The marketplace business continues to produce remarkable success stories – such as those of Carolin Langer and LaCaTho. With an average shopping cart value of only $4, her business is profitable, scalable, and growing. In this episode, she talks about how she started out on eBay and now supplies over 40,000 customers a year with bee-friendly seeds. For her, automation is a must, not an option. Many tools make her work easier, but they are all reviewed every six months. There are clear responsibilities in her small team, with everyone having a specific area of responsibility – for eBay, Amazon, and Shopify. And because Carolin loves to shoot short videos of seeds, flowers, trees, and bees everywhere she goes, she is able to market her products without expensive ads – which are simply not feasible with such low-priced products. Instead, they generate a decent amount of sales in their own shop via TikTok. She also reveals how she manages her time – she works full-time as a mechanical engineer.

Note from  the sponsor exporto:

Internationalization and its challenges are a big concern to brands and sellerrs. Shipping, returns processing, tax regulations and one-stop shop procedures – all of this can cause quite a headache. Service providers such as exporto can help. exporto has spezialised cross-border e-commerce logistics in Europe. With automated technology and a strong partner network, exporto ensures that online retailers can ship internationally as smoothly as they do in their home market. And the best part? Exporto has an attractive discount for you: If you register with exporto by August 31 and sign a contract, you won't pay any basic fees for the first two months. Register right now here: https://mag.exporto.de/marketplace-universe-offer

Note from  the sponsor base:

Base is a SAAS e-commerce solution provider originally founded 2006 in Poland. The platform offers features such as automations for order management, inventory management and fulfilment, a marketplace management tool for lots and lots of B2B and B2C channels, and integration options to include other backend tools in real-time. Base is present in 11 countries, the solution is already used by companies such as OBI, Kärcher, MediaMarkt, Samsung, Decathlon, Intersport, Develey. If you would like to learn more about Base, join us at our Connect Event with Base on September 17 in Cologne. Register right now: https://webforms.pipedrive.com/f/1wBV5bM8AALuEq8GfFLwj7tLJ80w9AZL4cf4DN1nvG4uMLrSOfA5NxaV1X0qvNAC7

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Marketplace Dynamics

02:46 Carolin Langer's Journey: From Side Hustle to CEO

06:38 The special market situation of LaCaTho

12:27 Marketplace Strategies: Automation and Customer Experience

17:32 Volume in the main and off-season

21:06 Bestsellers and the tricks of algorithms

24:31 The power of Videos and of TikTok

31:46 Scaling and Future Plans for LaCaTho

Hi everyone, welcome back.

2

Let's talk marketplaces here.

3

I'm Ingrid.

4

With me as always is Valerie.

5

And today we are quite delighted to introduce you to a very special e-commerce founder and

marketplace expert and to learn a lot more about seeds and flowers, I guess.

6

Yeah, absolutely Ingrid.

7

Well, actually after our last um Marketplace Universe Connect dinner with eBay, um we got

to know our guest of today and we were really blown away about what she does and um what

8

she builds and um actually somehow as a side business, which is like really impressive.

9

So I was like, what as a side business?

10

Are you really serious?

11

So welcome.

12

I'm really happy to have you here, Caroline Langer, founder and CEO of Lakato, a German

startup which sells flower seeds on marketplaces.

13

So how are you doing, Caro?

14

I hope the connection to India works well.

15

You

16

Yes, hello everyone.

17

Yeah, the connection here in India is quite good.

18

So I'm happy to hear um today and to tell you a little bit about my marketplace story and

how flowers and seeds can be amazing online business.

19

Great you're with us Caro.

20

uh Why don't you first tell us a bit about yourself, about Lakato and so what is your

company, what are you doing since when, when did you found it and what are you doing in

21

India at the moment anyway?

22

Yeah, so I founded my company in 2020.

23

So right after my studies.

24

So I studied mechanics and started a normal day to day job em as an engineer.

25

And as a side hustle during my studies, yeah, sell stuff on eBay.

26

em So I started with selling stuff from the garage or from em stuff you don't need anymore

in the household.

