Ben Gallaga [00:00:00]:
When I started this business with my brother, it was the first time I ever felt something that I was good at. So because I felt that I got so passionate about it and then because when you get passionate about something, you just consume it in every way possible you can. This really proved to me that I can do something really good. And that was just by just doing something all the time, every single day and finding a passion. Because I always say this, like if a lad from Liverpool can sell a handbag on TikTok for thousands of pounds, then anyone can do anything, really.
Paul Archer [00:00:41]:
Have you ever wondered why some brands grow exponentially, building legions of passionate fans that live and die by their logos and some, well, don't? I do, all the time. And that's probably because I'm a massive brand nerd. But I believe there's a secret sauce at the core of every remarkable brand. A formula that sparks the growth of passionate communities, of superfans, building a business and a reputation that will last for years to come.
In this podcast, we tap into the greatest marketing minds in the world as they share the exact tactics and strategies used to build the world's greatest brands. Dropping actionable insights every brand builder can apply.
My name is Paul Archer and I'm a specialist in Brand Advocacy and word-of-mouth. Having consulted for hundreds of brands on a topic co hosting with me is the wonderful Verity Hurd, expert on the bleeding edge of social media.
It's time to learn and build Brand Advocacy.
Paul Archer [00:01:46]:
Yeah, tell me a little bit of a story about how you got to got to be here today.
Ben Gallaga [00:01:50]:
My name's Ben Gallaga and the Co=Founder of Luxe Collective. That's close enough in it. And the co founder of Luxe Collective. I found it with my brother. So what looks collective do? Thank you. What Luxe Collective do is buy and sell pre love luxury goods. So we founded the company in 2018 and two years it was just kind of like selling out my parents spare bedroom and then we took it seriously and then it started to do well and then we found TikTok did really well and then we just grew and grew and grew through lockdown and. And then yeah, we are pretty much where we are today because of TikTok and more recently so which we'll probably talk a lot today about is TikTok Shop and TikTok Live and I actually the reason why I am here today is because I actually haven't spoke about TikTok Live kind of publicly one to kind of like gatekeep to make sure that we're very far ahead before I Start exposing exactly how we do it.
But two, also because I don't think people put on events like this too much to talk about TikTok Live, because people don't really understand it as well as they should or could. So I'm really excited to talk about it because we often just talk about it in our team at work, not really to others, like helping others with it. So I'm very excited to provide a lot of value to be. To be truly honest with you. I've got 27 minutes to do that, so I hope I can. Yeah.
Paul Archer [00:03:16]:
And I'm sure we're going to get some questions on Mum's iPad here for sure. Where are you today?
Ben Gallaga [00:03:23]:
So I was telling you before, right, for Lutz Collective, this year has just been an absolute hell. And I feel like that's why we, or my personal brand does so well, because I do talk really candidly and openly, but obviously we were on Dragon's Den. I don't know whether anyone saw us on Dragon's Den at the start of the year. A lot of nodding heads. So, like, we started the year off so well and, like, it's. It's like that saying, like, the quicker you go up, the faster you fall down. So, like, that's why it's written. And especially with TikTok shop, that's why it's really good to, like, take slow steps.
And we grew far too quickly this year. We were up to, like, 42 people at one point. And, like, for someone who can't even manage 5 effectively, 42 was so overwhelming for me. So right now we're back down to 18 people. My. The biggest advice through the food this year for me is stay as lean as possible for as long as possible. That's a massive mistake. Like, this year's just been full of mistakes and I'm very happy to talk about them.
But, like, with TikTok Shop, with our, like, commitment to TikTok Live, it's really, really put us in a strong position finishing the year, but, yeah, in a really good place now. But this year, up until probably about three months ago, four months ago, when we got broken into, don't know whether people saw that as well. Very, very tough. But if anyone's got any questions about any segment of that, I'm very happy to share.
Paul Archer [00:04:44]:
You got broken into?
Ben Gallaga [00:04:45]:
Yeah.
Paul Archer [00:04:46]:
And were you talking about what could or is a devastating blow to the business? Live, talking to people, communicating it to your audience, your fans, just as it happened, or close to.
