013: Blacksocks.com the World's 1st Online Subscription Service. How Samy Liechti keeps it Going 18 Years Later…
Background on Samy Lechti:
Samy Liechti was asked by his then boss to attend a last-minute meeting with Japanese customers, he would not have imagined that this day would change his life. Tradition dictates that you take your shoes off for such occasions. It was then that it happened: a mistake so blatant it could not go unnoticed. Samy's socks were odd. One was deep black and smooth while the other was ribbed and faded, with a hole in the big toe.
The embarrassing situation made Samy Liechti think about how to manage his personal sock problem and avoid such situations in the future. And that is how the idea of a sockscription came about.
Time Stamped Show Notes:
- [1:16] He grew up in Switzerland and lived in several places.
- [1:45] He ran a company called Blacksocks which started 18 years ago. It’s all about black socks and they don’t sell socks in a traditional way.
- [2:15] The business all started from when he was working as a business consultant and was invited by Japanese customers to a tea ceremony where he needs to take off his shoes. He was embarrassed since he was wearing a not so good pair of socks. That’s when he think about how to manage his personal sock problem and avoid such situations in the future. And that is how the idea of a sockscription came about.
- [3:02] When the business started, nobody bought a single sock from them.
- [3:51] He studied Business and Economics and worked as a marketing consultant.
- [4:47] He invited his high school friend, who has knowledge on clothes and fashion, to become his business partner. His friend quit the company after 5 years and he now solely manage the business.
- [6:07] 80% of their customers renew their subscriptions.
- [6:40] The company has 7 people and they outsource most of the handworks.
- [7:09] They now ship to 127 countries and sells different apparels for men.
- [7:31] Their producer is a company from Milan, Italy.
- [13:11] The first marketing they did was to email 2000 people.
- [13:38] At the start of the business, eCommerce is not yet focused on fashion and textiles.
- [13:56] “What was crucial for us all the time was the people have a good time and talk about it.”
- [14:20] They want their customers to feel more special by sending them letters using Wunderpen, a company that developed a robot that writes letters as if they were written by human hand
- [16:51] If they launch new products they have 2 rules:
– Potentially, it must be big enough that it make sense.
– They don’t fashion only textiles. - [17:31] “Men are really easy customers (compare to women).”
- [23:07] In 2001, CNN featured the business which got them tons of orders overnight. All their technical infrastructures was in the World Trade Center, which was tragically attacked the very next day. A lot of orders got cancelled and they went offline for 3 weeks.
- [26:00] The business was not earning a lot after several years that his partner decided to quit and focus more on his other business.
- [27:09] In 2005, his business won the Copernican Award, under the category ‘Small enterprise with a turnover of up to 100 million dollars'. This award is given by Customer Experience Council to companies that succeed by putting their customers at the center of their business activities.
- [34:20] “I saw a lot of people writing presentations and business plan but they never really did it. I think that’s the most crucial part that you jump to cold water and just start it.”
Fabulous 4 Questions:
- 📖 📚 Favorite Book(s)? High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
- 🙌😎 Favorite Amazon.com purchase? Vans Slip-On Sneakers for me & my 3 year old son
- 🌱💸 Favorite Tool that's GROWN your Business? Trello
- 💭💡 BIGGEST Challenge keeping your Business from GROWING? Reinvent the business and myself
Key Point from the Interview:
- Wash your socks.
Resources Mentioned:
- Blacksocks.com – The company that sell socks by Subscription
- Wunderpen.com – A company that developed a robot that writes letters as if they were written by human hand
