Episode Transcript
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This week on the Art of Improvement, I'll be speaking with Claire Stepanic.
She's the founder and CEO of Ergo. It's a startup developing pricing software that
gives you, the consumer, anoption to negotiate the price of what you
want with the retailer, just bythe click of a button. My conversation
with Claire is coming up next onthe Art of Improvement. Hi, I'm
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Karen Klaus and my guest today isClaire Stepanic. She is the founder and
CEO of Ergo. Hi Claire,thanks so much for coming on today.
Hi Karen, thank you for havingme. I'm super excited to talk about
Ergo. Absolutely and so let metell you. When I read about this,
I was a little bit confused,and so I want for you to
tell everybody what is Ergo? Yeah, for sure. So Ergo is software
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that online retailers can add to theirwebsites. And what it does is it
adds a button to their products thatsays make an offer with Airgo. So
you're online shopping, you see abag that you love that's just out of
budget, but now there's going tobe a button there that allows you to
make an offer, so you canput in how much you want to pay
and how long you're willing to waitfor the bag, and the retailer can
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accept or reject the offer. That'swhy I'm so confused. Does that really
happen? You know? Sometimes letme just give you an example. Sometimes
there's a pair of shoes that Iwant, like for right now, I'm
like dying to get a pair ofsambas, and I just keep on looking
at that price and it's like twohundred and fifty dollars. Then it goes
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down to two hundred and forty nine, and I'm like, I have no
reason to buy that. But Inever in my life thought that somebody would
actually negotiate. It's not me thatthey're negotiating with. You're talking about actual
online sellers. Is that right?No, you would, you, as
the customer, would put in ifyou want shoes that are two hundred and
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fifty. You would say, hey, I only want to spend one hundred
and fifty, and you'd be surprised. A lot of retailers maybe they don't
want to show that something's not sellingand they don't want to put it on
sale. They have a whole bunchof reasons for why they might accept your
offer. That is incredible. Howdid you ever even come to this realization
that there is the ability to negotiate? Yeah, I think so. My
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background was I was working on thesupply chain team at Apple, so that
team manages all the manufacturers that makethe parts that flow into the final Apple
products. There was a lot goingon with that role, as you can
imagine, but one of the bigpieces of it was price negotiations. So
we were doing a ton of pricenegotiations and I just learned like, oh,
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there's these strategies are Oh, thisis how retailers are thinking about their
products that aren't selling that well.And I realized I was learning all this
stuff that totally applied to shopping onlineand everyone could use the same negotiation strategy
because what I found was the keyto a successful negotiation is just being authentic
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and keeping it simple. So that'sall the tool is is if you want
the shoes, you just say howmuch you're willing to pay, and the
retailer can say yes or no,and it's not a complicated negotiation. There's
no back and forth. We're keepingit just as simple as what I was
doing back in my Apple days.Okay, so how how do I even
do this? Is there a website? Is there an app? How do
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we find out how to get thisdone? Yeah, So if you want
to, if you're a shopper andyou want to learn more about Ergo,
we have a website, Ergooffers dotCom, and then we also have social
media, so we're on Facebook orsorry, we're on Instagram and TikTok at
Airgo Offers. And then what you'llsee is that what we put on our
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Instagram and what we show on ourwebsite is the stores that are partnering with
us. So then you can checkthem out and you'll see on their products
that they have this new button andyou can make an offer that is incredible.
And so when you, of courseyou've tested it out a million times,
I'm sure I want to see yourhouse and when you've purchased. So
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what was it that you tried itout on first? How did it go
the first time? Does it takea bunch of times to actually get success?
Yeah, So we've had some initialpartners that have been with us since
the early days that kind of putit up on their websites and we've been
able to see the answer, isit really varies. Some are willing to
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accept things on the very first offerthat comes through, because it really depends
on what the product is and ifit's just not selling, or if they
want to clear the shelves to putsomething new there for a new season,
they might accept it immediately or maybea wait. So I would say it
very much vary. Is there away to see what's hot and what's not
and what used to be hot that'snot anymore. Yeah, it's a good
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question. We don't have that futureyet, but we're taking all this feedback
and then we can definitely starts tothink about this in the future state.
