uh, to medium businesses. And in the e-commerce direct-to-consumer space, you know, there are a lot of people who need help that once they’ve reached a certain amount of revenue and that tech stack is really starting to become a hindrance in their ability to scale. NetSuite is the probably the easiest ERP to implement one year at that point, and has a lot of modules and connections and integrations that make that implementation seamless. Some other ERPs, while they can sometimes be a little bit more tailored to SMEs are a little bit more comprehensive and complex for, uh, those businesses who are just trying to implement an ERP for the first time
Dan Magida (04:08):
From the, from the brands you work with. And you mentioned a certain revenue spot or a target they hit, what’s, what’s that sweet spot where you recommend brands to start thinking about heading into NetSuite? Um, I guess that barrier of entry since, you know, people have a stigma around ERPs a whole. There’s, you know, you’re taking this leap, but there’s also so many benefits that your business can operate as well with ERPs.
Martin Zerrudo (04:37):
So I’ll answer that, uh, with, uh, so I’ll answer your question in two ways. So the first way obviously is the financial one, right? People always think, um, hey, an ERP NetSuite might be super duper expensive. Is it worth that investment? Right now, the implementation can be very difficult. We’ve been brought in on multiple implementations for as remediation resource because some people who implement NetSuite aren’t experts on NetSuite, and it becomes this huge nightmare and prolonged, you know, data migration, error management, all that stuff. So, um, there is that stigma, and I don’t wanna say it’s untrue only because, um, if you have a solution for a particular department in your business and it’s within your budget and it’s solving your problems for today, then I wouldn’t be on here saying, Hey, QuickBooks is working for you and it’s within budget. You need to get off of QuickBooks.
Martin Zerrudo (05:28):
Like, that’s not really what we’re about in terms of providing, you know, ERP consultations and solutions. If a, a tool is within your budget and it’s effective for what you need for today to solve your problems for today, then I would not advocate you to make that financial leap into implementing an ERP like NetSuite. Having said that, the consultations and the conversations we have are really about your problems for tomorrow, QuickBooks for tomorrow. And if your goal is to scale is not gonna be your answer for tomorrow, right? And the longer that you stay on this particular tech stack where it’s very dependent on what you can only do today, then that’s only so far as how your infrastructure’s gonna take you. Now, if you’re interested in really putting time and investment because you believe that the trajectory of your company is gonna get to the point where you need an E R P, then let’s have a conversation. Because at that point, you’re actually saving money in the long term because you’re better positioning yourself sooner to start scaling your business versus being reliant on these single installation tech stack solutions that don’t talk to each other and prevent you from scaling sooner. Does that make sense?
Will Davis (06:30):
Yeah, and I think one of the interesting things is when you talk about outgrowing a tech stack or having problems that whether you’re addressing it with your current setup or if you need something new, you know, just anecdotally, you know, the new CEO of FTX talked about in his congressional hearing, right? And right, I’m sure sort of supply chain professionals or even finance professionals when you hear them say, well, they were still managing their business on QuickBooks…
Martin Zerrudo (07:01):
That’s insanity.
Dan Magida:
The Congress congressional rep who just questioned it.
Will Davis (07:05):
And, and I think the funny thing is, is probably that that joke that the CEO was making probably went over the heads of a lot of people and the congressional side, but where the people it made the most sense was like on the business side, who may have been listening or saw it later and they’re like, oh my gosh, that’s probably not what they should have been doing.
Martin Zerrudo (07:24):
You could take it as oh my goodness, they were just joking. Or like, oh yeah, it really was a clown show over there because they were using QuickBooks to manage billions of dollars of investments. Like both are lose/lose scenarios.
Will Davis (07:35):
<laugh>. Exactly. So, you know, Martin, to your point when you talk about, you know, what’s the right choice, I think when you talk about stigmas, you people think of ERPs a lot of times, and if they’re coming from, you know, big companies or if they’re coming from certain places where SAP has 50% roughly like the market share for those enterprise. So from an enterprise solution, right, do you think NetSuite is looking at the perspective saying if we can get into smaller companies and they grow with us, that we have a higher chance of retaining them later and they think their marketing share will grow over time?