Ben Gallaga [00:04:57]:
So I was testing TikTok live. Throughout June and July, doing every single day. Uh, so I would do, like, weekends, um, as well. So I would do, like, late nights on weekends. So I went in on Saturday and then went and went in on Sunday, and then I'd sleep in a little bit on the Monday. And then my brother rings me, my co founder. He's like, did you set the alarm yesterday? I was like, yeah. He was like, are you sure? I was like, yeah.
Why? He was like, we've been broken into. I was half asleep. I literally just woke up. I was like, no, you're lying. He was like, no, we've been broken into. So that day, we go in, we see all the stock everywhere, See all the stock's been stolen. And, like, the only thing I can think of is, I need to make a video on this. So I made a video on it.
It got really, like, the traction was amazing. The comments were really supportive and, like, a lot, like, our community really helped us out through that. Of course, we had to take out a lot of finance because the thing is with our business model is, like, that was essentially our cash. Like, our cash is our stock because we buy stock every single day. So, like, we had to take our finance for that. We had to let a few people go and then we, like, talked about it in real time to kind of let our customers one. Because, like, a lot of people fake break ins, especially around Black Friday, like, represented an amazing one a few years ago. And I was like, we can't put this online without keeping up with, like, the kind of message that we actually did get broken into.
So, yeah, and then we kept them up with real time. And then our customer service team has been amazing, keeping everyone up to date. And we actually got paid out, like, last week. So we're in a really good spot at the moment, but everyone still needs to get paid out for their items. But, yeah, really tough. Really, really tough segment of the year that was for sure.
Paul Archer [00:06:45]:
Did it happen because you were live streaming? People knew?
Ben Gallaga [00:06:48]:
No, I don't think so. No. I think naturally, going on Dragon's Den, the bigger we were getting this and the more we were doing TikTok lives, like, we were showing, like, we were booming on TikTok live. Well, we still are, but we were, like, Booming, booming on TikTok Live back then. So, like, we were just at the forefront of every. Everyone's phones, everyone's attention. So, like, we were all, like, we knew this when we first started. Like, we were always going to get broken into.
It just happened to be that it was this year that it happened. So that's life.
Paul Archer [00:07:19]:
Just to rewind a little bit. You sell luxury handbags?
Ben Gallaga [00:07:22]:
Yes.
Paul Archer [00:07:22]:
You don't strike me as the kind of guy that wears a lot of luxury handbags all the time. Like, how did this come about? Yeah, no, we'll get to TikTok.
Ben Gallaga [00:07:33]:
No, so we'll get that. Ironically, I actually do wear a lot of handbags now, but that's another story. But like back in the day for sure, when I was 17, 18, I was, I didn't even like fashion, to be honest. I probably wore like tracksuits, football kits. Like football tracksuits, whatever. Um, and like, I think I was really lost in high school, so like six form, probably more so like 16, 17, 18. And so when I started this business with my brother, it was really like, it was the first time I ever felt something that I was good at, so because I felt that I got so passionate about it and then. Because when you get passionate about something, you just consume it in every way possible you can.
I just really love fashion now. So it was, it wasn't like, I don't want to sound like it was a saving grace for me because I wasn't like on the worst track in the world, but I, I, it was like, it really, like looks, collectors really proved to me that I can do something really good. And that was just by just doing something all the time, every single day and finding a, finding a passion. Because I always say this, like, if a lad from Liverpool can sell a handbag on TikTok for thousands of pounds, then anyone can do anything, really.
Paul Archer [00:08:51]:
That's the most motivating thing I've ever heard. That's the perfect segue. I mean, you've just sold a particular bag for a huge amount of money on TikTok for the first time this week. Right. Can you tell us about that?
Ben Gallaga [00:09:04]:
Yeah. So we broke the record in the world for selling the first Kelly on TikTok Live. That's not completely true. So it is. No, it is like, it's probably more impressive. It is, but it's only because TikTok. So TikTok, there was a cap at £4,000 up until about four weeks ago. No, two weeks ago.