27

So I sold.

28

or I cleaned out of my parents' home, then I started with all the other neighbors, so I

told them, I sell your stuff on eBay, I get 50 % and you get 50%.

29

And with the money I collected there during my studies, yeah, spent the money to go

skiing.

30

So I really enjoy skiing, so during studies, em yeah, so I earned the money the whole year

to go on skiing vacations.

31

And...

32

em

33

Yeah, then my parents, have a really unique tree in their garden, which is really not

common in Germany.

34

yeah, this tree, the seeds, they were always in the garden in autumn.

35

So I collected these seeds and put them on eBay.

36

And because this tree was so unique, I was the only seller who was offering these seeds to

the eBay community.

37

And then I sold out um quite fast because...

38

there was a big interest and an article in a newspaper for beekeepers.

39

So dates became popular and uh I got a really high interest into that seed.

40

then at the end of my studies, so I did a dual study system in Germany, so your work and

studying at the same time.

41

So at end of it, you have to take all your holidays after you've given your bachelor

thesis um to correcting.

42

And I walked three weeks through all the botanical gardens and they're collecting.

43

all the seeds and put them on eBay.

44

And it was in autumn and I said, okay, now you have to raise one more time a little bit of

money to afford skiing in winter.

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But it was so interesting and I had so much interest of the people into these seeds and I

found there my passion.

46

So my passion is to sell.

47

And the niche I'm into is now so bee friendly seeds.

48

So my father is a beekeeper and we had a lot of bee friendly

49

flowers in the garden.

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So when I started I also collected some flower seeds and I put them uh on eBay.

51

So eBay is where uh I have been started and where uh my passion is.

52

And since today I have still my main job because I like it.

53

I have now a master in mechanics um and I still like it.

54

It's something totally different.

55

And I have two passions and um currently I'm following both.

56

And that's why I'm in India at the moment.

57

I help here the local team to increase their capabilities on the production side.

58

I'm here for FIF for four weeks and helping them to grow.

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And the seed business is running as normal.

60

So all the employees are handling all the daily tasks.

61

yeah, if they have questions, they call in the evenings or something.

62

I'm not that deep involved into the daily business, so that's why I can go for four weeks

to India.

63

So I look more about how can we grow in the companies, what are maybe new tools we can

use, how can we optimize ourselves and stay a little bit away from the daily business.

64

So em that's one of my first secrets, I would say.

65

Stay away of the daily business and have space and capabilities and em yeah, new ideas

which you can develop for the company.

66

Mm-hmm stay away from the daily business Valerie.

67

Did you hear that?

68

That's a topic for us as well

69

was like, okay, now I need to go somewhere else.

70

Yeah, because it's not working the way that we wanted to to stay away from the daily

business so far at least and I just made a mental note I can't have my my son hear this

71

podcast today because I just made an arrangement with him that he's going to clear out my

seller and sell stuff on eBay he's 12 and I just pay him 30 % so I will not let him listen

72

to this because this is going to ruin my deal with him.

73

Yeah.

74

but still really impressive, Caro, that you're just doing that as a side business.

75

It's like, yeah, some people just got more energy or more motivation when it comes to

skiing, obviously.

76

Yeah, so I still use a lot of time for skiing or lot of money I make with this so you can

do amazing trips to New Zealand for skiing.

77

there's, you can do everything.

78

So now it's a totally cool freedom I have with this two jobs.

79

Yeah.

80

Wow.

81

So, what would you say, Carol?

82

Um, what would you do best in the marketplace business?

83

Because, I mean, this is a podcast about marketplace business, right?

84

And I feel that you have like so many interesting topics to tell about, but let's focus

maybe for now on marketplace business.

85

Yes, so yeah, so I think um so we are in a unique or not a unique but we are in a specific

marketplace situation.

86

So we are on the low price end because a lot of sellers they um search for products which

are 20 euros or above.

87

So to make the calculation easier and have some margin but often seeds you can get for

four euros including shipping.

88

So we are really on the low end of the price and everything.