It's so weird because the way thatI have tried to do what you're absolutely
successfully doing is putting it in mybasket and then waiting to see if I'm
going to get an alert, whichyou know, that's sometimes it works and
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sometimes it doesn't. And so whenyou say you're working with some online sellers
already, I mean, how didthat even come to be? Yeah,
so we're in the early days,so we're scrappy and just myself and our
team. We're going out and introducingourselves to stores and hey, we have
this app, and we'd love tohave you partner with us and try it
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out. So it's really just kindof old school sales. That way is
how we're finding everyone. And soare you having the most success for yourself
and ergo with you know, momand pops or major retailers yees, starting
with pop. Yeah, that's areally good idea because everything that sits on
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the shelf is costing them space andmoney. So that is an incredible,
incredible idea. You said that youworked. It's so great. You said
you worked on the supply chain teamand Apple. So with that in mind,
and with obviously this being such agreat you know, entrepreneurship, you
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know, like thought about how youcan get a great deal. I mean,
how did you even come up withthe idea that, yes, I'm
going to work for myself and I'mgoing to start my own company. Yeah,
no, that's a great question.I think I really started to see
this idea when it was in COVIDand I wanted to buy a car,
and I thought, like, youknow, I do this all the time
at work. Let me just picka number of what I'm willing to pay
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and see if the dealership will acceptit. And so I went in I
said, this is what I'm goingto pay. I sat there, they
made me meet a bunch of peoplea car dealers should do. But at
the end of the day, Igot the car at that exact number.
It didn't budge an inch. Andthat's really where it was like, Oh,
this idea is really interesting and I'mnow seeing it apply outside of work,
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and so just that personal success mademe really believe in the concepts and
so kind of then I did aton of market research, and by that
I mean I talked to a lotof friends and family of like, Hey,
what do you think about this?And everyone was like, I want
that, this is what I wouldbuy, this is what I would buy.
So it was just hearing that fromeveryone was like, Oh, this
is a real motivation to take theleap and see if we can get a
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company off the ground that's doing this. Have you found that there are some
products that are easier to negotiate theprice on than others. It's funny I
would have said yes, and justalready with just a handful of stores we've
initially partnered with, I have beenproven wrong. A It really seems yeah,
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that it kind of is all overthe place and again, it goes
back to you. It's really specificto what's going on in that store at
that time, so you can't quitesay like a broad generalization of what worked.
If you've just now started listening,you better start because this is such
a great idea. Claire Stepanic isfounder and CEO of a company called Ergo.
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And if you're a regular person thatlikes to shop but also likes to
get a not a not necessarily abargain, but a price that you want
to pay for something versus what isbeing offered retail wise, what is the
website again that you can go to, It's Ergooffers dot com, e R
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g oo f F e r Sdot com. And so how are you
getting the retailers? Are the onlinesellers to come on board? And if
there is one listening right now,how do they become one of your stores?
Yeah, So where we have initiallylaunched is as a Shopify app,
so the Shopify apps or it's justlike the Apple App Store or the Android
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App store, So retailers can gothere and find apps to add to their
online stores. So if you searchthere for Airgo, we'll pop up e
Ergo and that's our app and allyou have to do is click install and
it starts the installation process to addit to your website. And for a
shopper, of course, I'm onlyasking these questions for myself, but ever
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a shopper and not a seller.Is there a cost for the app or
a cost to go and have thatability to negotiate? No, not at
all. If you see the button, you can use it with no costs.
Yep, that's incredible. So obviouslyyou are analytical, but you have
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that creative side. I mean,is there anybody in your family that had,
you know, that was an entrepreneur, because I find that a lot
of people, just like you said, you had the thought during COVID,
but a lot of people had alot of great but no one, you
know, not everyone moved forward andsaid I'm going to open my own company.
I mean, where did you evenget the courage to do it?
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Yeah, it's funny you said family, because for sure the answer is family.
I'm very close to my parents,and I have a brother and sister,
and I feel like they have justbeen the biggest support team of the
idea and they're very into us takingleaps of faith that my sister actually also
started a company are her own startup, So I definitely think having that support
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from family makes it a lot easierto kind of see what happened. Absolutely,
this is a question I have toask. It seems so negative,
but come on, were there anyother companies that you tried to move forward
with that maybe after a while youwere like, hey, this is not
such a great idea. No,I hate you. I hate you,
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I will say. I definitely hada lot of ideas like that is learning
so much at Apple, but thisis the one I actual It's funny.
