1. Purpose Drives Profit: In business, it is the belief that profit and purpose are mutually exclusive. Nick believes the two need to be connected within the context of today’s social and environmental landscape. Purpose brings in customers which drives revenue which in turn drives impact. We need these virtuous circles if we want to drive real positive change.
2. Cultivate B2B Partnerships: After a decline in revenue during Covid, partnering with businesses was critical to Ocean Bottle’s rebuilding period and following success. Nick advises cultivating B2B partnerships to increase sales, grow your customer base, and promote brand values and mission.
3. Prioritize Customer Experience: Making sure every customer has a brilliant experience is a priority at Ocean Bottle. Nick emphasizes a CX approach that focuses on treating people as they want to be treated in combination with solving any issues as quickly and efficiently as possible.
4. Be Authentic: In its first years as a business, Ocean Bottle experienced a pendulum swing of highs and lows. Nick credits authenticity as a big impact company selling a high-quality product for Ocean Bottle’s survival (and success) in the E-Commerce space.
5. Be Patient: All E-Commerce entrepreneurs feel the pressure to raise funds and launch their company as quickly as possible. Nick reminds that getting a business up and running requires time and patience. Making snap decisions for money and shorter timelines leads to losing sight of business goals and values while alienating original supporters along the way.
Launched in 2019 after a successful Indiegogo campaign, Ocean Bottle lost revenue the following year when Covid hit. Be inspired by how CEO and Co-founder Nick Doman rebuilt an E-Commerce company by upholding brand values, delighting customers, and partnering with other businesses to solve the Earth’s plastic pollution problem.
Meet Nick Doman, CEO and Co-founder of Ocean Bottle!
Ocean Bottle is a B Corp certified reusables brand. With the sale of each Ocean Bottle, 25 lbs. of plastic (the equivalent of 1,000 ocean-bound plastic bottles) is collected globally, in coastal areas where plastic pollution is worst. The company works with plastic collection partners Plastic Bank, Plastics for Change and Repurpose Global to actualize this collection. Made from a minimum of 65% recycled materials, its award winning durable and dishwasher friendly reusable bottles, cups and flasks are recyclable, and part made from recycled ocean plastic. Every Ocean Bottle is BPA Free, made with primarily Stainless Steel and comes with a 10-year guarantee. Since launching in 2019, the company has stopped the equivalent of 1.8 billion plastic bottles from reaching our oceans.
Nick was crystal clear about what he wanted to study at London Business School. “I wanted to understand and create a business model that put impact at the core of business, so much so that it was directly correlated to revenue,” he explains. Even more so, Nick knew which issue his business would impact – the massive accumulation of plastic in the oceans. “Every time I’d go to the beach shore growing up, it would be devastating to see that there'd be more and more plastic,” he says, detailing why the problem felt so important to him. He teamed up with his classmate, Will Pearson, and formulated a 1000 to 1 business model with an engaging marketing message. In 2019, they founded Ocean Bottle.
As a social and environment impact company, Ocean Bottle is on a mission to end ocean plastic. Nick elaborates, “We sell reusable bottles. Each bottle sold funds the collection of 1000 plastic bottles in weight. We collect in Kenya, Egypt, Ghana, Brazil, Indonesia, India, and the Philippines.” They work closely within each region with plastic collection partners to help carry out the cause. To date, almost 2 billion plastic bottles, which translates to 45 million pounds, have been collected.
In addition to collecting all recyclable plastic, Ocean Bottle removes unrecyclable, low-grade plastics that without their efforts, would be left to pollute. These materials are then either co-processed into cement or repurposed into building materials.
The founders’ steadfast commitment to 1 to 1000 bottles was questioned early on – why not do 100 or even 10 to 1? While the approach would have saved costs, Nick says it didn’t align with their business values. “We sell the product to have a big impact and showcase what is possible if you balance purpose and profit” and he goes on to note “if you’re really purpose driven, it resonates with people and that’s going to drive sales. The virtuous cycle of do-good business will continue and flourish.”
The Team at Ocean Bottle
Ocean Bottle is a hybrid company with a main office in London. An internal team is made of 50 people based throughout the UK and Europe. Nick reveals his plans to relocate to New York City in the coming weeks. “There's a big opportunity and the US is a big part of what we do.”
In general, people buy from Ocean Bottle for one of two reasons - they like the product or they are compelled by the mission. Either way, Nick says “we want you to stay.” Customer experience strategies focus on the dual relationship between product quality and mission impact. Nick elaborates, “Whatever gets you in, we want to dial that experience up on the other side. We want to make sure the customer experience journey is delightful – twice.”
The Evolution of Customer Service
At first, Nick and Will were solely handling customer service. As Ocean Bottle scaled, they found a semi-outsourced solution to handle the company’s world-wide distribution. Now, customer service is 24/7 and concentrates on efficiency, speed, customer feedback, and product and mission education.
