YC Yu: When we're creating new pages, it has to be error free, bug free. We don't want people kind of rage clicking on a button on a site because they think it's a button, but it's not a button. They guide you. You can look, taste, feel the coffee. You know, you learn about the Nespresso magic and how everything comes together. It's a whole nother mindset, right? It's about growth, it's about brave, not perfect. It's about testing, learning. It's finding that balance of how do we digitalize some of that wow experiences that we have in store to kind of lead into where we want to be as an E comm channel.
[Voiceover]: Welcome to ADD to cart, Australia's leading e commerce podcast that Express delivers all you need to know in the fast moving world of online retail. Here's your host, Bushy.
Nathan Bush: I hope you've got a big cup of coffee with you as we get into today's episode. As we know, great coffee isn't just about the taste, it's about the experience. It's a product where a place, a smell, a habit can evoke really powerful memories and emotions in us. So the question is, how do you bring that to life online? And today we are lucky enough to talk about it with just the biggest coffee company in the world. Welcome to ADD to cart. My name is Bushy joining you from the land of the terrible people here here in Brisbane, Australia. And today I am chatting with YC Yu who is the head of E business at Nespresso Australia. Over the last five years, YC has helped transform Nespresso's digital experience, moving from electronic commerce to experiential commerce. It's a different type of E commerce and it's not just about selling coffee pods. It's about creating an immersive, personalized journey that keeps customers coming back time and time again. In this episode there are so many nuggets of wisdom. YC shares how her team is balancing global strategy with local relevance, how the Nespresso team are bringing AI into the picture, how they've set up subscription models and how they personalize to elevate the online coffee experience. Plus, YC reveals her secrets to building a high performing e commerce team and why she believes in stealing with pride. And when it comes to innovation, if you haven't already, I would love to extend an invite for you to join us on our live webinar coming up this Wednesday. That's this Wednesday the 19th of February and we will be talking all about the retailer's Guide to Shopify's Winter Editions. As you know, Shopify dropped over 150 new features and luckily enough I have dawn from Shopify and Chris from Ozhair and Beauty here here to make sense of it because I don't expect you to understand or get your head around 150. We are going to go through them and find the ones that are most relevant to Australian retailers. So you need to register to join. Head on over to add to cart.com register for the webinar and we will send you the link to the live webinar where you'll also get to ask your own Q and A questions on Zoom. As always, a big shout out to our partners Klaviyo and Shopify for for making this episode and this podcast possible. Now let's brew up some e commerce insights with yc.
[Voiceover]: Yc welcome to add to cart.
YC Yu: Thanks so much for having me. Long time listener, first time caller.
[Voiceover]: I love the callers when they come in. We first met at Imedia on the Gold Coast a couple of years ago at that awkward speed dating chaos event.
YC Yu: Networking, yes.
[Voiceover]: Kind of hit it off straight away. I was really impressed by how generous you were with sharing your knowledge and how much you were keen to learn from others. Sometimes you go to those events and there's a vendor and a retailer situation and it's all like, all right, what have you got for me? You're like genuinely wanting to have a two way conversation. And from that point on I was like, oh, you're really interesting, you're really curious and I love that in leaders in ecom.
YC Yu: For me, like attending these kind of events, it's really about gaining inspiration and learning from others. Have a strong growth mindset. Evolution is my purpose. So the minute I get into a room, I meet people and somebody like you, I'm like, I have to pick your brain. There's so much I want to know. So let's, let's have a conversation. And here we are, I guess two years later. We've worked on a few things together, did a workshop. You're kind of part of our E. Com journey, which is exciting.
[Voiceover]: That was fun. That was great that workshop day.
Nathan Bush: But we are here to learn about you.
[Voiceover]: So I'm going to not allow you to pick my brains in this one. I'm going to pick your brains for our listeners. Let's start because you are head of E business at Nespresso, obviously a huge global organization. Tell me about what the head of E business at Nespresso does.
YC Yu: But it's really clear why we exist and what my role is. It is about three things. Performing, transforming and thriving. And performing, I guess meaning we're rolling out campaigns and making sure that the site has a seamless journey for customers. Transforming, kind of strategizing, accelerating the channel and then thriving is really about growing self, leading the teams, making sure that they're engaged, they're high performing and yeah, they're growing.
[Voiceover]: Awesome. So what does a typical day look like for you then across all those three areas?