89

has to run automatically.

90

um from the start, we were pushed to do everything from the order to the bill, into the

accounting, everything full automotive with any touch.

91

And this is something I think we make really good.

92

So our automation, also how often we review our programs we are using.

93

So every half a year, I review all the programs.

94

to see, if there is something better to list the product, something better to add to the

photos, to always be updated because especially now with em AI, there are a lot of new

95

features which helps you to save time, for example.

96

And I think also, which is really important, um if you sell products in a low price range,

you have to have to spend the same effort if the product would cost 200 euros because the

97

customer from the outside perspective is

98

is expecting the same, so they want to have a good title, good photos and good um

descriptions, really good manuals for all the stuff.

99

um And even if it costs just four euros, the customer would like to have the same journey

as a 200 euro product.

100

I think that's one of the keys why we are so successful and why we did grow so much,

because we really spend a lot of effort into how we present ourselves to the customers.

101

Mm-hmm.

102

Yeah.

103

Okay.

104

I have like so many questions while we come to this later.

105

So I'm, um, maybe Carol, I don't know if you really asked this, like tell us a fun fact

about yourself because I have the feeling you already told us so much, but maybe tell us a

106

fun fact, which is like connected to our, um, to the eBay dinner, to this story.

107

Ah, a fun fact.

108

So, I mean just a basic fact.

109

So, I think a fun fact is that I grow up without any television or medias.

110

So, I have maybe seen less than 10 movies in my life and I always told during my studies

to my colleagues, you all could have a side-tusle if you don't have a watch Netflix.

111

Everybody can start a side-tusle if they don't just spend the time with you.

112

use on Netflix for your side hustle.

113

And I think one of the fun facts or the keys of this much powerment is that I don't use so

much social media and advertisement in movies like Netflix or Amazon Prime.

114

I think that's a key for when you ask how much, how is my time management working?

115

It's working without social media and movies.

116

Yeah.

117

Great.

118

Yeah, that's yeah.

119

You and everyone else on that eBay dinner as well, Valerie, because the topic on just

cancel your Netflix and everything is going to work out fine.

120

Came up several times and everyone in the round was like, okay, but I only don't, don't

only have Netflix.

121

I also have Amazon prime and Disney plus.

122

So yeah.

123

Anyway, yeah, I think you can already hear why we invited Caro and why we're looking

forward to this discussion.

124

And as I said, I think we have lots to debate just if you focus on the automation part of

what you just told us about.

125

Yeah.

126

And we will do so and come back to that after a very quick outbreak in which we will like

to tell you about our partner X-Poto.

127

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141

Okay, let's go back to Caro.

142

um And you just told us about your founding story, but which I really like going through

the garden and going through the parks and just collecting seeds.

143

But how do you come from that stage selling your little seed packages to you have a fully

automated business in which you can just leave the company for four weeks and go off to

144

India and are not really needed.

145

So how did you go about

146

being so automated.

147

How did that work?

148

Yeah.

149

So I like working tools together.

150

So I spend a lot of time for research and from the beginning when we were small companies,

I choose programs which are way too big for us.

151

But this brings you into the situation that after one or two years when the program which

you use for the size of your companies, you have to change it after a certain way.

152

So that's why we use really programs which are

153

the most common one.

154

So normally I go for the most m common one.

155

So for example, for our own shop, we use Shopify.

156

and Shopify is maybe not the easiest to start when you found a company, but you have the

benefits after two or three years because then you don't have to change your setup, for

157

example.

158

So that's em one really basic thing.

159

And we were a long time happy with Bilby.

160

So Bilby was for all our...

161

management of the warehouse um and that.

162

So we choose at the beginning really big programs which need a lot of effort to get into

because they are a little bit more complex but then after one or two years you have to

163

return back.

164

And yeah I started with collecting the seeds but so my both grandparents on both sides are

farmers so I have a farming background which helps me a lot to find

165

also the farmers in Germany.

166

It's also a network community.

167

They know each other and they know that I buy seeds for a much better price than big

companies would buy their seeds for.