So before that we used to still sell them on TikTok Live, but we used to just send them to our website. So we still. And they were for more expensive. So we sold a bacon for £12,000, another Kelly for £8,000. So, like the actual registered one was the one last week at Kelly for £6,950. And because they raised the sky, they raised the limit because we were telling them we're selling bags for tens of thousands of pounds and you're not getting any commission on this. So, yeah, they put that up because of us, which is pretty cool.
Paul Archer [00:09:59]:
That's amazing. And what is it that you think is the secret to this? What has changed on TikTok that means that you can get out there and sell a 6,000 pound bag.
Ben Gallaga [00:10:12]:
I say this to everyone, like, it doesn't matter what you're selling on TikTok Shop, whether it's a 7,000 pound bag or a 20 pound T shirt on socials, people don't come on to buy on TikTok, people don't come on to buy, they come on to consume content. Like the last thing they're thinking of is buying. So what you need to do is you need to give them an offer they feel stupid saying no to, like that phrase. It was from Alex Hormozi, I think, in his book $100 million offers. Yeah, $100 million offers. Give. Give people an offer they feel stupid saying no to. So if we're putting a kelly up for £7,000 and we're saying to them, you can save 10%, you're getting 700.
My math is terrible, but that is a simple equation. I should know that.
Paul Archer [00:10:54]:
700.
Ben Gallaga [00:10:55]:
£700, that's awful. £700 off. People are going to feel stupid saying no to that. And like, it's the same for a 500 pound bag if we give you 50 pounds off or 60 pounds off. Because, like, if you, if you give them something that they won't, they don't think they're going to get in the future, then that's what encourages the sales. So, like, although people talk about selling luxury brands on, like we're a luxury brand on TikTok, we're not actually a luxury brand, we just sell luxury brands. So for luxury brands, I do agree that it is quite a lot harder to sell on TikTok, but the theory still goes. Give the user an offer they feel stupid saying no to and that's how you win on TikTok shop.
That is it.
Paul Archer [00:11:36]:
And are you the number one host on this? Do you have a team of people who are getting online?
Ben Gallaga [00:11:40]:
Yeah. So like I was saying before, I did it for 30 days every single day. It was about 45 days every single day for five hours a day, Monday through Sunday, because I won. We were in a really tough position financially and revenue wise. We went where we Needed to be. So I was like, this needs to work, but also two kind of like, proof of concept. If I can do this, then, yeah, the people we get in might not sell as much as me, but we can build a team that, like, maybe two people can sell as much as I can sell, or three people can sell as much as I can sell. So yet now I don't do it at all.
And I've hired a team of like, six people. So TikTok manager, hosts, and then moderators as well. And they're just our bread and butter. Every single day. It's like clockwork. They come in, they do a show, they go home. They come in, they do a show, they go home. And another thing for that sounds like, very repetitive, but another thing is why we win on TikTok shop is that every single show you do, it needs to be.
It needs to offer something that another show didn't. So, like, for us, the reason why we're winning so much and our competitors aren't is that we get in new stock every single day. So 50 to 100 items every single day. So there's a reason why people come to your show. It's exactly like organic content. Give people a reason to come to your show or give. Give people a reason to watch your video. So Monday through Friday, we upload new stock every single day.
There's the. There's the point of value for the customer to come on Saturdays and Sundays. It's. It's not. We don't. We don't offer new stocks. So when we were doing our testing phase, we were like, okay, we need a reason why people come on Saturdays and Sundays. So we started doing auctions.
We started doing double discounts. We started doing free delivery. We started offering something that we didn't offer during the week. And that's a really, really strong point because it's like, yeah, you might not have new constant stock that you can show, but you can definitely switch up the show because we do that as well, if that makes sense.
Paul Archer [00:13:32]:
Think about it. So this is a channel interesting. You talked about shows. We were kind of harking back to media format a few generations ago of tv. Right. And it is very similar to that. Like, is there a cap to this? Or do you think that you've only just started?