YC Yu: No two days is the same, but it usually covers I guess, one of three areas. Right. So I'm either reviewing or gathering data. So we pride ourselves on being customer centric and data driven. So we're always looking at whether it's sales results, how the categories are performing or we're looking at engagement stats, so conversion rates, banding cards, things like that, into what customers are saying about us. So customer voice, request for assistance, all of those topics. And then it's also to kind of keeping abreast of trends like there's just so much happening out there. What do we pick that we can use internally that makes sense to the higher vision? I guess the second thing is about strategy and planning. So working with the leadership team and coming up and strategizing the longer term vision and then planning with the team from rolling out features on the site to campaigns to even what goes on our homepage because we change that quite frequently and there's a lot of testing and learning and then finally it's about execution. So once we review the data we've strategized, we've planned, it's really about rolling it out. And then throughout that it's just lots of collaborations within our E Business team, within other functions, agencies and then as part of the leadership team, obviously we want to make sure we're driving an engaging team as well and making sure that they're thriving.
[Voiceover]: That to me sounds like a bit of a head fuck, for lack of a better words, because you're going between some really high level activity in terms of big picture strategy, engagement with senior stakeholders all the way through to measuring and AB tests and doing analytics like all that way through. How do you maintain a focus throughout all that?
YC Yu: Yeah, so again, I think you'll pick up on this. I'm quite structured, but I'm also, I like things simple. So within the three kind of roles we play, it's about making sure that you have the right mindset when you're going into each. Well, first of all, I guess it's about balancing Each of them and then going into each, you have to have a very clear mindset, right. So when you're performing it's about executing with excellence. So when we're creating new pages, it has to be error free, bug free. We don't want people kind of rage clicking on a site because they think it's a button, but it's not a button. And then it's about the 1 percenters, right? Like how do you continuously improve? So from a the product pages, for example, we've now launched coffee specialist testimonials. We've then added recipes. So it's about constantly improving with kind of the 1 percenters. And then when you get into transforming, it's a whole nother mindset, right. It's about growth, it's about brave, not perfect. It's about testing, learning. You know, we decide what's a MVP and we go live with it. And then we let customers kind of tell us which part of it they like, which part of it they don't like and then we iterate. So it is a different mindset and once you're clear on it, then when you go into each, it's easier for you to find an approach that makes sense.
Nathan Bush: Do you do anything to get yourself
[Voiceover]: in the right mindset?
YC Yu: Yeah, I think looking after yourself, right. Making sure that there's and everyone's work life balance is different for me it's even just the basics like making sure that you get enough rest. Water is life. I mean coffee is too, but there's water in coffee. You always there is water in coffee. Making sure that is and really kind of doing what you love. I think when you figure out what that is, then the days go by really quickly and you don't feel like you're working.
[Voiceover]: That's always struck me about you and especially when I see you around your team. You've been at Nespresso for five years but it feels to me like you've still got day one energy and passion for what you and the team are trying to achieve.
Nathan Bush: I want to go back to what
[Voiceover]: you said there around trends and transformation. Obviously Nespresso shook up a coffee industry that is hundreds of years old with the pod systems and the make coffee at home yourself. That was simple and easy to do. I can imagine now that that's a well ingrained concept in market and people recognize it and know it. There are times where it feels like you are having change or transformation put onto you rather than being the leaders of the change.
Nathan Bush: Always. Is that fair?
YC Yu: There's Power in being the pioneer in this space. And like you said, we created the category back in the 80s. But the beauty of the brand is we keep innovating. We're the originals but we keep innovating. We come up with new products, whether it's limited editions and new machine lines or accessory lines to kind of all tie back to what the system is all about. It is that Nespresso magic where the coffee, the machine, the accessories work together to deliver that perfect cup of coffee. Every time it takes out the guesswork. The machine in our virtual line, the machine reads the barcode and understands what cup size it should be brewing. And then you touch the button, there's roast and ground coffee inside the capsule. It's hermetically sealed for freshness. You don't have to worry about coffee oxidizing but you know, the coffee goes into the machine, the machine reads the barcode, it just extracts the coffee and there you have it. It's consistent every single time, you know what you're getting. And most of all it uses the exact energy, water and coffee to deliver that one cup. So you're not also. There's also no waste. And we call that precision consumption.
