Cherish: Discreet, On-Time, and Perfect Deliveries
Estimated reading time: 8 Min
Ricardo Rehfeld was born in Germany but fell in love with Mexico. His journey through Latin America gave him a close-up view of the world of entrepreneurship and helped him understand what strengths LATAM has when it comes to startups and business opportunities.
From one of these revelations came Cherish, a sexual wellness brand committed to becoming the leading platform for love life in Latin America. In Mexico, its talks, video conferences, and professional customer service are earning the trust and affection of its audience. This is their story!
Frank: Where did the idea to create Cherish come from?
Ricardo: I'm German. My first contact with Mexico was ten years ago during social service in Puebla, at a children's home. I loved the experience and came back to university for an internship at a consultancy called Endeavour, which is quite well known in Mexico; that was my first contact with the world of entrepreneurship and startups. I later finished my degree in Costa Rica.
I always kept the idea of doing something with Mexico, something between Germany and Mexico, where I could support SMEs and startups. So when I finished my degree, I founded a consultancy where we did very basic things like market studies and analyzing whether a product from Mexico had opportunities to be profitable in Germany and vice versa.
Several projects came out of that. We were able to grow our company and we landed a joint venture with a biotechnology company in Guadalajara, and to keep the story short, one of the products we made at that company was a probiotic lubricant—that was my first approach to the world of love life.
Today Cherish is a company dedicated to offering products for love life. We sell sex toys and do a great deal of sexual education.
Frank: Have you found cultural and market differences between Europe and Mexico, or rather between all of Latin America and Europe, when it comes to erotic products?
Ricardo: Yes. There are many differences—they are two distinct worlds. At a social and cultural level, Europe has already accepted many things and has managed to achieve many things that in Latin America are still subject to many taboos and stigmas. And for a company that sells sex toys, this is something key that you have to understand and master.
Understanding that these differences exist also means understanding that there is enormous potential between both regions that we can leverage.
Frank: Did you start as a physical store or as eCommerce?
Ricardo: We were born 100% digital. That was precisely the idea from the beginning, because especially in the sex toy industry, it is normal for the buyer to want privacy, or at least minimal interaction with other people, and in traditional sex shops the atmosphere is not what people want—they don't feel comfortable.
That's why we wanted to create an online space where people feel at ease, where you obviously have the toys but also a lot of information, and where you have trained customer service. We actually have several sexologists who can explain the products and how to use them online.
Frank: Before the pandemic?
Ricardo: Yes, in fact by the time the pandemic hit we already had the infrastructure to keep growing, and I think it helped that we were already up and running.
Education as the foundation of trust
One of the keys to Cherish's success has been establishing a content strategy where the quality of information and educational and outreach work allow them to build a community among their target audience—a community that trusts the brand and, because of that, buys from it.
Frank: Was it hard to break into the Mexican market? I understand that culturally in Latin America we may be a bit more closed off about these topics than in Europe.
Ricardo: Yes. Honestly, it was. And I think there are two issues here: the culture of entrepreneurship and the culture of sexuality itself. On the entrepreneurship side, Mexicans are incredibly warm—they welcome you with open arms, they support you, they recommend friends and business allies. That part of launching with a startup structure was an excellent experience in Mexico.
And the other part is the cultural aspect of the product we have. It's true that there is still so much to educate, to talk about, and to understand when it comes to sexuality in Mexico, but I think creating Cherish at this moment was ideal because Millennials—our generation—are already much more open to these kinds of topics.
Frank: What do you think is most lacking when it comes to sexuality in Mexico? Culturally speaking, I mean.
Ricardo: Platforms with quality content and information. Sites with authority and knowledge, with sexologists and professionals who create quality content and help guide people. That's where we've worked hard to position ourselves.
Frank: I understand you have a team of sexology professionals at Cherish—is that correct?
Ricardo: Yes, in fact our first full-time employee, Celeste, was our first sexologist. And she's our star sexologist. She studied psychology and then earned a master's degree in sexology.
And we don't just offer customer service—we also create content with Celeste and with other sexologists we have on the team. This content is high quality, produced by professionals in their field, and I think that's very valuable for the consumer.
You might also like: HoliHerb, bringing natural balance to all of Mexico
Frank: What types of products does Cherish offer?