Martin Zerrudo (08:17):
Absolutely. I think that the outlook that NetSuite has and that perspective I think, uh, highlights their authenticity and their credibility in trying to see your business scale, right? They’re investing a lot of R&D and resources and modules and have a really robust SDN ecosystem to really get you from where you are today to the future. And it’s like, hey, we may not be, you know, the 50% market shareholder of SME, you know, ERP solutions, but why does that prevent us from helping you get there? Why does that prevent us from providing you the tools to get there? It’s like, do you want someone who is with you since the very beginning providing those solutions as you continue to scale and really putting the money where their mouth is in terms of, of helping you get to that point? Or hey, figure it out on your own. And then once you hit that 600,000 or whatever mark that benchmark that you have, then hey, come talk to us cuz we’re at the 50% SME people that you want to talk to. If you’re gonna ask me, I’d rather be with the ones who are with me since the very beginning and the proof is in the pudding in terms of the ERP able to scale with me as I go from an SMB to an SME, hopefully
Dan Magida (09:26):
In, in terms of the, the NetSuite landscape, they, they have the app store where you can <affirmative>, you can add pretty much whatever sector you want. What, where do you find most NetSuite users are focused on when they build out their, like, I guess their app suite and obviously we’re supply chain tech. Where do you see that space heading throughout this year? Is that gonna be an area of you’re seeing an area of focus for the brand you’re seeing the retail and e-commerce to start building into the supply chain app store?
Martin Zerrudo (09:54):
So we’re a NetSuite solution partner. Typically, anyone can really get a NetSuite license from a solution partner, an alliance partner can go from NetSuite direct, right? Each of these avenues of getting a NetSuite license will come with its pros and cons. So I’m just gonna speak to the pros of working with a solution partner. So for us, um, working with a solution partner, number one, you get an unbiased, um, perspective on what you really need in your business process, right? We have spoken to, so our, also our focus, well, I’ll start with the first one. We’re unbiased, so we’re not trying to load up a bunch of modules at the beginning, not trying to front load all these things that you may or may not need. Uh, we’ll work with you in terms of what modules you really need from the beginning and if it’s financials first, and then slowly ramp up from there.
Martin Zerrudo (10:39):
So that’s number one. We’re not gonna try and front load any kind of things that you don’t need, which kind of balloons the price of the initial implementation and license fee, which kind of gets a lot of people turned off and contributes to that stereotype, right? So that’s number one. Number two, there’s a lot of, um, solution and alliance partners out there that will say, we can do all kinds of implementations. We can handle your NetSuite for all kinds of needs, whatever your, your industry may be, whether it’s manufacturing or for inventory specific related issues, or if it’s for retail or med or whatever. We’re focusing specifically on e-commerce direct to consumer. So if you are in need of a NetSuite license and you fall within that vertical, then we are the experts for that. If it’s something outside of that, then we will gladly refer you to another, you know, solution partner who focuses on that.
Martin Zerrudo (11:23):
And that’s an advantage because we know the correct applications, the correct connectors, the correct integrations that will help you almost like a templated vertical to get the most out of your NetSuite investment. Um, and three, for us personally, we’re heavily invested in, in really creating strategic partnerships with the SDN ecosystem. So who are the leading partners, who are the leading integrators and applications within the NetSuite, you know, software development network and ecosystem that as we build these partnerships, we kind of vet them and say, Hey, you know, when it to, um, inventory demand planning, may Flieber is like the go-to when it comes to supply chain and dashboards and, and communicating with vendors. Maybe Anvyl is the place to go, you know, when it comes to connectors is it’s legal, is it work auto? Like we’re invested in doing that research for our clients so that when they come to us and they’re in our vertical and they need the help, that we’ve already done all that work for them. So that’s kind of how we approach, uh, you know, consulting and building out a process that works for them.
Will Davis (12:22):
So Martin, have, have you seen, because you, you focus on e-commerce, have you seen any changes over the past, you know, whether it be six to three, one month in terms of business from an e-comm perspective, knowing what you see articles are going out there as the pandemic has continued to subside here in the US?
Martin Zerrudo (12:47):
Yeah, so there’s really two <laugh>, two schools of thought here. There’s like, oh my God, the world is, the sky is falling down, you know, post pandemic. We’re now waking up and realizing we love going to Best Buy. Let’s just buy all of our tech from Best Buy, or we love going to, uh, to the department store. Let’s just buy all of our stuff in the department store. Uh, and then you have the other competing school of thought where it’s like, no, E-commerce is just headed to the moon, it’s just a rough patch, but we’re gonna keep going and it’s gonna, you know, rock it all the way up there. I think we’re somewhere in between, which I know kind of feels like I’m riding the fence here on an opinion on our, on e-commerce, but I think it’s a little bit of both in that we have to accept that inflation and the recession.