[Voiceover]: Precision consumption. I love that looking on your website. Before we came on today, I had a look through and I was like where are we at Nespresso? What are we doing at the moment? And I saw that you've got a gift with purchase there at the moment as well as win a trip to Byron, I think it was. One thing that strikes me is that exactly like you said, you rely on introducing new flavors, new products, updating things, limited releases, gift with purchase rather than discounting. Is that a deliberate strategy is to try and keep prices as stable as possible, but keep things interesting by offering throughout the ecosystem.
YC Yu: For us it's really important to kind of demonstrate value beyond price. And we have the largest range of coffee capsules and we do have high quality coffee. So we full on back the product and we add value in different ways. For example, with the gift with purchase that we're running currently, it's actually this ice tumbler that you get and. Yeah, exactly. And you can make the perfect iced coffee in it. And it all comes into that Nespresso lifestyle and creating that exceptional coffee experience for you and your coffee corner at home.
[Voiceover]: Awesome. And so obviously we can't ignore that Australia is part of the global Nespresso business. Can you talk us through that model? Because you look after the Australian E business team here, but linked to the global strategy and the Global executions. What are the positives and potentially challenges to that model?
YC Yu: Yeah, I mean, for me, two big positives when you work for a global company. The first one is scale. I mean, you've got global teams working on all aspects of the brand and the business. Right. So like we've already mentioned new product innovation, whether it's limited coffee edition coffees or it's even new permanent ranges. Even from a brand point of view, I mean, having George Clooney as a global ambassador, you know, we can do that as a global brand. The other thing for me is about community. We have quite a tight E Comm team around the world and we have a head of E Comm chat. We have daily interactions. The beauty of that is someone somewhere out there is working on the same thing on a similar thing, trying to answer a similar question you have, or trying to solve a challenge that you might have. And as you know, I love picking people's brains, but you know that we just put it out there. Oh, how you guys working, you know, potentially with SEO? How are you guys increasing aos? Oh, we tested this banner on the page and it's working. And you know, we're getting more opt ins here through different strategies. So there's a lot of sharing, there's a lot of inspiring, there's a lot of also brainstorming. Some of the other markets are now, funnily enough, going into buy now, pay later and they're like, how is that going? I'm like, it will change your life.
[Voiceover]: You're like, oh, we kind of did that five years ago.
YC Yu: So, yeah, things like that. I think those are the two big positives that I would say. On the flip side, I think sometimes working for a global brand, you can't really have a one size fits all approach. Right. And Australians really like local. So it is about like what we call globalization. It's making things relevant. And a good example would be there's a lot of assets that come out of HQ that has espresso coffee. But we know that 86% of Australians drink coffee with milk, so then that doesn't resonate as well. And then we basically change some of the artwork to feature coffee. We always feature coffee with milk.
[Voiceover]: Yeah, okay, that makes sense. In terms of those other markets, are there any that particularly inspire you that when you're having those chats in those groups you're like, oh, they're always doing really interesting stuff, like not necessarily from an espresso perspective, but just as an E commerce market.
YC Yu: Yeah, so many. I mean, the UK does a lot of interesting things. They're always also testing and learning different things on their PLPs. Personalization is big for them. Also big for us. We're always dealing with pride from them on how they personalize.
[Voiceover]: Dealing with pride.
YC Yu: Yes. The US also is another big market and they have quite a big team and they do a lot in that space as well with content. And we're quite similar. So between US and uk, us, Canada, we're, we have, we're similar markets in terms of maturity, in terms of customer life cycles, in terms of English speaking. And then we always look to some of the Asian markets that do some also fantastic things, but on a different scale. Right. They obviously have to localize more than we do and we pick up a lot of that as well.
[Voiceover]: Yeah. Cool. And I'm really interested in the globalization concept in terms of how and where you draw boundaries. And obviously every global organization will be different and the cultures will be different in organizations. But from your perspective, how much can you personalize the experience to the Australian market? Because obviously there are limitations around the marketing materials that you may inherit, the technology stacks that you use, the ways of operating. How do you draw that distinction of how far you can go with your localization?