Ricardo: We mainly sell sex toys—that's our focus, especially beginner products for people buying a sex toy for the first time. We target that segment because we want to be the ally that guides you through the world of sex toys.
These products are simple and affordable and aim to create a good experience. We have different products for couples, for women, for men, and we also have a wellness catalog with lubricants and stimulant gels, plus a catalog of candles and gift products for occasions like Valentine's Day.
Frank: What do you think is your main lead generation channel?
Ricardo: I think, overall, the outreach work we do. For example, Sexuario is our blog where we create content, videos, gatherings, and we're now starting specialized appointments where you can speak directly with our sexologists.
All of this has been done digitally because of the pandemic, but we have a project we're picking back up—the famous Cherish gatherings, which are similar to Tupperware parties. These are events where the sexologist comes to your home for a bachelorette party or a get-together and provides sexology education.
We've also returned to different markets in Mexico City and hopefully soon in other cities.
Frank: Do you have a lot of offline activities?
Ricardo: We're very limited by social media and Google policies. Because of the type of product, we're usually not allowed to run ad campaigns and we have to turn to promotion methods that aren't paid online marketing campaigns. We have to be more creative.
For example, if you live in Mexico City you've probably already seen the Cherish van with a giant toy on top—we copied the famous scrap metal dealer message from Mexico City saying "Vibrators, dildos for sale, etc…" and I think it's very fun and we've had great results, because it catches people off guard in a positive way and generates laughs and good moments. And that's what we want the Cherish brand to be: a happy experience.
Discreet, on-time, and perfect deliveries
Because of the very nature of the product Cherish sells, deliveries must be discreet, on time, and supported by continuous communication with the customer. These elements define a perfect delivery, and for Cherish this is not optional—it is the standard: every delivery must be this way. That's why they turned to Cubbo.
In fact, the ability to rely on fulfillment in Mexico City has allowed Cherish to guarantee same-day shipping in the capital, maintaining the discretion and precision their customers value in every order.
Frank: How did you come to Cubbo?
Ricardo: We came to Cubbo because our business angels—our investors—recommended them. I had very good contact with Josu and Brian, who are the founders of Cubbo, and reaching out to them was driven by a happy problem: we had grown so much that we couldn't manage logistics well.
We needed a partner that could operate perfectly on the logistics side. I first connected with Cubbo when they started their operation last year. We evaluated them and decided to wait a bit until our order volume was optimal, and now we've switched our logistics operation and put it in Cubbo's hands.
We want to offer the best customer service in delivery—and in our case, even more. Discretion has to be perfect. The customer has to be well informed, the product has to be delivered discreetly and on time. And we're seeing that Cubbo delivers on this and we're achieving it.
Frank: Was Cubbo your first logistics operator?
Ricardo: No, we had another one before, but we decided to switch to Cubbo for several reasons: first, scalability. We have activations on dates like Valentine's Day or Hot Sale, where we can have up to 500 orders in a single day. These flash sale peaks used to take up to three or four days to process; now, with Cubbo, we got through the first flash sale peak and cleared it in 24 hours.
Then there's the interesting same-day delivery option that Cubbo offers, which lets us stay competitive with Amazon and Mercado Libre, especially in Mexico City where they already offer it. And finally, cost and operations. Cubbo has good pricing at volume and is ideal operationally—before, our team spent a lot of time processing logistics; now that's in Cubbo's hands.
Frank: What are Cherish's plans for the future?
Ricardo: We want Cherish to be the number one platform for love life across Latin America. To do that, we need to expand into other countries. I think Cubbo will be fundamental again because they're already building that logistics network in different Latin American nations, and we'll continue as partners with them, expanding together.
Looking for a partner to strengthen your delivery process, fulfillment, and customer satisfaction? Don't hesitate to contact us—we're the best fulfillment center for eCommerce in Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil. Just click here.
During 2021 at Cubbo:
* Our clients recorded 21% savings in operating costs
* 97.1% of products received were processed and ready to sell within 24 hours.
* We achieved a 99.7% shipping fulfillment rate
* We recorded order preparation accuracy of 99.9875%—that is, 1 error every 8,000 shipments.
* 60% of our deliveries in Mexico City were completed the same day
* We completed nationwide deliveries in an average of 1.3 days
