Estimated reading time: 9 Min
Héctor Rubio Fidalgo is no stranger to entrepreneurship or success. This should be a more than enough credential to apply, but we can also add that Héctor is the CEO and founder of IntegraMedia Group, the group that consolidates the two successful ecommerce Eroticfeel.com and WebCartucho.com.
Both brands with an international reach and with peculiarities and complexities that separate them by far, from any ecommerce basic. Neither of these two ecommerce is what we would call “easy” to operate. And even less so its logistics.
However, oddly enough, both brands are extremely successful and share the same logistics. This is his story, a lesson in efficiency, a good mind and a lot, what a lot, entrepreneurship.
Tinta de Emprendedor
Frank: Hector, let's start by explaining your story a little bit, because that way, people may not understand what a website about erotic products has to do with another about cartridges for printers. How and when is it born? IntegraMedia?
Hector: Integramedia was born in 2006 in the room of my parents' house. I founded it. And notice that he was not born thinking either of WebCartucho or of EroticFeel. In fact, it was born for a video game that I had created after finishing my computer studies, it was a browser game called Medievol which reached more than 100,000 players in different parts of the world. But hey, in the end, I couldn't go on with it, because I only had the support of my brother, and we couldn't keep up with the pace required to jump to mobile devices. So the game died in the year 2012.
Frank: And how do you go from an online game to a ecommerce?
Hector: I always had the nerve to sell something online, something physical, and then we decided to sell online using the eBay portal. At that time in Spain, e-Bay was the most thriving marketplace. And we started selling computer equipment, ink cartridges, etc. I'll tell you about the year 2012. At that time we were already with two people, we already had a small office and we weren't at my parents' house - laughs Héctor - We were in the old town of León in Spain and the truth is that for a ecommerce... It wasn't the ideal place either.
Frank: They then started with a marketplace. When and why do they take the leap to creating their own? ecommerce?
Hector: The year after starting e-Bay, we decided to launch our own ecommerce, WebCartucho.com, a website for the sale of ink cartridges online. We did it because we already saw that the ecommerce it worked really well and we decided to launch our own.
It was based on Prestashop and I set it up myself. And nothing, before the end of that year we already had to go to a place of 100 square meters because of the growth we had. We had a small office with a warehouse, all together, we were then about four or five people.
Frank: On what date exactly was this?
Hector: WebCartucho was born in June 2013 and from that moment on we sold in parallel on e-Bay and WebCartucho.com
Frank: And was that difficult for you? Many brands get entangled when they try to do this dual strategy, due to the normal limitations of marketplaces.
Hector: Yes. That is why in the marketplaces we have made the decision not to sell directly under the Webbrand, but rather we sell the products that we can market on Web, but with an independent brand in order to have more freedom in terms of prices and promotions.
From León to the world!
WebCartucho.com And EroticFeel are born in León, Spain. And from there they have conquered half the world. However, this task has not been easy and they have had to learn to combine rapid growth with the necessary pause to locate, prepare and digest the realities of each new market.
Frank: Hector, you now sell halfway around the world. When did they start to internationalize?
Hector: In 2016 we began to internationalize, obviously in Europe first because we are a Spanish company and it was easier and more natural to start here. This is how we grew up in France, then Ireland, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Portugal and the following year, Germany. In Italy we only went out last year. And it must be said that WebCartucho has been translated into each of the languages of the countries where we operate, both the brand and the content. In other words, it is Webcartridge in Spain and Mexico and in the United Kingdom it is WebCartridge, in France WebCartouche, in Germany WebPatrone and in Italy WebCartridge, for example.
Frank: I imagine that the place of 100 square meters was too small for them.
Hector: Yes. And the ecommerce on Prestashop as well. In 2016, we made a change of platform, developing our own ecommerce tailor-made, because we were technological from birth, and then we moved to the current facilities, which are facilities of more than 1300 square meters with a warehouse of more than 1000 square meters in height and we were having a turnover of 3 or 4 million euros.
Frank: At that time, EroticFeel didn't exist yet. When does it occur to them to mix cartridges with vibrators?
Hector: - He laughs - It's just that we were bored and wanted something that would challenge us. That's why the next important milestone came in 2019 when we said, this is all very good, but we need something to give us another rhythm and to make us grow in terms of marketing. Because in the end you sell the cartridge on demand, it's not a product with which you're going to be able to tempt someone to buy it and take it home. Either you need it, or you don't buy it.
So, we did research on business verticals and opportunities for ecommerce in Spain and we came up with the idea of erotic toys.
We thought there was good demand and so EroticFeel was born. This would be around 2018 and in February 2019 we launched EroticFeel.com
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Quality support
A strong point of EroticFeel is that it has the official support of the leading brands in the erotic world. Something that differentiates them from their competition and in particular in Spain, they are the only ecommerce which has this official support.
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Frank: I don't think this name has been translated
Hector: No. We chose a name that would work internationally and in a single domain and set out to internationalize the brand quickly. Due to the type of product, over the course of 2019-2020, we came out in approximately 18 countries.