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YC Yu: You have to be quite pragmatic about that because the beauty of us being that global brand is that the brand has been built to that level, that people recognize it. Right. So you don't want to not take, you don't want to kind of change everything that comes out of global. You want to take the best of what comes out of global from a concept and a strategy. And I think at the same time we're a business that is customer centric. So we want to make sure that the brand resonates with customers in different markets, which is also why we have offices in different markets to be able to do that. So there will be stuff that we're like, hey, there's no reason to touch this. And then there's things that we will go local with. I guess an example of that, you know, from a strategic point of view is last year our global and our local CEOs became signatories of the women's empowerment principles. And that's really about promoting gender equality, female empowerment to drive positive outcomes for societies and businesses. So from a global level, we're working with women in coffee farms, we're training, we're kind of leadership, financial literacy, all of that on quite a global scale. And then on the local level we've partnered with Toogood Co. So they're great company, they're Sydney based, they support and empower. They also employ women kind of with that lived experience of homelessness, domestic violence. And we've the teams have gone and done kind of volunteering days with them. We've had campaigns where we've donated proceeds to them. So that's I guess taking something that's a global strategy and then making it also make sense locally. And then from a really tactical again where I come back to like assets, recipes, even on the site again we feature machines bundled with, you know, an aeroccino milk frother because customers drink milk coffees and we always feature recipes that talk to, we feature latte recipes. So those are the kind of things that you know are more tactical, that we globalize.
[Voiceover]: Yeah. And what strikes me there is that there's also a role which we haven't talked about around. There's a global mission and values that you can translate into how you execute locally as well. And we're going to come back to leadership and teamwork and I can imagine that that translates for you and that's part of your role because I love that example around supporting women from a huge scale worldwide but then being able to do something in your own backyard. Before we get into that, I'm keen to dig a little bit further into the E commerce model because I know that with all different types of coffee available, even different types of machines that take different types of pods subscription model, your E commerce model could get complicated pretty quickly. What's the most challenging aspect of E commerce for you at Nespresso?
YC Yu: Yeah. So maybe I'll kind of explain the journey that we've been on which you've kind of been part of. A couple of years ago, we set out on a journey to reposition the E and E Com from going from electronic commerce to experiential commerce because customers were telling us they like the site, it's very transactional. But coming back to what we talked about before, they wanted value beyond product. So we kind of went on this journey of transitioning to become more experiential with the vision for the site to deliver that Nespresso experience to you anywhere via, you know, your device. And it wasn't so much about foregoing functionality for the sake of being immersive. It was about evolving from something that was mostly transactional to one that was a hybrid. Right. So we still want to deliver that seamless, consistent journey, but we're evolving to a site that kind of leverages what makes us great. So from a direct to consumer, it's first party data and using that for personalization. And then also from an experience point of view, we go back to looking at our boutiques, which is the cornerstone of that exceptional coffee experience that you get when you go into the store. And we want to, with an Omni channel approach, make that kind of digitalize some of those elements. Right. So we really take a lot of inspiration from our boutiques. You go into the store, you get greeted by our coffee specialists. They guide you, you can look, taste, feel the coffee and you know, you learn about the Nespresso magic that I and how everything comes together, which I kind of explained to you before. So the way that we've kind of done that online, I mean, talking about challenge, getting people to taste online is a challenge, but it is about educating and you know, we write how to guides and articles online that you can refer to. We have the coffee quiz. We're launching a machine quiz that came out of the workshop that we did with you. And it's about personalizing and simplifying that experience and kind of mimicking what we have in store, but potentially not. Like there are some things that you can't do on a digital level, but we take a lot of info from them and we sometimes give out sample sets so without online orders. So you can actually try different lens for your next order.
[Voiceover]: It's a big benchmark. I remember when I got my first Nespresso machine, it would have been about 15 years ago, I dare say. And I remember walking into the Queen Street Nespresso store and I was totally unprepared because I was just like, oh, I'm going to go and pick up some pods and then go home. And I walked in and then you've got this like red carpet velvet row. And then someone greeting you all dressed up properly and saying, hello sir, how are you? Come take a seat, let me make you a coffee. And then talking you through everything, I'm like, oh, I just came in to buy pods. I wasn't expecting a full experience. And then for you to then have to go, all right, well how do I replicate that experience online? That's a big challenge.
YC Yu: It is. It would be things like when you log in, it says, hello Nathan. That's kind of where we've gotten to. And then we do kind of surface the search bar a little bit where it says, how can we help you today? So again, it's finding that balance of how do we digitalize some of that wow experiences that we have in store to kind of lead into where we want to be as an E Com channel, which is delivering that Nespresso experience to you wherever you are, via whatever device you have.
[Voiceover]: Is there any execution that you're most proud of in your five years so far of being able to put that experience in front of the as the E in E commerce?