Nick discloses that NPS scores go up when people deal with their customer service. “It’s just always finding ways to delight,” he says about their high marks. “Treating people the way they want to be treated. And if it is a legitimate concern, fixing it as soon as possible.”
A success story of challenge and will, Ocean Bottle’s journey as a business started with a launch campaign on IndieGoGo, a crowdfunding platform, in 2019. Reception was staggering – the company started shipping products in September 2019, making $1.3 million in the first year. Then COVID happened. “We lost 90% of our revenue and didn’t have any cash,” Nick recalls. The hit necessitated reevaluating the business and basically starting over. Ocean Bottle survived and has managed to grow every year since. “Today we’re 50 people and very active across many markets, our core being the UK, US, and Europe,” Nick finishes.
Key Factors Boosting Growth: Mission and B2B Partnerships
Asked about key factors that boosted growth after COVID, Nick goes back to Ocean Bottle’s product and the mission. “People love to give water bottles as a gift and people really care about the planet,” he notes. Brand partnerships were also critical during the rebuilding period, and to date the company has worked with the likes of The North Face, Peloton, Disney, Stella McCartney, and Pangaia. Cultivating B2B (business to business) relationships with other companies brought in revenue while promoting awareness about plastic pollution in the oceans.
How ‘Delightful Experience’ Drives Customer Retention
Customer retention plays a major role in Ocean Bottle’s revenue model with many returning customers coming out of the B2B partnerships. Nick credits providing a ‘delightful experience’ through the entire customer journey as the reason driving people’s commitment to Ocean Bottle. “One person has gone to 4 different companies over the last 5 years. And every time she has moved, the first thing she does is buy from us. She alone is responsible for 6 million plus water bottles collected.”
Peak Season: A Holiday Gift That Gives Back
People look to Ocean Bottle to tick off the ‘gift that gives back’ on their list – peak season begins with the start of the holidays and runs through the end of the year. B2B orders are taken care of as soon as possible and customer service is scaled up to accommodate the influx of business and handle any order issues that arise. “People want to give a gift with purpose – they don’t want it to be a gimmick,” Nick says. “They want it to be real and tangible and provable. And that’s what we can give them.”
In 2019, Ocean Bottle set out to collect 7 billion plastic bottles from the Earth’s Ocean by the end of 2025. COVID and an economic downturn in 2022 have forced the company to reexamine its initial goal – the number looks closer to 3.5 billion now (Nick is optimistic it could be higher). Adding an extra 1 to 2 years on the original timeline, he says, “that would be the equivalent of a Pacific Ocean garbage patch, which is the biggest collection of plastic anywhere in the world. For a small London business to be able to do that by selling its product is wicked. And it’s a matter of when, not if.”
E-Commerce offers entrepreneurs the opportunity to make a positive impact on a multitude of levels. Nick’s advice is to “concentrate on delivering on the side of the people.” At Ocean Bottle, working for customers means delivering a high-quality product, making sure the CX journey is as easy and delightful as possible, and keeping promise on the mission. “Find that market fit and what really resonates with people,” Nick says and then stresses the importance of “authenticity – in good times and bad and sticking to the ethos of why you started the company.”
Raising money is an issue for any startup. If done too quickly, it’s easy to get lost. “You start making decisions that alienate your original supporters,” Nick warns and finishes as a reminder, “It’s okay for things to go a bit slower than expected.”
Can’t-live-without-tool? Our analytics dashboard.
AI or no AI? We are testing aspects of AI that have a huge amount of promise and I think it’s going to allow us to do much more. It’s all about augmenting what we are already doing and allowing space for our team to execute even more – many members are excited about certain applications. Certainly, there is the risk of overpromise on the delivery in some cases. But I am a proponent of AI – if it works, let’s do it.
Inspiring thought leader? Rory Sutherland. He’s the vice chair of Ogilvy, a British advertising, marketing, and public relations company. He’s an incredibly smart, old school advertising maverick who is cutting through the noise of today. He’s given me pause for thought that ‘optimizing, optimizing, optimizing’ leads to robust outcomes that you want to stay away from. There is a magic in brand and a magic in creative thought that is all important. And I believe in the magic of brand – 1 plus 1 should equal 5. Given your inputs, there should be a magic multiplier in the brand that drives your output. I think a lot of people have forgotten about that today. It’s just growth, growth, growth. Brand love is something that is incredibly hard to find. But once you find it, you’re there for life. Patagonia, in our space, is the beacon.
#1 as an E-Commerce leader? Clarity, focus, and prioritization. From my point of view: How can I be the clearest? How can I convey this objective so that it resonates with people? How do I make sure that people really prioritize it?
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