This article, originally posted on February 15, 2014 on Emol.com, has been translated from Spanish to English for AndesBeat readers. To read the original version, click here.
Babytuto subscribers grew from 10,000 in August of 2013, to more than 50,000 of January of this year. They hope to reach 200,000 by the end of 2014.
SANTIAGO.- A few months ago two young Chileans and an Uruguayan decided to create Babytuto, an online platform that is focused on guiding parents through the pregnancy and development of their baby by using tools, information, products, and services.
Based on the concept of excellent customer service – an element of business that the founders say they have learned as ex-managers of Groupon – the site offers a free subscription to its platform and community, which thanks to a mathematical algorithm, suggests products and key information relating to the growth stage of the user’s baby.
“We are 150% committed to delivering a great service to the customer, and this is why we promise that the delivery of our products are made within 48 hours in Santiago and within 72 hours in other regions,” says Desiree Grinspun, marketing manager of Babytuto.
She adds: “We want to be the number 1 online community in Chile for mothers and fathers; in addition, we want to bear witness of their progress in a personalized way, delivering the information they need according to the exact stage of pregnancy in which they find themselves, or the exact stage of growth of the baby once it is born.”
Products in stock
The initiative has 3,000 products on sale, while its closest competitor has around 650, say the owners of the enterprise.
“We have every type of product for every type of client; our prices vary from $500 CLP on educational games or pacifiers, to playground games that cost around $400,000 CLP. The same with chairs and cribs,” says Grinspun.
Among the highest sold items are bottles, high chairs, milk storage bags, breast pumps, walkers, and pre and post-natal girdles. The products come from domestic as well as foreign brands, such as Avent, Infanti, Britax, Medela, Fisher Price, and Huggies, among others.
Enterprise projections
In December of last year the enterprise was accepted as part of the ninth generation of Start-Up Chile. Regarding this, the CEO of the company, Daniela Lorca, comments that “it is a great opportunity, not only in terms of investment, but also to grow as entrepreneurs and begin internationalizing the project.”
With an initial investment of $500,000 USD, Babytuto intends to position itself as the first e-commerce site specializing in babies, mothers, and fathers in Chile. “To achieve that, our goal is to have more than 10,000 products in stock by the end of the year,” says Desiree Grinspun.
Later, they will focus on the expansion of the brand throughout Latin America, especially in Colombia and Mexico. “The growth in users has been steady, and we already have more than 50,000 registered, so from here to the end of the year we could aspire to have close to 200,000,” concludes the marketing manager.