YC Yu: I would say probably the coffee profiler quiz that we created a couple of years ago. So it's a 3 minute 10 question quiz that gives you a recommendation of what is that perfect coffee match for you. And it was a great local collaboration we did with our coffee ambassadors, with our marketing team, the brand team, our front end developers, we went out to our coffee community to test and learn, making sure that it is the matrix works and it is giving you the right coffee at the end. And then we've since evolved with one click add to cart and things like that to make the experience more seamless. And it works for new customers who are completely new. And then they come onto our side and are like, oh my God, there's so many coffees, where do I start? So this works for them and also works for existing customers because we know in Australia a majority of our customers tell us they don't order the same thing twice, they switch up their order. So they like exploring. And the quiz is also a good place for them to explore new blends of coffee.
[Voiceover]: And do you measure success on that on conversion rate?
YC Yu: Post quiz, we look at engagement of the quiz itself, how far people get when they start the quiz, do they finish, do they go through all of the questions towards the end, what the add to cart rate is and then yeah, ultimately conversion and sales.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, I could imagine a big part
[Voiceover]: of the goals for you and your team is driving regular customers towards a subscription model. Any tips off the top of your head on how to give an experience that does encourage subscription and allows you to give a good subscription experience?
YC Yu: You have to understand the customer journey and when to offer that. As a offering we have a coffee plus which if you set out a reoccurring order and it's over 75, you know, you get free delivery and we send you the coffee in the frequency that you want. So it could be two weeks, it could be a month. What we learned is that suggesting it their second or third order, once they learn about what are the blends that they like and what orders they make, then it's easier for them to create a reoccurring order.
[Voiceover]: Allow them to get settled in first.
YC Yu: Exactly. But at the same time it's also important to drive that awareness. So we do feature it on the homepage across the site, like where you are buying coffee, just so that they have at the back of their mind that we have the service, it will be from the homepage to the PLP, even on the PDPs. And then we talk about it as well post purchase. Right. So you've placed an order, you've checked out on the thank you page, we'll say, hey, why not make this a reoccurring order and it's a one click, they can create it from there.
[Voiceover]: That makes a lot of sense. You've mentioned a few times customer centricity and voice of customer. Do you have any tools or methods that you use that you think are unique to help you bring that data in that may not just be clicks and retrospective, but how do you get a true version of that voice of customer in terms of the experience that you're serving up online?
YC Yu: We do quite a few things. I mean a lot of it is quite traditional, right. So we look at the quantitative, the qualitative. Your GA4s. We use Glassbox as our on site monitoring tool, but we also then do and we have customer voice surveys, customer satisfaction surveys as well. And we have all of that data that comes to us. We also then run usability testing, AB testing to find out specific things that we want to know. And I think sometimes that is quite powerful. Getting people to go through the site to perform a task and then telling you the pain points or what they really like about it. And as somebody who works in the brand and lives and breathes it, there's things that you kind of overlook. Right. Then people are like, hey, I'm a coffee machine novice and beginner. I don't know why I need a machine with eight steam froth settings. I just want to make coffee. And we're like, touche. Okay, I hear you. So we do usability studies, and then we go into AB testing, because sometimes customers tell you they want something, and then when you put it out there, the action might. So we do a mix of that to kind of get to understanding more about the customer behavior. So I think it is a mix of looking at raw data and what customers kind of intentionally tell you, and then also what customers aren't really telling you and how they're behaving would be what we do as well.
[Voiceover]: And since you've been at Nespresso for five years, like you said, you know the brand, you know the product inside out, so it's hard to come back with those fresh eyes of a new customer or someone who's even new to coffee. Like, even. That's a totally different scenario from a customer feedback perspective. Do you find yourself spending as much time with customer feedback now, five years into the role, or are you kind of just picking up the same recurring themes over and over again now?
YC Yu: I think there are some things that are reoccurring, but then there's new trends that come and customers are open in telling you about it, and they might be asking us for, I don't know, a payment option, a new payment option, or a new delivery mode or something that they've come across. So there are always your reoccurring ones, and then there are new ones. And especially in the B2B space, there's a lot of new context coming out of that, and it's a space that's growing, and people are now transacting more and more from a B2B point of view. And we're really leveraging all of our B2C kind of knowledge to make the B2B space the same level of experience, but also different.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[Voiceover]: Is your team responsible for the B2B experience as well?
YC Yu: Yes. 100%. Yep.
[Voiceover]: And do you separate that in your team or do you overlap B2C and B2B?
