Albero Group: Excellence in Logistics and Packaging

Interview with the founder

How did Albero Group come into being?

Well, exactly one month from now, we'll be celebrating our 10th year in business, and like many other companies, it all started with a good glass of wine...

Right there, in front of that glass of wine, I realized that if I wanted to purchase the beautiful wine glass I was drinking from, I wouldn't have had the means.

What's the underlying idea?

Before Albero Group came along, if you wanted a quality glass at a decent price, you had to be a professional or a restaurateur and place a substantial order. As an individual, you'd end up paying exorbitant prices in "crystal shops". There was no alternative.

So, I thought, "Why can't I have this stuff at home?" That's when the idea of selling these products online and delivering them directly to people's homes was born.

In such a niche sector, what were the initial challenges?

We encountered two major challenges. One is typical for micro-enterprises: there are no small companies that produce glassware, only international giants like Arcoroc or Bormioli Rocco.

Breaking into production was impossible, so we decided to enter the market as retailers, leveraging Amazon and testing the model before attempting to scale up.

And what's the second problem you mentioned?

The other problem was shipping. Ten years ago, you had to fill out paper booklets by hand. Today, we offer over 60 types of packaging, some produced in-house according to our specifications.

We became exceptionally skilled at shipping fragile products worldwide, reaching a breakage rate in 2022 of just 0.6%. We break only one glass per every 600 shipments.

What are you most proud of?

We became so adept at solving the glass shipping problem that in 2022, we were awarded as the Best E-commerce in Italy for Logistics and Packaging and in 2023 for Innovation by Netcomm in Milan. Our team members now need a "degree" to package items. Each product has its own packaging and packaging method, and if a product doesn't pass our tests, we don't sell it, as it doesn't make sense in terms of margins.

We can guarantee the replacement of individual broken items in a package within 24/48 hours, something not even Amazon does, as it requires managing individual pieces, not just packaging, which is quite complex for our warehouse.

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The Turning Point for Albero Group

What was the turning point?

In time, we realized that our logistics management was so advanced that we needed to make it available to other companies. Today, we're not only a logistics partner but also a successful ecommerce site manager. That's our positioning.

We've become partners with Bormioli Rocco, Italy's top glassware company and fourth-largest in the world. This means that when you buy from the Bormioli Rocco website, you're actually on a website we created for them, and we handle their orders. We offer the same service to many other clients.

How did the international market react?

In 2018, we realized that our products had more appeal abroad than in Italy. It's a cultural factor. In Italy, the Nutella glass is the average glass for all beverages at home. In England, if you have fruit juice, it's served in a juice glass – similar to a beverage glass but not quite. Starting from this mindset, it's easy to see why they're willing to pay three times as much as Italians to set the table.

Thanks to Amazon's Pan-European program, we expanded across Europe and began buying directly from foreign glassworks in Austria, the Czech Republic, and Poland – one of the few to do so.

In parallel, we developed our proprietary websites, with Albero shop.it leading the way with incredible numbers. Currently, in Germany and France, foreign sales account for over 30% of our revenue.

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Albero Group and ZonWizard

What role did ZonWizard play in your growth?

ZonWizard has been essential from the start because it solved my tax problems. We used to use Excel, but it was too unstable. A wrong click could compromise the data forever.

ZonWizard allows me to systematically process VAT and OSS declarations and provides a way to double-check the work of my tax consultant.

The Evolution:

• 2019 (With Excel): "One click or incorrect character formatting and the data became unreliable. A real chaos."
• 2020-2024 (With ZonWizard): "Everything is automated and up-to-date. I no longer worry about cross-referencing data."

What exceeded your expectations?

Certainly, I found a tool that keeps up with all the latest Amazon updates. For example, when the OSS was implemented, it wasn't clear how to handle foreign sales.

During that period, you partnered with those who directly handle declarations and provided the necessary tools. Or when Amazon changes its fees, we immediately get updates in the software. This gives us even more confidence that we're always up to date.

What does ZonWizard help you with, besides taxes?

Many other things. I'll just mention the most recent one. When you introduced the Refunds feature, of which I was a beta tester, I realized what Amazon does behind the scenes. If I hadn't taken action, Amazon would have "withheld" €200-€400 for each reconciliation.

In just 2 hours, I recovered a total of €3,800 in refunds. This significantly impacts profit, especially for small sellers – it could be their entire month's profit. Honestly, I believe that if I hadn't requested these refunds for lost, damaged, or missing goods through ZonWizard... well, I don't think they would have ever come back to me.

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The Future of Albero Group

You've been ZonWizard users for many years. Where do you want Albero to go now?

Our goal for 2024 was to reach €10 million, but unfortunately, the price increases for materials will not allow us to reach our target, despite the significant gain of market share.

An exciting new project is our website that combines two worlds–glassware and wine. We believe our customers are more aware than the average wine website user because they're buying an item for drinking wine. So, our 7,000 glasses will serve the 500 wine labels we've added to our new wine cellar.

We're also launching Selezione.it, a website dedicated to a very specific market niche that will sell super-premium wine glasses immediately available in the "Extra Europe" luxury market. I can't reveal more; we're a work in progress, and I know it won't be easy 😊.

Thank you Albero Group

Congratulations on the remarkable result you have achieved. We're proud to have you as our customer!

Thank you for providing us with indispensable operational tools for every Amazon seller. ZonWizard solves problems and provides real satisfaction because it does so in a simple, reliable, and precise manner.