Only doing what they are good at helps Whoppah grow

Whoppah is an online marketplace for up-market second-hand interior items. Bunnik started the company with her husband in 2019. “We wanted to move and sell our stuff. And then buy new furniture. But in a sustainable way,” she explains. “For second-hand clothes, the online platform Vinted existed. For furniture, Marktplaats was already there but it doesn't focus on art and design. That's how the idea of Whoppah was born. We focus on that gap in the market.”

Puzzle

The entrepreneur sees her work as putting together a puzzle. “I have to know all the parts of the business and how they fit together. And make sure all the pieces fit. This means getting the right people to do the work. Hiring staff experienced in the rapid growth of scale-ups helps with this. For example, we recently hired the chief marketing officer of Marktplaats.”

Learning moments

“Doing what you are good at yourself means finding someone else to do the things you are less good at,” says Bunnik. “Then you can grow, because you can do business faster or cheaper.” It turned out, for instance, that arranging transport themselves was not a good choice for Whoppah.

Bunnik explains: “When we started, we arranged the logistics process ourselves. For our visibility, this was good. About 30 trucks drove around with the Whoppah logo. We also learned a lot about the pitfalls of transportation. Furniture is often large, fragile, and not easy to pack. We discovered how to optimise delivery so that the customer is satisfied. But this put pressure on our profit margin. Also, because the number of customers in other countries was low in the beginning, we could not plan routes efficiently. So, we chose to outsource logistics and built a software solution that several partners work with.

Testing logistics partners

The company ran tests with logistics partners. Bunnik: “I am always thinking about how we can work smarter. So we tested how the process went using different logistics processes for 6 months. For instance, we had the sellers pack the furniture themselves. But this turned out to be difficult because of the different shapes of the furniture. A corner sofa, for instance. And for a while, we collected furniture from the sellers ourselves. Then we packed it and sent it to a logistics partner. But this was too many different operations. We learned that for quality and customer satisfaction, it was best to let specialised companies do all the logistics.”

Knowledge of bottlenecks

Bunnik: “Due to the high number of orders at Whoppah, large logistics partners are eager to work with us. Because we know the logistics bottlenecks and know what our customers want, we go into talks with potential partners well prepared.”

Evaluating agreements

When working together, Bunnik continually looks for improvements. “We have signed a Service Level Agreement (SLA, in Dutch) with our logistics partners,” she says. “This states what we do and do not outsource and what agreements we make about delivery time, complaints, insurance, and so on. Our logistics manager checks whether agreements are met, examines customer satisfaction, and what feedback customers give. We then discuss with a partner what we can improve. So, the learning process continues all the time. And if we are really dissatisfied, we look for another partner.”

Focus on growth

Whoppah's focus is on growth rather than profit. “Being a scale-up means that we invest all profits in the company,” explains Bunnik. “We work based on a financial plan and monitor daily where things stand. For example, we calculate for each order and marketing activity what its profit or loss is. Right now, Whoppah is not yet profitable, but our goal is to become profitable within 2 years.”