Martin Zerrudo (13:27):
Some believe we’re already in it, some believe that we’re entering into it. You know, the, the, the war in Ukraine and Russia is still ongoing. Um, China us is about to celebrate Chinese New Year and there’s all these restrictions in terms of covid, so that’s affecting a lot of supply chain, um, for manufacturers over there. So these are all things that we have to consider, right? So that’s affecting, uh, the ability for e-commerce to really continue to ramp up. Having said that, I think they released an article that Amazon had like a 4 or 5% increase for Black Friday Cyber Monday sales this year during a time when a lot of people thought that e-commerce was on the downturn. So I think those two things really show that we’re kind of reverting back to the mean that we saw an explosive growth in e-commerce sales across the board during that two year pandemic. And as we’re exiting it, it’s definitely dropping off, but it’s kind of reverting to the mean where the trajectory is still definitely headed upwards. It’s just not at a velocity that we saw in the last two years. I hope these weird hand gestures is, is illustrating a ramping up of, of e-commerce. But I hope I answered your question.
Will Davis (14:30):
Yeah. Martin was making some exponential hand gestures for where e-commerce was, and now instead he’s making more of like a 45 degree takeoff that you might see from, you know, JFK, LaGuardia, Newark, depending on you’re from
Martin Zerrudo (14:45):
Yeah. Went from like a 30 to 45, so 50 degree. There we go. Yeah. Yeah. But you know what, I can’t really mention, um, who, but I have spoken to some, some, you know, uh, M&A firms, obviously valuations were pretty, uh, wild, wild west couple of years ago, especially with the introduction of roll ups and aggregators in the last couple of years. That obviously has cooled down a little bit. Um, there’s been a lot of consolidation. Um, some agencies, um, you know, unfortunately had to fold, uh, this year. So, you know, we’re all subject to headwinds. Whether the velocity in the headwind was really, really great or it’s kind of slowed down a little bit. But I definitely wouldn’t, uh, put stock in like, oh my gosh, this guy’s falling down. E-commerce is gone. Like, wait a couple months, wait a couple months and see if, if purchasing habits really have shifted that much. I don’t think so. I don’t think so.
Will Davis (15:39):
Yeah, I know it happens when my wife doesn’t get her a package within the time period that she thinks right. You know, that’s not going away.
Dan Magida (15:46):
Well that’s just, that’s just Amazon, you know, just starting off with the unrealistic shipping expectations and then from there. It’s just 15 minutes now for some companies that are out there.
Martin Zerrudo (15:58):
Some states have like drone shipping, right? I think they were testing that out.
Dan Magida (16:01):
Other states, Texas. Yeah, Texas was testing that.
Martin Zerrudo (16:03):
Yeah. And, and if I may, you know, this, again, this is anecdotal, right? Disclaimer, I’m not a financial advisor, I’m not a, you know, economist, right? But anecdotally, right? If it took us in a pandemic, people who grew up with no internet, people who grew up with no e-commerce two years to completely change our purchasing habits for a lot of the things that we would normally buy in person, just imagine the generation Z, the next generation after that, you know, younger millennials, that’s all they know is, is buying things online. It’s not like all of a sudden a 13-year-old’s like, Hey, I wanna go to the department store and look at some clothes or buy something. If I go to like a, I don’t know if they still have Radio Shacks for like the source or whatever it’s called, right? But the generation that’s up and coming is only all the more tied into e-commerce is only all the more tied into social media and, and connecting online. So I don’t think we’re gonna see a massive exodus of like these 12, 13, 14, 15 year olds as they get older and have some purchasing power to all of a sudden decide that they wanna buy everything at a mall. I don’t think that’s what’s gonna happen.
