Repsly Announces Its 1000th Customer: Vita Coco!

We’ve hit a milestone at Repsly. As of January 2018, we’ve signed on our 1000th client, who’s none other than beverage industry legend Vita Coco! We’ve come a long way since our humble beginnings ten years ago, but our commitment to creating tools that brands want to use still stands.

To commemorate this journey, we’re shouting out Vita Coco for the way they’re disrupting the beverage space. But before we hone in on number 1000, let’s take a minute to remember number one -- L’Oréal.

#1 -  L’Oréal

What does it take for a brand to become a household name? According to L’Oréal, the answer is simple: “Major launches, acquisitions, opening new subsidiaries.” Since its founding in 1909, L’Oréal has been at the forefront of innovation in the beauty industry. Its original hair dyes had a much more natural look than their contemporaries, just as the cosmetics of today seek to blend flawlessly with the complexions of consumers. Just check out their TrueMatch line, for example.

Then there’s the “world domination” factor. Since its first acquisition in 1928, the company has been on the hunt for other brands to collect under its umbrella, making the organization more disruptive as a whole. Today, the conglomerate remains committed to corporate social responsibility through initiatives like the L’Oréal Foundation.

Repsly’s Role

Way back in the day (circa 2008), our CEO Marko Kovac was working as an independent software developer when a friend at L’Oréal tapped him to help with a problem they were having with visibility. L’Oréal was using third-party distributors in the Adriatic region, so it was hard to know what happened to their products after they reached warehouses.

Marko agreed to build a custom software solution for this problem under the stipulation that L’Oréal would sign on as the first customer of his new company, Salespod (spoiler alert: Salespod rebranded as Repsly in 2014). Since then, we’ve moved our headquarters from Zagreb, Croatia to Boston, launched multiple iterations of the product, gotten some funding, and acquired 1,000 customers -- and we’re just getting started!

#1000 - Vita Coco

It’s fun to take a trip down memory lane, but let’s fast forward to the present. The latest brand we’re partnering with is Vita Coco, a leader in the coconut water category. Founded in 2003 by childhood friends living in New York, the brand has since expanded internationally and has added coconut oil and coconut milk to their lineup.

A favorite amongst celebrities and well-hydrated Repsly employees alike, the brand has attracted a lot of starpower over the course of its history. Madonna, Demi Moore, and Matthew McConaughey have all invested in the company, and Chrissy Teigen is the latest starlet to publicly endorse the brand.

The brand also operates its Vita Coco Project, a program that works to alleviate poverty in communities where there are concentrations of coconut farmers. Some of their good work includes building classrooms, providing seedlings to farmers, and developing model farms that teach farmers about agriculture best practices and technologies.

Repsly’s Role

Like many food and beverage brands, Vita Coco is concerned with how their brand is performing at both a macro and a micro level. Without thoughtful store-level execution, the entire brand suffers.

In this case, the head of sales operations in the United States was worried about managing the efficiency of his national team. Vita Coco needed visibility into how many free samples were given away and if promo materials and secondary placements were being displayed properly. Moreover, all this data needed to be centralized in one place instead of piecemealed in several different systems.

Repsly is helping Vita Coco to standardize the way its national team is collecting data about the work they’re doing at grocery stores, on college campuses, and on-site at events. Streamlining this process is helping the sales management team to identify discrepancies faster and stay one step ahead of the competition. Refreshing, just like coconut water itself.

We’ve come a long way since first learning the ropes alongside L’Oréal , and look forward to continuing to fuel the disruptions brands like Vita Coco bring to the shelf every day. Thanks for making the journey so fun!