168

And that's how I started and how I still do it since today.

169

So I have a network of local farmers.

170

The most are in South Germany.

171

So we get every autumn the shipments from them.

172

And then in a really early stage we invested into an automatic packaging machine.

173

So we get from the farmer, for example, 10 kilograms in a big bag.

174

And then we put one kilogram in the machine and make our automating packages.

175

And I'm really into innovation.

176

So I just closed an innovation with the Fraunhofer Institute, which is, I think, common

here.

177

And they did for us, for example, an innovation of labeling.

178

So we want to reduce also our impact to the environment.

179

So our goal is to reduce the waste and all the trash which you get within a delivery.

180

Often it's packed with a lot of stuff around and a lot of colors and paintings and all

that is around the packages, but you throw it at the end after five minutes into the

181

trash.

182

So with the Fraunhofer we invented, for example, an automatic em

183

labeling which is plastic free.

184

So which is directly on our package and when you work with them together as really a small

business so they have much more employees and much bigger companies they work together but

185

even they are interested when you go to them as a small company and say hey I have a cool

idea I have really something that hurts me they also like this kind because they're not

186

much small companies going there and say hey can you help me in my e-commerce business

because they are normally

187

doing something in the industry or something.

188

So that was a really unique story, em how you can also get help, external help for

automatization, which is also em cross sponsored by the government.

189

So.

190

m

191

And, um, Carol, how do you get your business profitable?

192

I mean, you said like, you have like four euros or I don't know how much is your average

basket.

193

I mean, if I think about, um, just like postal fees, um, how do you do this?

194

I mean, um, and then you have like all the other fees, et cetera.

195

And how much like big is your volume?

196

Because then it's in the end, drive what drives you is the volume, right?

197

Yes, so what I strive at the end is the volume.

198

So everything has to be done over the volume.

199

And there we had, I think, maybe a good position.

200

So when we started in 2020, there were not much seed companies.

201

So seeds, flower seeds especially, is something really traditional.

202

So there were not much competitors on Amazon or on eBay.

203

So we've got really good spots, which we still hold until today.

204

And we could...

205

really raised from the beginning.

206

was not a raise, it was a jump to a certain level and that's the turnover what we are

still have there.

207

And yeah, it's increasing since that, but yeah, you have to have a certain level and some

feeds, we sell less on them, so we also have our best sellers which are on the Amazon rank

208

in the top five, but we also have then some which get just...

209

sold once a week, but in the average you have to have a certain level of selling.

210

Are you comfortable with giving us a bit of an idea of how many, what is a big volume in

your field?

211

oh I don't know how many packages of seeds would you typically ship in a month?

212

so we are very seasonal.

213

So in our season, which is March and April, we ship up to 1,500 packages per day, all

in-house.

214

So we all do our in-house um shipping.

215

And it could happen that, for example, for the best sellers, which are on place in the

first five places on Amazon, we ship 200 times a day the same package.

216

So there's just a different

217

address on the outside.

218

um

219

And yeah, that's in the, and in the side season.

220

we're just now here in August or also over Christmas, we have maybe up to 50 or a hundred

orders a day, depending on some, yeah, when there are newspapers or we have sometimes we

221

are also television.

222

So sometimes I'm in television, they get some news.

223

So then it's increasing, but so in the average in the winter spring, we have between 50

and 100 packages.

224

Yeah.

225

and the total volume per year we have now last year around 40,000 customers.

226

um So that was the volume.

227

people do you have?

228

At the moment we are nine people.

229

So not all full time, but some full time, some part time.

230

have also some which are still studying for, for example, graphics.

231

So we do all the Amazon layouting, we do our in-house.

232

And for the I have they are just then working on the 4, 565 euro.

233

So it depends.

234

But in total we are nine, everything from

235

um Accounting to Amazon, eBay, so every marketplace has also their own person.

236

So I like to have specific persons for each marketplace.

237

So I have two persons who does just to Amazon, one person just for eBay and one for

Shopify and they own a really detailed trained in their marketplace.