Will Davis (17:06):
I did see, um, uh, what looked to be a Sears that used to be a Sears, but it was distinctive because it kind of had that, you know, that interesting like red shape to it. Um, yeah. And yeah, I, I I, I tend to agree with you that I don’t necessarily see, um, you know, if kids are used to, or young adults are used to purchasing things in a specific way, I don’t necessarily see them making a change. I think the demographics of, to your point, as people become more comfortable with, you know, both social media, with e-commerce, with the internet, you know, you, you see a generation of, whether it be baby boomers or if you want to say, greatest generation, you know, they’re on Facebook now and they’re becoming used to it. So I think the opportunity for it to grow is continuously there. On the e-commerce side, I think one thing that, you know, from Dan and I, what we wanted your thought was is, you know, from a brand perspective, what, what makes them decide to say, Hey, I’m going to be dtc, you know, on our own, we’re gonna try to connect directly with our customers and we’re gonna manage it. Versus what are the ones that say, I don’t know everything. I want to get sales, let me get some help, whether it be from Amazon or from somebody else.
Martin Zerrudo (18:31):
Mm. You mean it’s like, Hey, I’ll just run my own website and try and generate traffic on my own and make sales or go on a marketplace and have like an agency do it for me like that.
Will Davis (18:39):
Correct. Yep.
Martin Zerrudo (18:40):
Right. So there’s definitely pros and cons to both. I was actually at, uh, S3 Helium 10 sales Scale summit, um, and Gary V was there in person. He did a talk and then also Neil Patel, I forgot which one it was. I think it was Neil who said, I have Amazon guys who are like, Amazon is fantastic, you don’t need Shopify. And then we have some people on Shopify like, oh my god, directing through my Shopify so much better. You don’t need Amazon, right? So both sides hate each other, but I think…
Dan Magida (19:06):
That’s the aggregator market in a sense too, where they would just buy up Amazon and then that obviously scaled way quicker than the Shopify model. But yeah, also way more consolidation you’re seeing of late as well on the Amazon side.
Martin Zerrudo (19:18):
100%. A hundred percent. And so to that, you know, if you find that Amazon is complex, very confusing and you don’t want seed a lot of control and commission costs to Amazon, cause I think it’s like 15%, right? So if you don’t want to give up control, and if you think it’s too complex, then those are all reasons for you to start up your own Shopify and, and kind of go at it your own way in terms of direct to consumer. Having said that, Amazon, people who go on there already have the intention to buy, they inherently have a significant amount of traffic with the data that you can utilize to launch campaigns to capture your ideal customer profile or your, your customer, right? On Shopify, you are beholden to create your own traffic. You’re beholden to create your own sources of, of, of traffic to your website.
Martin Zerrudo (20:10):
And then you have to manage your own website to make sure that, you know, you have the chops to either create or pay somebody to create a theme or, or user or purchasing experience that will make them want to come back. You also have to think about how do we get them to, to stay loyal? Are you launching promotions? Are you launching email campaigns? Are you doing things on social media to capture some of that data and then remarket and retarget to them when all of that stuff is inherently done on Amazon for you? So I think there’s really pros and cons. If I’m like, say an influencer, a streamer or somebody who already has a relatively large audience, then I think direct to consumer will already make sense because you have that capture audience, you can point them to your direct to consumer. Likewise, you can go to the affiliate route and say, Hey, I don’t wanna manage my own website or my own products, I’ll just start promoting certain links and then I’ll just take an affiliate cut through Amazon. So, you know, there’s a lot of ways to skim the e-commerce cat. I think you just have to be aware of what are the pros and cons. And I wouldn’t necessarily say one is better than the other. It just depends on what you’re trying to accomplish.
Will Davis (21:07):
So I got a couple of the questions from that. Um, sure. One of them I’m gonna ask from my conspiracy tinfoil hat, but I’m gonna save that one towards the end.
Dan Magida (21:17):
So listener Will has a tinfoil hat on right now, right? Okay.
Will Davis (21:20):
Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, this is maybe actually let’s start with the tinfoil hat.
Martin Zerrudo (21:25):
Yes.
Dan Magida (21:26):
You can’t tease it, you gotta go for it.
Will Davis (21:28):
Yeah, you can’t tease. Well, I was trying to be Martin <laugh>, but you know, I, I’m not,
Dan Magida (21:31):
Oh, we do have that tease at the end. We have to get back to,
Will Davis (21:33):
I know I needed the gratification earlier, so I’m not, you know, that’s just me…
Martin Zerrudo (21:37):
The dopamine hit
Will Davis (21:38):
<laugh>, I need the dopamine hit
Martin Zerrudo (21:39):
Blame TikTok.