Ben Gallaga [00:13:47]:
No, I think social commerce is like the. Like, I might be crazy, but I genuinely think it's like, the future of shopping. Like, why wouldn't it be? Like, it's kind of like back in the day when people were shopping over the Internet. Like I wasn't around, but from stories I've heard, people were like really apprehensive around shopping through the Internet. It was like another world. I just feel like identifying the same patterns over a cycle. It's like, well, if that's what they were feeling back then and people are feeling like this back now and it's going to be what Amazon is. But it's so interesting because like Amazon is this one company, whereas TikTok is like democratizing it for individuals to do so.
It's becoming even easier to shop through a platform. Even easier than the Internet Is there.
Paul Archer [00:14:33]:
Is there a world where you can democratize what you do? You are a single channel. Is there ways you can get other people with multiple channels? Luxe Collective 1, Luxe Collective 2 or Luxe Collective Johnny, Luxe Collective Sarah for sure.
Ben Gallaga [00:14:49]:
However, with us, because we don't have like thousands and thousands and thousands of units of stock, we only have one of each one. It, it becomes quite like there's no diff. Like, like I was saying before, if you were going to do those different channels, you'd want it to differentiate through the channels. But if we were just showing the same stock just on different channels, I don't think it would work for us. But 100% that is a strategy for someone with a lot of skus, a lot of followers if, say they have brand ambassadors that they could have their channels because we thought about this idea of like just hiring, like creating a TikTok page, hiring influencers and just get them to sell from their bedrooms. But because like, and I don't think that would work for our model, but it would definitely work for certain models out there. So like an influencer. Can someone shout out an influencer's name?
Paul Archer [00:15:40]:
Alex Earle.
Ben Gallaga [00:15:41]:
Molly. Alex. Molly Mae. I'm gonna go Molly May because that came from the audience.
Paul Archer [00:15:46]:
I don't really know who Alex Earl is anyway.
Ben Gallaga [00:15:48]:
So pretend Molly May was like 10, 10 years ago when she, she wasn't Molly Mae. Like she was a small time influencer and she, she was a brand ambassador for say Pretty Little Thing. She just creates a new, a new channel being Molly May. Pretty Little Thing. And she could sell the latest collection or just come on and do a show. I think that's a real good strategy for a company to do that. That has thousands of skus. I just don't think we can do that.
Paul Archer [00:16:13]:
David, we still got questions here as well. If you've got anything for Ben, you put it in and I'll be asking them. We had a question earlier that I actually would like to put to you, which was like, do you think TikTok shop can devalue a brand?
Paul Archer [00:16:26]:
Hey, it's me again. This podcast is sponsored by Duel, which is my company, actually. Duel is the leading Brand Advocacy platform used by the top retail consumer brands, including Unilever, Charlotte Tilbury, Elemis Loop, and about 50 more to manage, measure and scale their Advocacy member, affiliate, creator and brand ambassador operations. The platform offers unparalleled scale for complex brands by automating nine out of ten of the standard Advocacy management activities and allowing them to focus on arming their Advocates with the right tools to tell the brand story and drive Social Commerce, they can grow faster for less.
We only work with 15% or so of the brands we speak to, but we try and add value in many other ways, this podcast being one of them. So if you are a brand that's interested in this, maybe a large consumer retail brand, ideally you're doing $20-$30 million as a minimum, and you're pretty advanced on social and you need to know what the next stage is, then please get in touch. Email me at paul@duel.tech, that is Paul @ D, U, E, L Dot T, E, C, H or Google Duel dot Tech.
Ben Gallaga [00:17:35]:
Brand example – P Louise and QVC style. I think so many people say this about P Louise. Like, I think she's so sick. Like, I really love her and I think people are just hating on her because she's doing it the best. Like, look at Molly Mae with her brand that's come out the other day, loads of like half the population were waiting for that brand to come out to hate on her. Like with P Louise, she's so good at like, I used to kind of share a warehouse with Paige. I've never met her in real life, but I've spoke to her loads over messages. She is so good at what she does. Like, she's unbelievable.
And like people are talking about like her vlogs and she's actually stopped her vlogs now because of the hate she was getting and stuff like that. But like people were talking about her vlogs and like her management style and all that sort of stuff and it's like, it's so easy. Just like, just don't work for her. Do you know what I mean? Like, there's so many people who say, like, oh, she, she speaks to a staff like this and that. Like her staff, like her TikTok Live hosts, some of them are earning 10 grand a week. Like she, she's a Killer. She's so good. I don't think it devalues the brand at all.