238

um And I do the training by myself or by watching videos or reading books.

239

uh

240

because it's hard to get employees with your drink for Amazon or something.

241

So there's also lot of development needed.

242

Mm-hmm.

243

So in total, you would say you have like three main sales channels.

244

It's your own online shop with Shopify, right?

245

It's Amazon and eBay and you grew up with eBay.

246

Yes, I grew up with eBay.

247

They have a really good relationship, I would say.

248

And eBay is the heart passion, I would say.

249

We make a little bit more turnover on Amazon because just the people are more used to

Amazon.

250

And when eBay, we could really fear when eBay canceled the bank transfer that our customer

base gets really reduced on eBay during the, because we had

251

So seeds, it's also interested for a lot of people which are old, so 70 or older.

252

So just today we received a handwritten letter with a bank note inside.

253

I wanted to order these because they are not able to order online, but they see us.

254

Somehow they search for our address.

255

And for these people, which they have been former on eBay, but since they canceled the

bank transfer and they don't using PayPal or Klana or all that stuff, we receive letters

256

from them.

257

Yeah.

258

That's, yeah.

259

Yeah.

260

Okay.

261

And what is your best product, your best setup product?

262

So the best seller product is a flour mixture.

263

So on Amazon, it's really depending on the rating.

264

So when we have some which we maybe are in the top 10, top five, then this will be the

best seller.

265

But it could be for eBay, it could be something totally um different.

266

em So for eBay, it's more not that we have like a best seller, we have more average over

the product.

267

Mm-hmm.

268

But which we also now found out why.

269

So I, because we have now, so we are into seasonal products and we thought we have to list

them once.

270

So we list, you list your product once and then you don't touch it.

271

But during the off season, the product falls in the rating because other gardening

products go more in the, in the, in the, in the first draw because, and for Amazon, they

272

have a better algorithm for seasonal products because then you stay in that.

273

And for eBay, you,

274

for the products which we launch each year new, they are the best sellers because they are

new to the system and they have not run through an off season.

275

So for eBay, we will change a little bit, I think our strategy and resell some of the

items which are five years old or something because they have gone through a lot of off

276

season and this unstable validity in sales is not the best for the eBay algorithm, I would

say.

277

Mm-hmm.

278

at least what we noticed.

279

So best sellers can vary on the things.

280

And I think for the Shopify shop, which he is the most depending on advertisement.

281

So we had, for example, with TikTok, a video which go viral, which we had a lot of views.

282

So you could see raising then this product because a lot of people have seen it on TikTok

and then they switch to the Shopify shop and just uh get it.

283

Mm-hmm.

284

Okay, I would say let's do another short break and...

285

this TikTok and social media topic, I think.

286

Yeah.

287

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289

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290

Base is present in 11 countries, including Germany, the US, Brazil, China, the United

Kingdom and many European countries as well.

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There you can network and get to know BASE in a relaxed atmosphere with good food and with

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So you will find the link to register in the show notes.

295

Yeah.

296

So Carol, let's go into this a bit because, that's something that we also talked about at

the eBay connect, dinner that you said you sort of started TikTok as a side thing, by the

297

way, to just plant your TikTok videos from now until next March.

298

So how important is social media in, uh, in for your business at the moment?

299

So, due to our low value of the product for the customer, we cannot use the classic

funnels for Google Ads or something because we can't pay even five cents per click.

300

It's too much for us on the margin side because it's a really high amount.

301

you reduce the tax, if you reduce the shipment, we have two euro 90s left and so it hurts

when you have to pay all these advertisements.

302

So we just do...

303

all the advertisements, you do not have to pay.

304

So TikTok was one of the ideas I came up em with because we already produce a lot of

videos.

305

So I'm really, I think it falls easy for me to do videos.

306

I just stand in the middle of the field and you can hold a camera and I just start

speaking without taking any notes before I just speak.

307

I tell them something about flowers.

308

It's just my nature to tell my passion.

309

And em

310

That's how we posted them and we used to post them on Instagram and Facebook.