Will Davis (21:41):
Oh, I have stayed off TikTok because I’m a conspiracy person. Um, but the question is, yes, okay, so you decide to go to the Amazon route. You, you’ve heard, whether it be through news sources or just people talking to, if you do well on Amazon, they’re incentivized to make your product on their own. Do they actually do that one or do you actually, have you seen instances where you won’t show up in search results because all of a sudden now they’re doing a product that they saw had the data on.
Martin Zerrudo (22:17):
If you Google it, like, hey, Amazon Basics stole my product, right? Oh, I got undercut by Amazon Basics because I had this really fantastic like satchel, and then now they have their own version of a satchel. You just remove our, you know, hey, you contacted the same manufacturer that was making ours and now they’re making it for us for them. And they stopped working with, like, there’s a lot of those stories out there. <affirmative>, what I can say is the basic premise of the Amazon flywheel that Jeff Bezos like established, I’m just gonna paraphrase it, but, but they’re incentivized to ensure that the more amount of choices brings in more traffic. The more amount of traffic brings in more sales, the more sales allows us to bring in more products. So it’s a cyclical thing. If Amazon is trying to launch products that compete with their own sellers, it wouldn’t necessarily help them long run because then people will start believing the, the mindset that, Hey, I’m not gonna launch on Amazon cause they’re just gonna copy me. Which kind of it, it defeats the purpose of their flywheel.
Dan Magida (23:12):
And wouldn’t that defeat the aggregator model in a sense as well, if that was perceived Yeah. If they were going there. Why would, why would people, why would those, why would those businesses exist?
Martin Zerrudo (23:24):
Exactly. Exactly. So if there’s nobody, you can’t <laugh> you can’t give evaluation to an Amazon basic product. It’s owned by Amazon, right? They’re not gonna sell it. There’s an aggregator, they’re making money on their own, right. They don’t have that 50% cut. So exactly that defeats the purpose of the flywheel and the aggregator bottle. Having said that, if I am a super savvy executive at Amazon and I say, Hey, there’s a couple of openings in certain niches that our clients or our sellers are not capitalizing, and hey, maybe instead of 90% market share, we can eek out a little bit of that. And they’re, they’re at 75 and we’re at 25, then everybody’s still happy. They lost a little bit, but we gained a lot, you know? Um, so how do you combat that? We’ve had that conversation with some of our Amazon clients in the past.
Martin Zerrudo (24:06):
Well, what if I get knocked off? What if there’s a Chinese knockoff, not to be racist, but like that term is I get knocked off by a Chinese, you know, manufacturer. How do you prevent that? What, how do I prevent Amazon from, you know, cooking Amazon basic version of my product? It’s really about your listening. It’s really about going above and beyond in creating a loyal audience through your listings, which I know sounds a little bit impossible because most of that is done through Shopify and social media, blah, blah, blah. But even in your listing, which is why Amazon added a new feature, right? Brand story and premium A+ allows you to create more of a purchasing journey that’s about your brand. And at the end of the day, if I’m buying something on Amazon, and I absolutely love, so for example, Anchor, right?
Martin Zerrudo (24:49):
Huge sellers of of, of um, um, battery packs and now cases and speakers and blah, blah, blah. When I saw their listings a couple of years ago, I was like, I totally resonate with the look. I resonate with their messaging. I resonate with their packaging. I love everything about it. And I’ve only ever interacted with Anchor on Amazon. I’m sure they have their own website and you can buy it directly from them, but I’ve interacted with them with Amazon because it was quick to ship. Product was fantastic and I resonated with their listing. They now have so many more products that they sell and I brought their speakers. I, I think a friend of mine buys all of their headphones because I resonated with their product. Now, if you go on Amazon, there are definitely power banks that are cheaper than Anchor. There are power banks that are maybe Amazon basics or something that’s super, super cheap, but it has no brand equity. But for me, Anchor has invested in capturing my loyalty through a really quality listing and a really good purchasing experience that they did through Amazon. So is that happening perhaps, but is it something that is inevitable that you can’t defend against and scale against? I don’t think so.
Will Davis (25:51):
Yeah. And, and you bring up a good point when you talk about defense is that when, when you’re talking about goods, we’ll go ahead and say in a lot of this, in a lot of these instances we’re gonna say their commodities and that, you know, whether they could be really cool. They have their own, somehow that has their own IP. But in the end, for the most part, you know, we’re not talking about, um, patented developed hip replacements or we’re not talking about pharmaceuticals, you know, those type of things.
Dan Magida (26:21):
That’s who’s calling Martin, his doctors for the hip replacement and pharmaceuticals.