And oddly enough, with ink cartridges, we never made the leap to Latin America until last year. Whereas with EroticFeel we took the leap in 2020.
Localized and efficient logistics
Precisely one of the points of greatest containment - for both brands - has been the legal and logistical issue to be able to carry their products throughout Europe, the United States and Latin America.
In this regard, they have found a fundamental ally with Cubbo.
Frank: Why did EroticFeel make the leap to Latin America faster and took so long with WebCartucho?
Hector: Good first because the product at EroticFeel is the same for all regions. In WebCartucho it happens as with games and movies, which are “region locked” and cartridges from Spain do not work in Latin America and vice versa. There are regulatory specifications that make them different and they must be produced individually for each region.
Frank: Logistically WebCartridge must be extremely difficult to carry
Hector: Yes. Because it's also a low ticket and an on demand product. And that makes it logistically very complicated. For example, it prevents you from giving away the cost of shipping, more easily paying for returns, or any other type of strategy. A high ticket allows you to do a lot more things logistically.
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Own manufacturing
WebCartucho sells its own ink cartridges. They produce them themselves in China and adjust the specifications to meet the qualities and requirements of each region.
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Frank: You do the logistics of both brands together, right?
Hector: Yes, that's right. And what we do have in common is that in both EroticFeel and WebCartucho the packages are very small and not perishable.
Frank: And how did they come to Cubbo?
Hector: The problem with Latin America is that you need to send from the United States, or from Latin America directly, because sending from Spain the shipping cost is very high and you need the ticket to be high, and when I say stop, I tell you more than 50 euros. Because otherwise you're not competitive.
In addition to that, there is the customs problem. For example, to the United States, we ship products with a declared value of up to 800 euros without any type of customs, but in Latin America, this cannot be done. And it's not just a legal problem but an administrative and efficiency problem. In Europe, no customs procedure takes more than two days.
At the beginning, when we operated EroticFeel in Mexico with shipments from Spain, we had problems with customs with more or less 20% of the packages, they stopped them with any excuse. And that's why we decided to settle there. We created a subsidiary in Mexico and are looking for a Fulfillment, we started talking to Josu and decided to bet on Cubbo. And the truth is that we are doing very well.
Frank: And how is the current process of your logistics with Cubbo?
Hector: Originally, our product, if it was the erotic one, we imported it from Europe and took it to Mexico. If it was WebCartucho, we take it from our supplier in China, where our factories are located, directly to Mexico and we distribute it from our warehouses in Mexico. Nowadays, after refining the machinery, we already do both operations of Fullfilment from Mexico with Cubbo.
What caused us the most problems was refining local payment methods in Mexico.
Frank: Operating locally in Mexico with Cubbo Has it caused them any problems?
Hector: Yes but not by Cubbo. Let's see, the problem we have is a reduction in the EroticFeel catalog. Because of the type of product it is, it requires certifications. Certifications that we do not have for all the products of that brand because we have to get them out with the Mexican authorities. That's why, for now, we have the catalog reduced to 300 references out of the more than 2000 that we have. But we hope that little by little it will be solved.
Frank: And with WebCartridge?
Hector: With WebCartucho, having logistics in Mexico, which is what makes us Cubbo, has opened up the possibility for us to have the business there. Because otherwise, with the ticket so low that WebCartucho has, it would be crazy to work everything with shipments from Spain.
Frank: Héctor, you are an entrepreneur with extensive experience. What convinced you to Cubbo, why did they decide to give it the chance?
Hector: Honestly, it was Josu. Talk to him and see how passionate he was about the world of ecommerce, that's what convinced me. To see that it was not a company that only gives you a service with certain conditions and that's it, and if you like it you take it and then nothing, but that there was a genuine interest in offering a solution. In addition, they transmitted their vision of growth to us all over Latin America and we immediately thought: it's great to grow with these people.
Frank: And have they continued to grow in Latin America with Cubbo?
Hector: We are now arriving in Chile and unfortunately we cannot do it with Cubbo because they're not there yet. But in Colombia, yes, we are going to do it with Cubbo and we are careless because we know that Cubbo it will do just as well as in Mexico.
After we have these two countries if I think we will wait a few months to be able to establish these three markets. Which one will be next? Logically I think Brazil, but without losing by far other markets that can also be very interesting.
Frank: To close, what advice would you give to an entrepreneur who wants to set out to create a ecommerce to sell in Latin America?
Hector: Well, I think the first thing is that for any entrepreneur who wants to create a ecommerce I would tell you to rely on a marketplace to get started. It's true that the marketplace doesn't allow you to do the cool things you can do on your own ecommerce, but it gives you encouragement at the beginning and that matters a lot.
The second thing, with regard to Latin America, I think it is a market that is true that it is not as mature as Europe or the United States, but that is precisely why it is interesting, because there is so much to do and there are so many opportunities. I believe that Latin America has enormous potential and whoever positions itself now will be like the one that positioned itself in Europe ten years ago.
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