Ecommerce success case: Esturirafi

Recently, we talked about how to start a new business sustainably, small gestures that together represent a vital philosophy, a way of doing things. 

If we turn the concept around, we find online stores like Esturirafi, behind which are two Galician sisters who began spreading about an environmentally responsible lifestyle from their blog and, over the years, launched into eCommerce. 

Something that is very common among many of the entrepreneurs is to start from the interest and passion for a subject before turning it into a niche. This is the case of Ruth and Nahir, two sisters who have lived their childhood in the countryside, in an environment in which recycling, the use of resources and respect for the environment occurred naturally. 

When these girls grew up and were trained, they understood that it was necessary to take sides and make people share their way of understanding life and, above all, consumption. 

For this reason, in 2014 they launched a blog called Esturirafi (as a wink to a character invented by his father). On it, topics related to ecology, sustainable fashion and, especially, about a not very popular concept up to that point: zero waste or zero waste consumption. 

After more than 500 published posts and different collaborations, we can say that public interest was more than demonstrated. The initial objective was not to sell, but there was a need to cover. 

His articles repeatedly talk about how to change toxic habits for oneself and for the environment. Much of this content is linked to a change in the consumption model that implies acquiring some products different from those we use on a day-to-day basis. Almost unintentionally, they were validating a business idea. 

This is one of the most interesting key points. Due to the nature of the business, building and making trust ironclad is essential. 

We have a community with a very deep knowledge of what they buy and what they want to buy. But, in addition, these users are fully aware of how the market looks for that gold mine as a commercial argument or differential value that allows them to sell more. Sometimes, products are sold as organic that are not so, in which the only objective is conversion. This is called greenwashing and there are a lot of examples (more and more). 

An online store whose origin is to be found on a blog, which, in turn, comes from a real ecological awareness and not from the simple search for an eco-friendly niche just because it is, in Esturirafi they take what they sell very seriously, to the point of not marketing anything they have not tried and that meets some basic premises such as: 

Without very strict quality requirements, the store would not work and the blog would squander all that reputation they struggled so much to achieved. 

Well, although the blog is monetized through fashion sponsors and organic oils from CBD, the store is focused on other different products. 

Basically, we can buy “take-way” products (cotton or jute bags, aluminum cakes, thermos, coffee cups…), cosmetics and personal care, gift and home products. All of them perfectly aligned with users´motivations and purchase drivers. 

Thorough knowledge of their audience: they start from the premise of being part of their own market segmentation. This allows them to anticipate and foresee what can work commercially and what not in this niche: they handle expectations very well. 

Authority: the rise of eco-friendly makes many people want to jump on the bandwagon. In the case of Esturirafi, they have been doing spreading work for years. Both sisters have been joined progressively by a group of collaborators with well-known profiles. 

Contents: it is true that this is not the most outstanding point of their product listings, however it is compensated with the depth of their blog contents, which are very complete and very well aligned with the interest of the target audience.

Grow from the blog: Usually, we see that many eCommerce have a blog associated with the store itself. This is not the case with Esturirafi, which does it just the other way around since the store is an add-on to the blog, a section that seeks to offer solutions to the problems they identify and denounce. 

Honesty: from the published content to the selection of their catalog, everything projects a great respect for their audience, who they understand more as a community than a market segment. They do not sell anything they would not buy, and that is projected.