YC Yu: We have separate sites for B2C and B2B, and they are different. There are similarities in terms of customer experience, making sure that the site is bug free and it offers that seamless experience from your landing page all the way to your checkout. But also the customers are different and the purpose for them being on the site is different. I know you spoke to Brett that Was a really good episode and I love what he's doing and championing the B2B space. But what we know about the B2B customer is, and this was also like a light bulb moment for me when I was told this, the B2B customer is on your site not because they want to, it's their job and you have to make their job easy. Right? Whereas the B2C customer is. They're generally the end user. I mean the B2B person that's ordering coffee, sometimes it's the office manager, the facilities guy, somebody from hr, they might not even drink coffee, but it's also their job to be ordering coffee. Finding a coffee machine for their space, it's less also emotive, right. And they want more technical specs. How does this set up all of those kind of things and very specific things. I want my invoice sent to this email address and I want the order to be dropped at this loading dock. Whereas the B2C space, it's more emotive. You're the end user, right? You want to be on our site, you want to be looking at a coffee machine, you want to be exploring our new and limited edition coffees. So it's a little bit, I guess, for lack of better word, we're a little bit more fluffy on the B2C space than B2B.
[Voiceover]: But I love that because it comes back to experience. Experience doesn't always mean silver service exceptional like ins and outs of the product. It's experience relevant to what that user or that customer is trying to achieve in that moment and deliver the experience. That could be fast and quick like your B2B customer. Or it could be deep knowledge, inspirational content. But it doesn't look the same.
YC Yu: Yeah, exactly. So it is more emotive from the B2C side. But again, it comes down to being customer centric. Right? The sites are the same, the technology is similar. How you approach it is a similar way. As long as you know who the customer is that's transacting on your site, then you can start to tailor the experience more to them and making sure that the content makes sense to them.
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[Voiceover]: our attention towards team and leadership because I think that is one of your superhero qualities. From what I've seen and what I've witnessed the day that I spent with you and the team, there was an incredible energy and passion for what you're doing and everyone I felt had a really great ownership of their space. But just like you, I think I don't know whether it's modeled from you or because it's. Whether it's the people that you try and attract into the team had a curiosity about what everyone else was doing and understanding how they can contribute or how they fit into other people's specialties. When you are bringing people into your Nespresso team, what are some of the attributes that you look for in an E Commerce team member?
YC Yu: Yeah, great question. I mean, specifically for the current team, there's obviously technical skills that I look for depending on whether you're in the data space, the operation space, the kind of the web mastering front end developer space. But what I really look at as you would have picked up from the team is how it's more about the right fit and the attributes. And again, coming back to the purpose of our channel, performing, transforming, thriving. I mean in terms of performing, really look for somebody who's process driven with strong attention to detail. Because we work like a production line, right? So the data guys lead into the operations guys who do the planning, which then leads into the webmastering team. And if somebody falls down somewhere and doesn't communicate, then you know, it's not great and people hold you accountable for it. So I guess to join our team you have to be super process driven and we have a place for everything. Everything is documented. And I think that also the beauty of that is if you weren't here for a day, I can come and pick up where you left off because everything is there, right?
[Voiceover]: Is that process something that's always been there? Is that like an espresso thing or is that a YC thing?
YC Yu: I wouldn't say it's a YC thing. I would say it's a E business. We call us as the E Dream Team. It's a team and it's an evolution. Right. We started out because we use the Microsoft Suite. So we use Planner as our kind of project management tool for tasks and we use OneNote for the display repository of information. We have SharePoint and we have very, I know this is quite rigid, but we have very clear rules of how do you use each, where everything goes, naming conventions, etc. But we evolve, right? So every half a year or year we kind of review how we work and it's like what's working? What do you stop, start, continue. And then the guys will feedback things. I'm not as operationally involved but then they'll tell us, you know, this OneNote with all these things that doesn't work anymore, we have to switch it up. So it's kind of something that evolves with the team and they all have something to contribute to it. And that's why I think you sense that ownership because it's something that we built together. And I'm not, you know, it's not YC and the Edison's team, like I'm part of that team together. Like we're a collective.
[Voiceover]: Awesome.
YC Yu: I feel like we've gone on a tangent.
