Maurice Contreras of Volcanica Coffee On The Top 5 E-commerce Trends Shaping the Future of Online Shopping
An Interview With Francois Marchand, Editor of The Ecomm Manager
Increased Communication with Consumers — Through product reviews, great customer service and selling a premium quality product, it’s important to continue the dialogue with your customer base.
As e-commerce continues to grow exponentially, businesses must stay up to date with the latest trends and innovations to remain competitive in the ever-evolving online shopping landscape. In this interview series, about “Top 5 Ecommerce Trends Shaping the Future of Online Shopping” we are talking to e-commerce experts, industry professionals, and thought leaders with in-depth knowledge and experience in online shopping trends. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Maurice Contreras.
Maurice started Volcanica Coffee after visiting his homeland in Costa Rica. While he was there, he saw an opportunity to import excellent-tasting coffee from volcanic regions, such as in Costa Rica, to consumers. The company started part-time in his garage and now operates a coffee plant near Atlanta, Georgia, with 20 employees, including his wife and two adult children.
Previously, Maurice was a regional director for AT&T. Prior to joining AT&T, he was the national marketing director of TracFone Wireless when it was a startup helping it to grow to over $1B in sales. He also held senior management positions with Verizon and Blockbuster Entertainment.
He graduated from the University of Florida with a B.S. degree in Business Administration and earned an MBA from Nova Southeastern University.
Thank you so much for your time! I know that you’re super busy. Before diving in, our readers would like to get to know you. Can you tell us a bit about your backstory and how you grew up?
I was born in Costa Rica and raised in Fort Lauderdale, FL. As a kid, I was always an entrepreneur. I made and sold frozen Kool-Aid to the neighborhood kids, frozen grapes and mowed lawns. I later started a leather business making purses, belts, and hats in my bedroom in 7th grade and made some pretty good money for my age.
What led you to this specific career path?
I was born in Costa Rica and coffee harvesting has been in my family for at least three generations. My mother and grandfather helped harvest coffee in the high mountains. On one of our annual family vacations to Costa Rica, I realized how much better their coffee was than what was available in the U.S. I wrote the business plan for importing their coffee on the flight home.
Can you share the most exciting story that has happened to you since you began at your company?
Earning the #514 ranking in the Inc. 5000 Magazine list of the fastest-growing companies was the most exciting thing that happened to us. After reading the stories of companies in the magazine every year and dreaming of becoming an entrepreneur, this was a moment to reflect that we finally made it a successful company.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?
With football season starting, we’re raising awareness of The Official Decaf Metcalf Coffee. In his rookie season, we partnered with DK “Decaf” Metcalf, Seattle Seahawks wide receiver, to create his own coffee roast where a portion of the proceeds goes to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and Prison Fellowship. The partnership came about after ESPN Announcer Joe Tessitore, mistakenly called DK “Decaf Metcalf” during a game and it went viral. We want to continue to elevate the charities’ missions and increase donations.
We also just launched a wholesale program targeted at coffee shops and other retailers to expose more consumers to our exotic coffee products.
You’re a successful business leader. What are three traits about yourself that you feel helped fuel your success? Can you share a story or example for each?
- Have a passion to be successful in whatever you do
- You have to have passion and a drive to be the best and be better than your competition. If you don’t, someone else will.
- Have the ability to pivot and evolve as things change.
- Every industry changes and evolves and if you don’t keep up with the latest trends or opportunities before you know it the industry has passed you by.
- Be fair and honest
- You must approach your customers and business partners in a fair and ethical manner. Anyone can make a quick buck and take advantage of others but that is not a long-term strategy. It will eventually catch up with you and customers will stop buying and partners will not want to work with you.
Excellent, thanks so much for sharing that. I want to shift gears and talk about e-commerce. What was the original vision for your e-commerce business? What pain point(s) were you trying to solve for your customers?
We wanted to deliver better coffee than U.S. consumers were accustomed to by offering a wide selection of premium specialty coffees that are freshly roasted at our facility in the Atlanta metropolitan area.
How do you see the e-commerce industry evolving in the coming years?
COVID shifted consumers’ online purchasing habits dramatically and the momentum has continued. Many became accustomed to the convenience of front-door delivery.
Consumers have become much more environmentally conscious and many, especially the younger generations, prefer organic products. In response to the demand, we launched a new Organic Collection with USDA Organic Certification, and we also have a Certified USDA Organic Coffee roastery. It’s an extensive certification process with inspections but important to our customers and our company values.
How do you balance the need for innovation and experimentation with maintaining a stable, reliable e-commerce infrastructure?
You should always be testing new ideas or concepts. Test, then analyze and measure the results. You need to keep your baseline of driving traffic and build on it and keep your eye on the horizon for new things that can bring traffic. It is important to stay on top of the latest industry trends and e-commerce news.
Ok super. Here is the central question of our interview. What five emerging trends do you believe will have the biggest impact on the future of online shopping? Please explain each in detail.
- Commitment to the environment — With the recent heatwave, wildfires and temperature increases around the world, being a company that is environmentally conscious is essential. Having sound practices is not only the right thing to do, but it also makes your brand credible in the eyes of the consumer.
- Online retail subscriptions — Since the pandemic, convenience from home has been a priority for consumers. This has not changed in a post-pandemic space. Subscription services give convenience to the consumer and often at a discounted price.
- Buy now pay later (BNPL) — We’ve seen an uptick in the BNPL option and attribute it to coffee fanatics that want to purchase premium specialty coffee that may cost more than they can afford all at once. The BNPL option allows customers to pay overtime and still experience our exotic and rare coffees.
- Omnichannel Approach — Whether online, through Amazon, social media, or brick-and-mortar retail, having multiple sales channels allows consumers the convenience of buying products that fit their purchasing preferences.
- Embracing New Technologies — Consumers are starting to shop from home using virtual reality (VR) headsets. Drones may be dropping coffee subscriptions at your doorstep in the near future. Only the future will tell!
- Increased Communication with Consumers — Through product reviews, great customer service and selling a premium quality product, it’s important to continue the dialogue with your customer base.
Is there a past trend that’s now common practice in e-commerce that you would have spent 50% more time focusing on? Which one and why?
For us it is more of what we would have spent 50% less time focusing on. We have tried many things that ended up not working as expected. Social media advertising is one area that we would have spent less time focusing on had we known the results.
Looking ahead, what are the biggest opportunities and challenges facing the e-commerce industry, and how do you plan to address them in the coming years?
The biggest opportunity and challenge is keeping up with the new technology. We partner with experts to keep us on trend and up to date with all the emerging technologies available for e-commerce companies today.
You are a person of significant influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
It would be to promote e-commerce businesses to contribute 1% of sales to a charity. Many companies state that they donate some unknown amount to charity but in actuality, it is not much. Most companies will only donate if they have a good year in profit which may or may not happen. Making a commitment to a set number of sales and sticking to it has power and impact. That is why Volcanica Coffee has committed to donating 1% of its website retail sales to charity: water. Customers know that if they spend $100 that $1 will go directly to bringing water to less fortunate people.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
@VolcanicaCoffee
I want to thank you so much for your time and for sharing your expertise with us. I wish you continued success!
About The Interviewer: Francois Marchand is the editor of The Ecomm Manager. Throughout his 20+ years in journalism, communications, and marketing, Francois has created and managed high-value content for Postmedia, Vancouver Film School, and Unbounce. He loves helping business leaders grow their skillsets and knowledge base to stay ahead of the competition. Visit The Ecomm Manager: theecommmanager.com