I think that is the brand. Like the brand is what you make it and she's making it that brand. Like she's got the world record for the amount of US dollars on a TikTok Live. Like I did the Mitchell one with Mitchell, I was like on for an hour with him and he did like a million. Then Paige does it a week later and does like 3, 3 million or something like that. Like she's a killer. Like I don't think it's devalue brands and I think, I think there's a place for everyone and I think it's the exact same as social media when it first started. So many big brands never went on social media because they thought it would devalue the brands.
I think a great version of this to look at most recently is like how many, how many years has organic social media now been out? Like 15, 20 years, something like that, like Diet Coke have only just switched up their strategy from posting still images of a can. Like they've got just some like early 20s Gen Z girl to run their tik to run their Instagram page. And like five, ten years ago they thought that would have devalued the brand when in fact if they would have done that five or 10 years ago, they would have been so far ahead of everybody else. But they're not because they never did it. I just think it's an easy, Sorry, I'm getting quite passionate about this. I, I think, I just think it's an easy excuse for slow moving brands to be like, no, we're not, we're not trying it. That's what I think.
Paul Archer [00:19:51]:
If a brand doesn't adapt to this, this is about to be 42% of their online revenue. Like you're about to lose 42% of your revenue. And if a brand can eat that as a hit, good on them. But most of them aren't going to be here in five years time if that becomes the way you can't adapt it.
Ben Gallaga [00:20:07]:
So we, we went on TikTok live seven months ago, six months ago, July. Again, math my strong point. And it's already 34% of our revenue. Wow, it's crazy.
Paul Archer [00:20:21]:
You were saying like, okay, not devaluing a brand and every brand should be getting into it. Is that true? Every brand. Is there a particular type of brand that you think be like probably won't work, not really.
Ben Gallaga [00:20:31]:
But like even if it doesn't, just try because like like, do you know what I mean? Like again, using organic social and TikTok and that's why we grew so much early on because no one was doing TikTok. Like social commerce is actually quite old. Like I feel late on it because it started two years ago or three years ago. I think it was through TikTok, but we were never allowed to do it because there were so many regulations around pre loved goods for condition and luxury goods for authenticity and they only passed it six months ago. So like I feel late to the game on social commerce even though we're, we're like the best in the UK for doing it and. No, like, again with organic social, like there's a strategy for everyone. You just have to find what that strategy is for you. It's that Jillian Peterson quote.
Quite controversial figure, but I just love the quote. In order to master something, you need to prepare, you need to be prepared to act like a fool. These big brands, because they've got such a reputation, they feel like they need to be experts at everything they do straight away. But like, that's just so, like, like that's never going to happen.
Paul Archer [00:21:32]:
Can you sell software?
Ben Gallaga [00:21:33]:
Asking for a friend, can I sell software?
Paul Archer [00:21:35]:
Could you sell software in social commerce, do you reckon? TikTok Live?
Ben Gallaga [00:21:38]:
Someone commented this on. Someone said, Someone said this because I said I was coming here, I was doing this talk. I know a lot of people on my. LinkedIn won't be coming to this talk. If anyone's got any questions, put them in the comment section, I'll answer them. So someone said, how can you do retail saa? Is that retail sales as a service? That's software as a service. Yeah, yeah. So he's like, retail software as a service.
Any ideas for TikTok shop? And I said, no, sorry, I don't. I said, I don't know, but that's because I don't know, like I didn't want to say something that I don't believe in or I. But. But I don't think that's to say that you can't, you can't do it. I think you. I think he knows the space but like I know social commerce space better than he does. He knows that software is software as a service. Is that right? Software as a service based.
And I do, like, if we spent an hour together, I'm sure you could come up with a strategy for sure.
Paul Archer [00:22:29]:
Maybe we'll chat later. Right, so I quite like this. This, this is a question from Lauren, which is.
Ben Gallaga [00:22:34]:
Sorry, again, just on that, how do you sell it normally with difficulty.