311

Facebook also important because the customer age is higher, so they are still on Facebook.

312

And then we started, okay, let's just post them on TikTok.

313

We have them anyways and we posted them and we got really, really good feedback and views.

314

So our views on TikTok are much higher than um on the, yeah, I would say Instagram.

315

So the algorithm is different.

316

And we also experience what we never thought that there was the high generation of that

age.

317

So even people which are 50 or 60 are on TikTok.

318

And I did not know that before.

319

I thought it's for the generation which is even younger than me, but no, they are still

there and we have really good interaction.

320

So I think TikTok is really good.

321

And what we also use is YouTube Shorts.

322

YouTube Shorts is also really good because people use it to search.

323

So when you got one again, how do I sell flowers or something you judge on?

324

YouTube for some, yeah, manuals, video manuals.

325

And that's also why we have YouTube there to show how to do um the stuff, yeah.

326

Yeah.

327

And so you did also start recently than the TikTok shop or how did you do this?

328

Yes, so TikTok shop is connected to our Shopify shop.

329

So I'm really happy with Shopify at all.

330

So I recommended everybody who is asking me because Shopify is always there when something

new started.

331

So when an opportunity shows up like in TikTok shop, Shopify will be there the same now

for AI.

332

I just read today in the morning that they will be the first who were working together

with JetGBT for JetGBT.

333

um So they are really there in the first spot and we are connected for

334

The shop is connected over Shopify, so it is easy, m very easy for somebody to onboard

because you have already all the products in there and TikTok shop, but we don't.

335

So what we notice is that the people do not buy over the TikTok shop.

336

They see it and then they change to the home page.

337

So m for some videos which go viral, we can say, OK, I would say 80 % buy in the shop

directly.

338

They search just then in the web, buy in the shop directly and just 20 % buy over the

TikTok shop.

339

actually.

340

Yeah.

341

you track this?

342

is this more like a feeling?

343

Yeah.

344

And we cannot track it, but we can see, okay, if we have a video, for example, we had a

poppy video of a special flower we grow by my parents.

345

We were there on the fields.

346

I posted it and it got viral.

347

And then you can see, okay, now it increases.

348

So normally you sell a package a day and now it's 20 or 30 a day.

349

see, okay, they come because of the video.

350

And so many others come over TikTok and come through the normal shop, I think.

351

Yeah.

352

Mm-hmm.

353

Mm-hmm.

354

So um you said it's doing videos is sort of in your nature and is something that em you

like to do.

355

So would you consider em giving that to one of your employees as well?

356

Or is that something that you at the moment so marketing keep it to the founder side?

357

ah No, have they do the they do the market.

358

They do the planning side of the marketing.

359

Sometimes I get notes.

360

OK, Caroline, we need this kind of video or we need this.

361

And so we do a lot of.

362

Yeah.

363

So when so when I was now, I'm now four weeks in India.

364

So I had to pre produce some of the videos or at least I'm now pre produced since March.

365

I have a tight schedule.

366

So we go into a sunflower seed and then they we do like short clips of 30 seconds for

social media and.

367

It looks like when we arrive there, I go in the sunflower seed and we do all the clips

which I have in mind.

368

And at the end then, or at the middle, I would say they come up with the list.

369

Okay, now all of your ideas are freestyle is done.

370

And now we would like to have these kind of 10 videos.

371

So that's how we work together.

372

And then at the end, now we pre-produced four um videos per week as our schedule, our

time, what we do.

373

So two during the week and two on the weekend.

374

And then they look in a way so because then we have filmed for example 15 sunflower videos

that they come in a good in a good so that they are not autumn.

375

um Yeah and we look what we get so I think seeds is also really cool because you have a

lot of varieties of videos you can actually do.

376

So not everybody if you sell a chair you cannot do 15 videos of the same chair and then go

a week later again and say do you see this.

377

this bee there and this is a special German nature bee and you can tell something about

the bees and something about the flowers and something about the sunflower oil.

378

You can tell so much about seeds.