I have a friend where I wouldkind of throw some ideas at her,
like what do you think about this? And when I told her about this
idea, she's like, you know, this is the first one that's super
interesting. I definitely a bad idea. They never got to the state of
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being a company that's so great andso have you had any feedback from stores
and or from sellers that just couldn'tbelieve how great it worked? Yes,
for sure, are just so many. It's funny of like going out to
have these conversations with local stores.At first, I was so nervous,
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and then almost every conversation people arelike interested. No one's saying, oh,
that doesn't make sense. It's soreassuring and so affirming to kind of
have every one of these conversations bereally smooth and easy. So it's been
nice to kind of hear that everyoneis seeing these pain points of they're sitting
on things that aren't selling and theykind of want another option, or they're
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kind of concerned about sustainability. Alot of the products that don't sell end
up in landfill or get burned atkind of like some of the higher end
places, So there's no good optionof what do you do with the things
that haven't sold, And so alot of stores are like, oh,
this is great, this would getit out the door and kind of avoid
those environmental pitfalls. I this doesn'thave anything to do with your idea.
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But I have seen apps and Idon't even know because I haven't been on
them, but I maybe I sawa commercial or something about places where you
can bid on items. But everytime I looked at the items, I
was like, you know, doI really want an alarm clock for a
dollar? You know? And soI see how people I mean it,
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everybody wants a deal. Everybody wantsa deal. But not knowing about negotiating
or not having the courage to negotiateshas totally changed. Do you find that
people that are buying things sometimes reallydon't have I don't know, the courage
or the guts or what. Idon't know what word to use to even
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negotiate on the price? Totally totally. Like when I go back and think
about my story about the car whereI kind of came in with this number,
it's very awkward to sit there whenthey're saying like, hey, will
you pay more and you have tosay no, Like that's a very uncomfortable
feeling, and salespeople know that,which is why they ask so to hold
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your ground is uncomfortable is definitely theright word for it. So building this
app, it was I really wasthinking, how do we avoid that feeling?
And so that's why you send thenumber you want to pay out and
there's no back and forth. You'renever going to hear back of like hey
would you give a little more orincrease it a little bit. It'll just
be like, hey, that didn'twork for us, and try again.
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And so that I think is reallytrying to avoid those feelings. Because absolutely
I've heard from a lot of peopleabout how much they hate negotiating. I
love negotiating, so do I fromeveryone else of how much they hate it,
and so we really were trying tothink about that as we designed the
product to really make it feel goodfor everyone rather than strustful or anything like
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that. That is so funny becausea lot of people really don't like it,
and it's fun to hear that youdo like negotiating and I love it
too. It's just such an advantagein any situation. And I'm so embarrassed
to tell you this, but whenI have twin daughters, and when they
were really really little, they hadlike I gave them a certain amount of
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money and if they wanted something,they would have to say do I have
enough money or do I not haveenough money? And there were these little
kiosks in the mall, and Isaid, tell them, this is all
the money you have, and theyabsolutely would not do it, and so
of course I had to do itand show them it was It is sometimes
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with mom and pops, not bigretailers, when it comes to like,
if you're in person, it ispossible to do that. But you're right,
it is an important talent to havebut it's also an uncomfortable one if
you're not used to doing it.Claire, totally, I'm yumping too much
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and I'm not letting you talk.And anybody has just now started to listen.
This is Claire Stepanic, she's founderand CEO of Ergo, And please,
once again, if you can telleverybody what it is, Yeah,
for sure. So Ergo is softwarethat goes on an online retailer's website and
it adds a button to their productsthat says make an offer with Ergo,
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and then consumers and online shoppers willsee that button and they can click it
and they can put in how muchthey're willing to pay and how long they're
willing to wait for the product.So if they love something but it's just
out of budget, they now havea way to make an offer on it.
And then the retailers have full control. They can accept or reject the
offer, but allow it allows themto clear inventory that might have been sitting
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there for a long time without havingto announce a sale, and they can
do it directly on their own websitesrather than having to kind of put the
goods on a different third party website. It stays totally with them, and
so could you give the website againfor both retailers and for shoppers like myself.
Yeah. So retailers can find usin the Shopify app store under ergo
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Ergo, and shoppers like yourself canfind out more about us at airgooffers dot
com. Retailers can also go toour website and then we also have an
Instagram and TikTok Aergo Offers and forboth of those, that's where we're announcing
the retailers that have signed up.So that's the first place to hear if
your favorite store is added Airgo.So I know it's easy for me.