Paul Archer [00:22:39]:
Yeah. For very long periods of time. I think you just got to do good work. It all comes through word of mouth. The end of the day. I think that's. That's something which is interesting about probably how much of the followers that go and watch you is probably they're there because someone told them about it. I think that's the same for every brand as they come up.
There are brands that have reached sort of saturation points and everyone knows about them. That's a different kind of equation. But I think word of mouth is the reason for every single company's growth. And it's the same whether you're selling moisturizer for your face, vegan moisturizer out of la, or whether you're. You're making a fashion product or you're selling $5,000 handbag, or you're selling a bunch of software. It's going to come through word of mouth. And so. And you've got to learn that.
And the way that you earn that is by. By being good, by. By really caring about an individual, caring about their experience, caring about every stage of that journey from the first conversation to the product and to the way that it works. And they'll tell other people, because that's how we work and that's how companies grow.
Ben Gallaga [00:23:36]:
Yeah, I agree.
Paul Archer [00:23:37]:
Touching on failure. Like, what has been a specific failure or a challenge that you faced on TikTok and what adjustments did you have to make to, like, pivot away from that?
Ben Gallaga [00:23:44]:
Yeah. So again, talking about, like, regulations around, like, luxury goods and authenticity and stuff like that. So when we first started, we were getting banned, like left, right and center. Like it was. It was really easy for us to overcome because I have like, an account manager at TikTok that I just rung and she got me back up. But also like saying the word website a lot, just naturally. Because the thing is, with our businesses, we can only get our stock if people sell to us. So we have a sell to a sticker on our TikTok live and it's like, sell, sell to us and get paid in 24 hours.
And then they would say, oh, how can I sell to you? And we'd be like, go over to our website and we'd be like. We said website. And we keep on doing that throughout the live and then we get banned. So, like, you have to come up with like, little tricks. Like, and this is why I love TikTok live because, like, it's instant feedback with the customers, like, not only just on this sort of stuff but like save the bought off you, they'll let you know if they enjoyed it, if they never. And but going back to the story and we will get shut down all the time for saying a website. So we had to switch to be like, oh, go to our online store and now they've, they've got onto that. So now we have to say DM us because TikTok aren't legally allowed to check your DMS.
So now we say DM us and then we just send them all the information through DMs. Like a very minor failure in TikTok Shop because we haven't had many yet. If I'm being truly honest with you, that is just like one I thought of on the way down here when I was reading that question because like we haven't like we're doing really well on TikTok Shop. There's been no failures as of yet, but they will come and I will 100% share them when they come.
Paul Archer [00:25:14]:
What's been your biggest blooper whilst you're, whilst you're doing it live? Did someone.
Ben Gallaga [00:25:19]:
Oh, we dropped bags all the time. All the time. And like, I think like it's not necessarily a bad thing but like it just adds to the authenticity of it, you know. But yeah, 100% grabbed bags or hired someone who doesn't have the product knowledge and they call the bag the wrong name and it's like someone's there wanting to buy a 5,000 pound Chanel and because we don't, because our host didn't have that product knowledge, it's kind of put the customer off. And so that's a bit of a, that's a bit of a hurdle that we've had to overcome. Like really training our hosts I think is a super important thing because people want to feel like they're buying something from someone who knows what they're talking about. And so, yeah, probably that to be honest, that's huge.
Paul Archer [00:26:02]:
But it's so amazing. I've got a question here from mum. Thanks. Thanks for the iPad. Appreciate that. Hi, Ben. Big fan. You've always been a big fan.
Ben Gallaga [00:26:11]:
Is this my mum?
Paul Archer [00:26:12]:
I think it might be my mum. Ah, yeah, it might be. No. Would your mum say big fan of you? Is she a big fan of you? Yeah, yeah, it's your mum then. So would you prioritize live events over the TikTok feed content and brand aesthetic?
Ben Gallaga [00:26:25]:
Yeah, for sure, yeah, I think so. I think it's just cause of the position. Sorry, did you say brand aesthetic.
Paul Archer [00:26:32]:
I did, yeah.