[Voiceover]: No, we have and I took you down there so it's my fault. We were talking about the attributes you look for in a team member apart from the obvious skills and fitting into process. When you are interviewing, is there any special questions or any special cues that you look for to go? Yeah, they fit the culture more kind
YC Yu: of about them, right? About their purpose, about what drives them, what motivates them, situational questions. I mean one of the things as you mentioned about that you picked up from the team, they all have a growth mindset, right? They're curious, they want to see what's out there and they work together really well. So you know, I look for somebody who is curious as well and you would ask them things like what's the latest trends that you might have seen or which other retailer are you inspired by? Things like that and then kind of working together, seeing how they operate together and their strong communication skills. We I guess over communicate on a lot of things but it makes sense just so that everyone is across everything and anything and that's how then the team becomes tight knit. And it's also about sharing openly. You know, I talk a lot about growth. We have sessions where we openly share what we're working on, like our own development goals, what challenges we have, what are we grateful for, things like that. And it's a very powerful session. Right. It's a little bit daunting also for some people. But you Become then very vulnerable. Right. And we go around the room. I mean like obviously there's a lot of pre work and I asked to tell them I'm going to be asking these questions so I don't just bombard them by openly sharing what you're working on. Right. So it could be you want to speak up more in meetings or you want to build a bigger network and these might be outside of your general day to day stuff. By sharing it, there's a wider team of people that's there to support you. So we might then be in a meeting and we know you want to speak up more. And I'll be like, hey Nathan, what do you think about this? And the team kind of comes together. That kind of sharing and transparency I think creates that psychological safety. And there's something also called kind of the equational speaking where everyone gets a turn to speak and I think that's also quite powerful.
[Voiceover]: Yeah, that's brilliant. What about you when it comes to growth mindset? You've mentioned that a couple of times. How do you continue your growth mindset? How do you upskill yourself?
YC Yu: Yeah, I think in a lot of ways the big one for me is really on the job learning. So I'm curious about a lot of things. I have a list of questions I want to get answered and then I kind of go out and search for them. How to unpack things, work in cross functional projects and learning new skills from different departments and then coming back to colleagues around the world. Industry experts like yourself. Thank you so much for letting me pick your brain on things.
[Voiceover]: It goes both ways, sharing,
YC Yu: stealing with pride. And then there's obviously the skill based courses. Right. So we use Baymart a lot which kind of tells you what's best practices from a UX point of view. And I'm on that site a lot looking at different things. The B2B E Com association has their professional trainings certification which I'm trying to do at the moment. And then there's like leadership training.
[Voiceover]: Brett will chase you if you don't do it.
YC Yu: Yeah, I know. It is a open tab on my browser, Brett. I'll get to it. And then leadership training and then the other thing is getting inspiration from going to conferences like where I met you and you know, online retailer, et cetera. Podcasts. Your add to cart podcasts.
[Voiceover]: Yeah. So much out there once you go looking. And what I love is you don't just look and absorb everything because you could be drinking from a fire hose. I love what you said. You've Got a list of a few questions that you really want answers to. And if you've done that groundwork of networking and being genuinely open and curious, you'll have a network of people you can ask those questions to when they arise. So I think you do a really great job there.
Nathan Bush: Well, I see I can't let you go without asking.
[Voiceover]: What's your favorite Nespresso flavor? Tell me you're a coffee drinker to start with.
YC Yu: I am.
[Voiceover]: And then you've got to give us a tip. What's the flavor? What's your go to?
YC Yu: Okay, so I would say in the original line, it's India. It's spicy and intense, just like me. And then from a virtual line, it has to be iced Leggero. I mean, it's a coffee made for ice. It's a double espresso. So it's also perfect for latte. It's basically one part coffee, three parts milk, and you get that perfect iced latte in your Tumblr.
[Voiceover]: There you go.
YC Yu: What a tip.
[Voiceover]: All right, if you like your coffee, go in and grab one of them. Improve those conversion rates for YC.
Nathan Bush: YC next 12 months.
[Voiceover]: We've already seen a pretty crazy start to the year. Everything from new AI models to some larger businesses going out of business to changes in the TikTok world. What's your focus for the next 12 months?
YC Yu: Yeah, it's about continuing our journey to experiential commerce, kind of delivering that exceptional coffee experience. We're double downing on the value we offer to our club members, staying locally relevant and then also a big part going into this year. Last year we worked with you to kind of come up with new features like the machine quizzes, revamping our recipe hubs. This year there's also focus on let's sweat the assets, right, what we already have existing. Let's really make sure that we're going through it and making sure that we're optimizing and maximizing it. A big shout out to the guys at coveyo, Alex and the team. So we use them for on site search. They also have product reco tools that we're now exploring their machine learning capabilities, how to then surface products based on user intent, etc. There's like, you know, you use a lot of different, I guess, agencies or platforms and then you use it for one thing and then there's 10 other things that they're good for and then you generally move on to something else. But this year it's like, okay, let's really hone in and like, make sure that we're maximizing and sweating the assets. So that's kind of big on our journey today.