379

So that's really a big benefit for us and why we can produce so much videos.

380

videos in that seasonal field?

381

I mean you can talk about sunflowers at the moment but you can't talk about, I don't know,

any kind of spring flower for example.

382

Yeah, so we filmed the whole season.

383

we have different schedules.

384

So my family is driving around with the car and everybody says, oh, I have seen this field

there.

385

I have seen this field there.

386

And then every Saturday I have a working colleague or a good friend of mine.

387

We also work together.

388

She likes to do the filming and all that.

389

So every Saturday we go out to the different fields and say, OK, this we film and this we

film and then we do the uploading and then they...

390

Yeah, that's the secret.

391

It's a really good thing to go off of the desk.

392

Doing videos is really good.

393

sometimes also when I'm...

394

So I have one rule.

395

So every evening, normally at 9.30, I shut down the PC.

396

So this is the latest point, 9.30.

397

And then I go for a walk.

398

And when I see then some new flowers in the area, in the neighborhood, I just do a small

video and then you can post it.

399

So it's really easy to do for me at least.

400

Yeah, but I'm this nature kind of nature trip.

401

For me, it's easy to do videos, to post online and to show them and...

402

Also recently now with the eBay event, which they've launched eBay on tour, I did a video

of the eBay on tour.

403

So I try also more now for this year to get the people more at what I'm doing the whole

day as a founder of a site hustle and how is that all gonna work?

404

So to show a little bit more about what you can do if you do not watch Netflix.

405

That's sort of a recurring topic here.

406

I have to look a bit at the time, um but I think we all got a good idea of your grit and

drive and passion for your business.

407

What are your plans for the next 12 months for Lakatoa?

408

Do you even have a strict strategic outline or are you just taking the challenges as they

come?

409

No, so I'm an engineer.

410

for sure I have a strategic plan.

411

so I use my favorite tool is the balance scorecard.

412

I think it's a known method for management to figure out what you would like to do.

413

So I have a balance scorecard where I shown, okay, these are the KPIs we want to reach.

414

These are the other stuff we would like to do.

415

yeah, for the next year, we increase a little bit our variety of seeds.

416

I would like to go.

417

a little bit more into the seeds and flowers which you can use for your health, for

example, which you can make tea out of it or which you can just eat, example, eatable

418

flowers, for example, a little bit into these to get it a little bit more usable for us.

419

At the moment, it's very, most of the flowers are looking, just nice looking flowers, and

now I wanna give us a benefit as humans to use it in your smoothie, to use it for eating.

420

And also we increase a little bit the variety on tree seeds.

421

So mainly we are only in flower seeds, but there are also a lot of cool, unique trees here

in Germany, which are really bee-friendly.

422

So we have some, also some plants which we sell.

423

um We visit three markets a year, so we sell their own uh stuff.

424

I would like to also get a little bit more into the tree topic because it's not that known

that also trees are very good for bees.

425

And Carol, one final question.

426

In which market do you sell?

427

Do you just focus on Germany or German speaking countries or how do you do that?

428

So at the moment it's just Germany because otherwise we could not keep up with the

growing.

429

But for next year, so we are now settled, I now feel comfortable to take a next step.

430

And we would like to try to sell to Austria and France.

431

So these are the next two.

432

They have also with these, I cannot sell them too much north or south because of the

environment.

433

So it has to be the same.

434

um or at least a little bit um the same.

435

um so we want to do some of these also.

436

Yeah.

437

Interesting plans and I'm sure it would be great to have em a...

438

to just check up on you what you're doing next year because you're moving so fast and

things are happening so quickly at Lakato.

439

Thank you for today, that was Carole Lange.

440

Thanks for your insights and joining us today.

441

Caro.

442

And yeah, if you found our today's episode interesting to make us happy, um you could sign

up for our podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube.

443

And of course, tune in again in two weeks time, where we'll be talking about how community

benefits your marketplace business in a very real, intendable way.

444

And yeah, thanks for listening to the day.

445

Bye bye.

446

bye bye.

447

Thanks.