Ben Gallaga [00:26:32]:
Yeah. I think on TikTok that kind of doesn't just like, just, just to. Just to push that one down first. I think on TikTok that doesn't matter. Like brand aesthetic, like, like TikTok Live should embody the brand's aesthetic. Like the. When people say that, I automatically think like, polished Instagram post, type, type, type feed. But like, I feel like it shouldn't matter about how your page looks because I don't know about you, but I never go onto a TikTok page and think, wow, this page looks really good.
I just, I just clicked the video and like, oh, that's a really good video. But yeah, so it depends on what stage you're at because we. So I did. I've said this so many times, but I did three to five videos for two years every single day. And so I got up to a stage where, where we, we built a lot of brand awareness so we can shift our focus onto TikTok Live and TikTok Shop and really focus on conversions. Like, this year, our organic social has not been good at all this year. Like last year, we were booming. We were fastest growing.
We got a million views a day on average. When we added it up over the year, like this year, not been anywhere near that. But that's been because we've been focusing on conversions and because TikTok shop and live has come out. So it's a balance of what to focus on. But for me right now it's like that phrase like, make hay while the sun's shining. And TikTok is a feature that's really getting pushed. So I would concentrate on that for now.
Paul Archer [00:28:01]:
And are you doing anything else? Like, do you have a different product strategy? This is from someone else about between what you sell and TikTok for your e commerce. Are you on other platforms?
Ben Gallaga [00:28:09]:
Yes.
Paul Archer [00:28:09]:
Which are you on?
Ben Gallaga [00:28:10]:
So we've, we've. We're not until. Or anything like that. We're just on. So our channels are eBay, TikTok online store and like wholesalers. But we don't really do any of that. Ebay is currently 1%. TikTok is about 65% and yeah, online store is 64% and TikTok is 34% of our revenue.
And with TikTok we just use that as kind of like we'll give a discount on there. So we'll give, we'll negotiate on TikTok live, people on our website just pay full price. That's the only real difference in strategy because, like I said, you have to give people an offer they feel stupid. Say no to on TikTok to get them to buy. Whereas on your online store. Say an online store to not get banned off TikTok has made me say it in real life. Now, to do it on the online store, you just have to have a really good brand and people have to trust you and you've got your email list and all that sort of stuff.
Paul Archer [00:29:07]:
How are you bringing people to that store? Like, is TikTok obviously is one, but.
Ben Gallaga [00:29:10]:
Other channels, to be fair, the TikTok audience and online store audience don't. Like I said it again, they don't really cross. Like, obviously they do a bit, but it's not as big as you might think. Email list, Instagram is a massive push to the online store. And LinkedIn, I would say, surprisingly, a lot of people from my personal LinkedIn go to the online store, but yeah, email, Instagram and maybe a little bit of LinkedIn. So not too diversified, to be honest with you.
Paul Archer [00:29:38]:
Are you excited about something else? You trying you experiment with other platforms?
Ben Gallaga [00:29:42]:
My podcast, I was like, I'm going to plug my podcast when I. Yeah. Which.
Paul Archer [00:29:46]:
Which is. Is now ranked above this podcast. That's cool. You've been doing it for five minutes. We've done it for two years, but that's fine.
Ben Gallaga [00:29:52]:
Sorry about that. Yeah. Other channels for me, I just love building my personal brand. So I've just moved to London, which is cool. Just signed with an agency, which is cool. Getting a lot of brand deals again, which is cool. But, like, I'm like, I feel like Luxe Collective is good and I really love it. And it will always be a font.
Like, I'll always be fond of it, but I'm really, really trying to focus on my personal brand over the next few years. I would say.
Paul Archer [00:30:23]:
What does that mean? What's next for that?
Ben Gallaga [00:30:25]:
So podcast for sure. Like, I love podcasting. I feel like I was made to do it just because I love chatting. Like, I see the timer there and I'm like, no, I want to stay on for long. It's all right.
Paul Archer [00:30:35]:
I mean, I haven't even looked at the questions. So we're in control. We can go over.