[Voiceover]: Very cool.
Nathan Bush: All right, yc, if people are curious
[Voiceover]: just like you with a growth mindset and they're interested to connect or learn more, what's the best way to get in touch?
YC Yu: You can get in touch with me on LinkedIn or if you want to learn more about the brand, nespresso.com, obviously, you know, opt in, get our emails. It's the best way to stay in touch on what's happening with the brand as a whole. But hit me up yeah.
[Voiceover]: On LinkedIn and do the coffee quiz if you're unsure.
YC Yu: Yes. Good. Plug.
[Voiceover]: Yc, thank you so much for sharing the nespresso journey so far, for sharing your journey. And I think what I got out of it the most was how you've maintained a passion in such a global business by really leveraging in on your team and continually looking for ways to grow yourself. Personally, I think you're a really great
Nathan Bush: example of pushing yourself in a corporate environment because we interview a lot of founders and a lot of small business,
[Voiceover]: but I think you're a great example
Nathan Bush: of how you can take that mindset
[Voiceover]: and make an impact at scale. So thank you for sharing that with us today.
YC Yu: Thank you for having me.
Nathan Bush: I always love catching up with YC and as she mentioned, I have done some work with them in the past, a workshop with their team and everything that you hear about today is actually happening, which is what I love. And YC is an exceptional leader, so everything is true. But there were three key lessons in there for me from that conversation. First one is to stop selling.
[Voiceover]: Start immersing.
Nathan Bush: Nespresso aren't just throwing products on their website and hoping for the best. They are fully committed to building a digital experience that tries to get as close as that feeling when you're in store. That's a pretty high bar for them. That's why they've introduced things like the coffee Profiler quiz, so customers can find the perfect blend just like if they were talking to a coffee specialist. It's about guiding, not just selling. If your website is feeling a bit one dimensional, a little bit templatey, like it could be just off the shelf of any e commerce site, maybe it's time to think about those one or two really interactive immersive experiences that you can add to that to take it to the next level beyond just a standard product or category site. Second, make every order feel like the first one of my favorite takeaways from YC was how most Australians don't order the same thing twice. So instead of pushing the same blends, Nespresso constantly introduces new flavors, limited editions and gift with purchase offers to keep things interesting. And they don't push subscriptions straight away either, even though that might be tempting. They found that the magic happens on the second or third order once customers have figured out what they like. And I really, really love here that they don't just go for that second or third purchase with discounts, they use other things, other product variations, other special offers to bring customers back in time and time again. So there's a really great lesson there around keeping things fresh, adding value beyond price, and not rushing the hard sell. And Finally, I love YC's mindset around sweating the assets before chasing new technology. Instead of just adding new tools, her tool team is spending the year doubling down on what's already working. Take for example, unlocking their search tool and more AI powered recommendations before jumping onto the next shiny app. Always ask yourself, are you fully maximizing what you already have? Because often the best growth opportunities aren't the newest thing and there is a
[Voiceover]: huge opportunity cost in the time and
Nathan Bush: the effort that it takes between switching platforms or switching solutions. So think carefully to think whether you have made the most of sweating the assets you have before chasing new tech. If this episode gave you some ideas, please share it with someone who needs to hear it, especially if they're a coffee addict. And if you're feeling extra generous, leave us a quick review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help others find these e commerce insights. As always, a massive thank you to our partners Shopify and Klaviyo for making this episode possible. We really appreciate their support. Now I think it's time for me to go and grab a coffee. Maybe even a little iced Leggero since YC swears by it. See you next week. Thanks for joining us today on Add to Cart to listen to all our e commerce conversations now in the hundreds. You can head over to addtocart.com au there you can also join up to our free private Slack community to share e commerce ideas, tips and questions with other listeners. You can also subscribe to the Add to Cart weekly newsletter and browse some of the video highlights from our chats. There is a lot there that's add to cart.com au and if I can ask you one thing before you go. If you enjoyed today's episode, make sure you share it with a friend or a colleague who could benefit or leave
[Voiceover]: us a review, it really makes a difference.
Nathan Bush: Thanks again for listening. And until next time, keep those customers adding to cartoon.
