Amino's agreement with Peter Beier and how partnerships can become good business

Partnerships that sell can start with something simple: Two businesses share an audience but don’t compete. In 2011, we at Amino partnered with Peter Beier Chokolade in a way that illustrates the idea.

Partnerships that sell: A joint offer

The offer at the time was one month of Amino Plus and a 200-kroner gift card for Peter Beier for 99 kroner. It was a specific offer back then intended to encourage more people to try the membership.

We hoped new members would discover the value of Amino Plus and stay. Peter Beier hoped they’d taste the chocolate and later buy more, for example for employees or customers.

We paid a little for the chocolate. So it wasn’t just a free gift without any thought behind it. Both parties needed to work to make customers happy and bring them back.

Where else do your customers shop?

My wife had bought cosmetics online and received a parcel with offers and samples from other businesses. It made me think how simple helping each other could be.

The cosmetics company had access to an audience others also wanted to reach. A couple of relevant offers in a parcel could give the customer something extra and create contact with partners.

If you sell golf equipment, what else interests your customers? You know your audience better than I do. Look for businesses with something relevant to offer the same people.

It needs to make sense for both parties

Initially, we saw more new Plus members each day. But I also emphasised that the partnership only really worked if people were satisfied and kept buying.

The point is to think about products and companies that complement each other. The historical offer is an example of that thinking, not a description of today’s prices or terms.

Partnerships that sell: Our thinking behind the chocolate

I began the video by saying it was a mix of good advice and shameless advertising. I wanted to sell Amino Plus and make our new partner happy. But I also thought the idea was so simple it could inspire other businesses.

We’d made an agreement with Peter Beier Chokolade. I thought he was a bloody talented chocolatier making exclusive, incredibly delicious chocolate. At Amino, we needed a good offer to get more people to try Amino Plus.

Some people were on the verge of buying but perhaps hadn’t found the time or money. We’d started making membership easier to begin: You could try a month, then renew three months at a time.

One month of Amino Plus and a 200-kroner gift card

The offer in March 2011 was one month of Amino Plus and a 200-kroner gift card for Peter Beier for 99 kroner. In the video, I said the gift card could be used online or in one of his ten shops at the time. So that was 200 kroner of chocolate on top of a month’s membership.

We hoped people would stay after the first month. Back then, I explained the continuation as three months at a time at 99 kroner a month, or 297 kroner a quarter plus VAT. Those prices and terms belong to the historical offer I discussed, not an offer you can rely on today.

Peter Beier wasn’t simply giving away chocolate without a plan. We paid a small amount for it, and his hope was that people would taste it and think: Bloody hell, that’s delicious. Perhaps they could use more chocolate for their employees or customers.

That was his bet. If people never bought more, it wouldn’t make much sense for him. And if people quickly dropped Amino Plus, it wouldn’t make much sense for us either. So we both needed to make an effort and give customers something they’d enjoy.

My wife’s cosmetics parcel provided another example

It was an incredibly simple partnership. I thought of a parcel my wife had received after buying cosmetics in the US. I didn’t remember exactly what she’d bought, but alongside the product were messages from around eight to ten partners.

Some had sent samples. Others had offers for a cruise or spa break at a reasonable price. The cosmetics company had access to an attractive audience that shopped online. Perhaps the same people were interested in the other products too.

It was the same thinking as ours: Amino and Peter Beier didn’t compete, but we believed we addressed the same audience. The products could complement each other.

Who else do your customers use?

What does putting a few flyers with vouchers into a box you’re shipping anyway cost? I thought the extra cost could be very small. You could imagine charging for the space or making an exchange agreement where the other business also put your material in its parcels.

I also mentioned space in each other’s newsletters as a possibility. At the same time, I said the Consumer Ombudsman had a view on that sort of thing and you’d need to clarify it with your lawyer. I didn’t go into the rules in the video. My idea was to think about how companies could help each other reach relevant customers.

If you sell golf equipment, perhaps some customers also hunt or drink good red wine. I don’t know about your particular audience, but hopefully you know better than me. What other businesses do they buy from? Who could have something relevant to offer without being your direct competitor?

Try making contact and exploring whether you can do something together. It wasn’t limited to chocolate and memberships. What mattered was the shared audience and products that complemented each other. Also read Iværksætter til jeg dør about my experiences of developing a business with others.

The first figures looked promising, but what happened next mattered

When I recorded the video, I said we’d gone from around one or two new Plus members a day to just over ten. That was our first experience with the offer at the time.

If some of the new members renewed after the month, it looked quite sensible. But that was precisely an if. We needed to create an experience that made them want to stay.

I also hoped Peter Beier was happy with around ten new contacts a day who paid a little for the offer and belonged to the audience he wanted to reach. I didn’t think it sounded like a completely daft situation. Both parties got a chance to show customers what they could do, and both had an interest in making customers happy.

Best wishes, Martin