Martin Zerrudo (26:25):
I know
Will Davis (26:26):
But he’s so young. He’s so young.
Dan Magida (26:27):
But he said multiple doctors. One of my doctors. So there’s cause for concern.
Martin Zerrudo (26:30):
He’s like 28, but maybe he’s like 75 <laugh>.
Will Davis (26:35):
Yeah, right. Well, we gotta get you some more calcium. I think probably that’s number 1.
Martin Zerrudo (26:38):
I think that’s what it is. Like some potassium or, oh, you know what it is? It’s more iron. I actually grew up with like an iron deficiency.
Dan Magida (26:44):
Or some Vitamin D.
Will Davis (26:44):
Oh, there you go. Yeah. So instead of your blood being red, if it’s deficient, oh man, what is it more blue?
Martin Zerrudo (26:50):
More blue? I don’t know. Or too white. But you know what’s crazy? One of the huge markets right now, this is exploding, doesn’t seem to stop, is the nutraceutical space in Amazon is crazy.
Will Davis (27:00):
You know, is funny you say that because Dan and I actually have some pretty good experience in the nutraceutical space. Dan. Well, and, and I give credit to Dan first. Dan comes from a vitamin supplement company previous to Anvyl, previous to Peloton. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. He was at Dan
Dan Magida (27:19):
Elysium Health.
Will Davis (27:20):
Elysium Health. And they had their own very specific, um, high efficacy vitamin that Dan you would sell. And per how much was it? You know, per like your normal selling container?
Dan Magida (27:32):
Oh, subscription style. But a one-time bottle, uh, was $60 at that point. But they have, they have multiple product lines at this point.
Will Davis (27:41):
Right, but $60 for how many days?
Dan Magida (27:43):
It was a month. A month. Serving a month.
Will Davis (27:45):
Yeah. So I am a big lover in terms of gummy vitamins. And so like whether, you know, I think number one is the, um, not the like one a day, like the, just for men’s stuff or like just for women. But there’s another one where they’ve gone with gummies, like they’re delicious, but you have to take six.
Dan Magida (28:09):
Six gummies
Martin Zerrudo (28:09):
As a meal replacement?
Will Davis (28:11):
Smarty Pants. Smarty pants.
Martin Zerrudo (28:12):
Oh.
Will Davis (28:13):
But point being,
Dan Magida (28:15):
What do you throw into your ice cream for like dessert? Like six gummies? That’s a lot.
Martin Zerrudo (28:18):
It’s sprinkling.
Will Davis (28:19):
Well, Dan, the reason why they do that, and you, and I know this because we have helped clients source gummies in terms of just they want to launch their own vitamins is because the taste, you know, whether it be iron or certain things is so bad. So they force you to take more vitamins so they can spread out how bad it tastes.
Martin Zerrudo (28:38):
Brutal. It reminds me of like, um, have you ever heard of Buckley’s?
Will Davis (28:42):
No
Martin Zerrudo (28:43):
So it’s cough medicine here in, in Canada, in Toronto. And the slogan is, it tastes awful, but it works. And so people buy it knowing that it’s gonna taste like rancid or sulfuric acid, like worse than, oh, it’s like 10 times worse. It’s like acid.
Will Davis (28:56):
Oh no,
Martin Zerrudo (28:57):
But in your mind you’re like, I have to accept how awful this thing is in my mouth because in like a couple hours I can actually feel a lot better. So it’s really in the marketing, I see this AG one, like, uh, yeah, like greens, it’s everywhere. It’s everywhere, right. So Yeah.
Dan Magida (29:11):
Athletic Greens.
Martin Zerrudo (29:12):
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. You know, it’s exploding. Exploding.
Will Davis (29:15):
Well, it, it’s funny and how I’m tying that back to the conversation is that, so we see more companies today trying to launch nutraceutical companies in general, right?
Martin Zerrudo (29:28):
I think it’s Khloe Kardashian.
Will Davis (29:29):
Exactly.
Dan Magida (29:30):
Oh that’s a whole other effect of the influencer side that we, we could go down a huge hole there.
Will Davis (29:37):
But there is truly, when it comes to the, um, when it comes to these producers, there’s like three to four producers in terms of where you can get these vitamins done at scale. And that is it.
Dan Magida (29:48):
I mean, you can say the same thing in personal care beauty.
Martin Zerrudo (29:52):
Yeah.