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I've I just now. I knowthat this is ridiculous, but I had
never worked in retail, and Ihad some time on my hands, and
I said, I think I'm goingto work part time. And so I
found out, just like what yousaid, how prices are slash as more
quickly than I ever anticipated. Ijust I'm like, wait a second.
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One day, you know, somethingwas fifty dollars and today it's fifteen.
How if you decide that you're gonnagive an offer to a retailer or you
know, a mom and pop storeand they say no, have you found
that if you wait a little while, can you do it again and make
an offer? Yeah, So whatwe've allowed people to do is when you
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make an offer, you put inhow much you're willing to pay, but
you also put in how long you'rewilling to wait. So we definitely advise
people to put in as long aspossible, which makes more sense. Right
if it's something you need two weeksfrom now, obviously that's constrained. But
if it's something like a piece offurniture and you've really been eyeing it for
a while and you're open to waitinga month or two, put in that
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weight because it's exactly what you describedof. Like, maybe not today,
it might not make sense for theretailer, but if you have a long
period of time, they might acceptit in a little while. So that's
what we advise people to do.It's take full advantage of that second piece
of the offer. And so becauseI haven't seen it yet, what when
you say a little while, doyou actually have a time limit? Like
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can you put six months? Oris that too long? Can you put
a year? Yeah? Right now, we're allowing all all amounts of time,
not I think realistically, Yeah,we'll see what people say. But
that's right now, it's set upthat at any point in time you want,
that's incredible, that's really good.And so I know I asked you
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this already, but I'm going toask again. You said that there's really
no I guess, a favorite orthere's no popular item that you can recall
as being one of the big itemsthat people are trying to get at a
better price. But when you saidcouch, I never thought about furniture.
So it can be clothing, shoes, furniture. I mean what else?
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What else have you found that peopleare willing to wait for or bargain for.
Well, really, what we sayis any store that has ever put
something on sale can use air gobecause instead of putting something on sale,
you might actually receive all these offersand not have to put it on sale
or make more money from the offers. So we're really any store that sells
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on Shopify, we're going to moveoff Shopify as well. But really,
any store with a sale is kindof what we think about as a potential
customer. So no limit. Butthat's everybody, right, Yeah, well,
yeah, ninety nine percent of storesexactly, So that's what's great for
her? Why, I go,it's going to be everywhere. And so
have you found that there are alsovery very high end products that are are
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being just at a lower price.Yeah, so that gets into the places
where they really don't put things onsale, but we do see an opportunity
of this isn't public, it's justa private interaction between the shopper and yourself,
and so we're trying to pitch itto high end as well. One
more thing, and I don't evenknow why I'm asking, but I'm going
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to ask because it came into mybrain. But can a person that sells
on Amazon put the there, youknow, the little button that says they're
they're also able to negotiate? Soright now we are not building on as
like a feature for Amazon. Sono, it would have to be on
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their direct website. Okay, okay, perfect. Yeah. I was thinking,
isn't it confusing enough already? ButI mean there's so many options.
Yeah, I want to everything.And so when it comes to a couch
or something like that, this whenyou say you're going to pay a certain
price and they accepted, I meanthat doesn't have anything to do with shipping.
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That's a separate thing, right right, right, Okay, so you
don't have to I mean, youcan't get something for free. It takes
something to get it, right,So yeah, that's a different negotiation.
Our is just the price of theproduct. Maybe the post office needs it.
Okay. So we're coming to anend here and I'm just I love
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this. I love this product.It's clear. If you can one more
time, as we're wrapping up here, tell everybody how they can get Ergo.
Yes. For retailers who are sellingthings online, you can find us
in the Shopify app store under ErgoE r G O. And then for
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anyone interested in the product, pleasefollow us on Instagram and TikTok at Ergo
Offers at. Our website is Ergooffersdot com and it's eergo Offers dot com.
Correct. Okay, one last question, where did you get the name?
That's a great question. My momhelped me with it. Nice.
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Nice were We liked the way itsounded, and we also it just is
the logical next step for pricing,so it made perfect sense as a name.
Awesome, Okay, thank you somuch. This is Claire's Stepanic.
She has founder and CEO of Ergoit's a startup developing pricing software that gives
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us, the consumer, an optionto negotiate the price with retailers on just
about anything. Claire, thank youso much for coming on today. Of
course, thank you Karen,