Ben Gallaga [00:30:40]:
So I love talking, but also, there's not, there's not a fashion podcast in. In. There's not a space for a fashion podcast like mine. Like, that's why I wanted to make it. And because there's, there's, there's, there's the diary of a CEO that tells found fashion founder stories but like, there's. There's so many stories in fashion that, like, you get the. The George from Represent and the Ben Francis from Gymshark going on Diary of a CEO. But like the refires in the beauty industry as well.
Like, beauty is an industry I'm really interested in as well. Molly May, hopefully she'll be gone one day. Like, she'll be on one day with the launch of a new brand maybe. And then Grace Beverly and all these different types of people. Like, there's not one place where you can go to and listen to all these different people. You have to go to all different types of hosts and the questions are different and the format's not the same. So I think there's a real, real gap. But also selfishly, and I've not really said this publicly, but selfishly, I've been selling brands for so long and when I go into.
And I've made friends with like, people who have brands, like, they represent boys, boys from cold books and all sorts of people like that. And like, they go into central London and they see people wearing their brands and I go into central London and I see people wearing a Louis Vuitton bag and I'm like, did you buy that from me? So, like, one day, like, that's. The aim is to, is. Is to make my own brands as well. But the podcast is the first step to learn from all these amazing people who've created their own brand.
Paul Archer [00:32:08]:
That's amazing. You heard it here first. That's incredibly exciting. And you're such a natural edit. Like even just sitting down here, the first thing, you just sat down there and you're like, hello, what do you do? Tell me about you. You're just so curious. It's just so innate to you in it. So, like, I know it's going to be amazing next year.
Ben Gallaga [00:32:24]:
Thank you.
Paul Archer [00:32:25]:
So I'm psyched about that. We've got a new brand potentially coming. Got new podcast. Any sort of final thoughts? What are you excited for, for 2025 that you think kind of, you know, audience of brand builders here. What do you think they should be thinking about?
Ben Gallaga [00:32:38]:
So I. So the way I grew Lush Collective was especially for probably not the last year because we've been focusing on more of bottom funnel and conversion the two or three years before that. It was a strategy, I said on Grace Beverly's podcast, it was a strategy that I call hostings the party. So if you can't, if you're like finding no traction of what you're building and what social Media content you're creating. The easiest way to grow an audience is something called hosting a party. So it basically means just talking about. Because people get stuck for content ideas. So, like, you don't.
It's also like the strategy of document, don't create. It's like, just speak about what's happening within the industry you're in and then just plug your product every now and then. And that's. That's it. It's like, it's really easy because like the thing with socials is news does so well. So like, if you talk about the latest things that's just happened, it does well whether you've made a rubbish video on it or a really good video on it. So like, it's such an easy strategy to grow. And what you'll notice is like, you'll see.
This is also another really good thing to do. Like, people say this all the time to me on LinkedIn probably the most is like, what if you could give any advice, what would it be? And I'm like, I reply straight away. I'm like, about social media. I'm like, any advice is like a really hard question to answer. So like, if it's about social media, this is the answer I give all the time. It's like, if you want to grow on social media and you have no idea where to start, make three videos. Like, just do like I give them a challenge to do for 30 days, just make three videos a day and at the end of the 30 days, just see what's worked and what hasn't, do more of what worked and just don't do what hasn't again. And it reveals like two types of things.
Like it reveals the people who are actually willing to take this seriously. Because three videos a day for 30 days, when you've never created good content in your life, is so tough. So it exposes to yourself whether you really want to take this seriously. But also it builds the skill so quickly. Like, 30 days is nothing. Like in grand scheme things a month is absolutely nothing. So like, for anyone moving into 2025 and hasn't really got a grasp on social content, that's what I would say to do.
Paul Archer [00:35:08]:
Ladies and gentlemen, Ben Gallaga.
Paul Archer [00:35:18]:
That was another episode of Building Brand Advocacy, the world's top brand building podcast. To find out more about Building Brand Advocacy and how this podcast is part of a bigger plan for our brand building cookbook, then make sure to search for Building Brand Advocacy in Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or anywhere else that podcasts are fine. And make sure that you click subscribe so you don't miss any future episodes. Thanks to Duel for sponsoring. To find out more, go to www.duel.tech. That's D U E L dot T E C H and on behalf of the team here at Building Brand Advocacy, thanks for listening.
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