Will Davis (29:52):
Well, I’d say right, for the most part, the quality,
Dan Magida (29:55):
The good ones. Yeah. Right.
Will Davis (29:56):
The good ones. And point being, these guys are filled to their ears in business. They will not talk to you unless you are like, you wanna order a million gummies.
Dan Magida (30:07):
I mean, you’re pitching, you’re pitching them.
Will Davis (30:08):
You’re pitching them, you’ll, you’re pitching them.
Dan Magida (30:11):
That’s the landscape that’s changed on what we’ve seen on either retail or E-com. businesses are now pitching manufacturers. Before it was like, Hey, doors are open, come in. It’s like, no, you …
Will Davis (30:22):
Talk to us.
Dan Magida (30:23):
Yeah, you’re pitching us. And …
Will Davis (30:25):
So, so the good ones continue to win and they will get pitched. But you know, we may see it slide a little bit back more towards people having capacity given where it is. But gummies are booming.
Martin Zerrudo (30:38):
Can I show you something.
Martin Zerrudo (30:39):
I’m gonna try and draw something here.
Dan Magida (30:41):
Praise.
Martin Zerrudo (30:42):
So we have a client, uh, who has a relationship with the lab who creates nutraceuticals. So actually hold on. So let’s say this is the, um,
Dan Magida (30:54):
So listener, we’re playing Pictionary right now.
Martin Zerrudo (30:57):
Yeah, Pictionary right now. So excuse my terrible chicken scratch. But say this is the lab at the top, right? And I’m trying to write gummy here, but it looks messed up. But this is the gummy or whatever nutraceutical that they’re offering. So brand A will take this gummy and add maybe matcha. We’ll take the same gummy brand B or client B will add like fish oil. This one will add like vitamin C. This one will add zinc, this one. And it’s literally the exact same thing. And the only the really…
Dan Magida (31:30):
You mean we, you just described everything …
Dan Magida (31:33):
You just described literally the world of products. And that’s a whole other episode you just described Sephora. But that’s a whole other, whole other thing. We can go down and Will and I have talked about this numerous times
Will Davis (31:47):
You know, at least what Mark was describing, I think what we can say in a, in a very matter of fact way in the world, we come from their bases, we’ll call it a base, right? And all of these manufacturers, they have a base and that base you can add like a soup, chicken stock, right? <affirmative>, what do you add to the chicken stock and put it in there that’s now turning into your soup. What’s turning it into your product? What manufacturers don’t want to do is they don’t want to go create new chicken stocks unless you pay them a lot of money.
Martin Zerrudo (32:21):
<affirmative>.
Will Davis (32:22):
And if you fit within those bases, they can run it over and over again. Yep. And then they keep that last piece of where they can have that late-stage differentiation <affirmative> and go forward. And so the good ones do that, or they put a lot of money to their R&D team. And then when you see people go to these manufacturers and they say, why is my cost so good so high? And you say, well, because I have overhead that I have to clear with all these R&D teams I have to pay to create new products. And you’re like, <affirmative>, well I’m gonna look for somewhere else. And the reason why those mom-and-pop places that tend to be good, that have two to three batches of doing specific things, just cause I figured out what works. They have their overhead under control and they can charge a great price.
Martin Zerrudo (33:03):
Absolutely. A hundred percent.
Dan Magida (33:05):
Well, Martin, you’ve been very, you know, valuable with your, with your time today. I know you have something you wanted to share at the beginning.
Will Davis (33:12):
Yeah, we need to get the, we need to get that out
Dan Magida (33:13):
Um, so let’s, let’s go there before we, um, you know, have, before you can tell us where people can go and find out more about Seller Universe.
Martin Zerrudo (33:22):
Yeah, of course. I just wanted to say that, you know, you’re in the 5% if you, I think published more than 30, but you’re in the top 1% if you’re able to garner more than 5,000 downloads. Ooh. So I’m sure you guys have passed.
Dan Magida (33:35):
Is that per episode or just collective?
Martin Zerrudo (33:38):
Collectively. Collective.
Will Davis (33:40):
Oh man, we are…
Dan Magida (33:42):
I hope, hope we’re
Will Davis (33:43):
A new certificate is getting printed. Yeah.
Dan Magida (33:45):
I mean, I’m telling we are, we’re coming for you Joe Rogan and Smartless, all you other podcast get ready. This is 2023. We’re, we’re big time. We’re taking this on the road soon, Willl.
Martin Zerrudo (33:59):
Uh, but you know, to that credit, like, it’s a great accolade. It’s more than just like a participation medal or a ribbon. It’s really showing the hard work that, that you guys put into, into this podcast. But, and at the end of the day, you know, the numbers show the value, right? If people aren’t listening, then they wouldn’t download. If they didn’t love what they were hearing. You know, if you didn’t have the dedication to publish this consistently, then you wouldn’t have hit 30 episodes. Right? So I think aside from trying to be like the number one and really being the best podcast out there, it’s just the dedication to the value that you bring as an indicator that you guys are doing a fantastic job.
Dan Magida (34:30):
We, we really appreciate those, those kind words.
Will Davis (34:34):
Yeah. Dan and I….
Martin Zerrudo (34:35):
Hope the checks in the mail, so just
Will Davis (34:36):
Like, no, I know Dan and I have a phrase, you know, um, 587 is not bad. So, you know, if we get to the 587th ranked podcast in the country, great.
Dan Magida (34:47):
I mean, we’re calling this episode top. We’ve just been awarded the top five podcast in the world. So, well, we’ll, finese that title a little bit, but I mean that’s, that’s, that’s, if I took anything away from this, you know, we covered a lot <affirmative>, half 5% in podcast, but also B) Seller Universe. Great place for, you know, anybody whos in the retailer e-commerce space, who’s entering the NetSuite world. Um, great resource here to help you guys scale. Um, anything I’m missing there? Just to wrap up, if you wanna share anything more about,
Martin Zerrudo (35:21):
Sorry, universe. No, please, please, if you wanna add me on LinkedIn, just look up Martin Zerrudo. I’m there if you wanna look at our website, sell universe.agency and yeah, 587 if that’s the goal. Just know that for one of your listeners. You guys are number one.
Dan Magida (35:33):
So yeah, 5 87, that’s like, it’s like my count. Other things too. <laugh>,
Will Davis (35:37):
There we go. Yeah, <laugh>,
Martin Zerrudo (35:40):
I’m one, I’m
Will Davis (35:41):
- I hope that’s not your credit score.
Martin Zerrudo (35:43):
Oh, no,
Dan Magida (35:43):
That’s, that’s still pretty healthy though, right? I mean, 600 border line. Yeah, it’s not my cholesterol. I’ll tell you that. Maybe Martin’s, that’s why his doctor keeps calling him.
Martin Zerrudo (35:52):
No, that’s like 197 was how much I weigh now after this holiday season.
Dan Magida (35:56):
We’re getting bringing a health app here as well.
Martin Zerrudo (35:59):
I Know. Come on Fitness Pal
Dan Magida (36:01):
<laugh>.
Will Davis (36:02):
Nice. Well, we really appreciate Martin coming with us guys, if you, um, have a chance, go check out Seller Universe. Take a look at Martin on LinkedIn. He definitely puts some good content out there. The site’s easy to navigate if you’re looking for a NetSuite resource, whether it be just purchasing or consultation about how you can make it better. Martin and his team are great at doing that. Dan, it was great speaking with you, Martin. Thanks for joining us. <affirmative>. And until next time, we’ll talk to everybody soon.
Dan Magida (36:31):
Wow. Will, what a, what a great way to kick off season two.
Will Davis (36:35):
I thought that was amazing. You know, we, we continue to have a great streak of great guests.
Dan Magida (36:41):
Yeah. I will say whoever booking these guests is just crushing it on our side. That would be us too.
Will Davis (36:47):
Yeah. Yeah. They, they should be commended.
Dan Magida (36:49):
We’re gonna keep doing more of these. Um, hopefully all you listeners enjoy this one and we think, you know, there’s such this great ceiling for NetSuite as a great ERP software, um, to utilize in your supply chain, but also your, your business aspect. So if you ever wanna learn more about how you can connect Anvyl into NetSuite, you know, reach out to on our website at Anvyl.com and book a demo to learn more.
Will Davis (37:18):
That’s right. We’re continuously coming out with new features. Um, we’ve got some exciting stuff around the corner here that’s getting released. To Dan’s point, if you wanna reach out, book a demo, happy to show that to you. Um, and then show you how we work with all the different partners bringing you visibility to your supply chain.
Dan Magida (37:37):
And as always, you can listen to us on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your streaming services. Talk to you soon.