Timeline
2016–2018 → The first steps
Chris, who would later set up the company goodvibe, began looking for a part-time job in the summer of 2016 whilst studying psychology and economics – just as the CBD boom was sweeping across Switzerland. At the same time, his childhood friend Nicola Bösch took the plunge and launched his own CBD brand called Sweed.
(Christoph Meyer “Chris”)
When Nicola was looking for a sales representative to distribute the new brand and CBD products in newsagents and tobacconists, he came across Chris. The newsagent and tobacconist owners were surprised when Chris turned up at their premises with «legal cannabis». However, through his persuasive explanations, natural manner and customer-focused approach, he quickly gained their trust. The Zurich-based CBD brand Sweed rapidly gained recognition throughout Switzerland thanks to its high-quality products and fair prices.
(Sweed, goodvibe’s first partner)
From then on, Chris, as a sole trader, handled sales, order processing, invoicing and customer service for Sweed products alongside his studies. However, with the rapid emergence of numerous new CBD brands, the market was soon flooded and became extremely competitive. Margins fell dramatically, and overproduction led to a veritable glut. Many cannabis producers were soon forced to give up again. Difficult times also lay ahead for Chris and Sweed. Nevertheless, giving up was not an option, and the potential for both Chris and Sweed remained significant enough.
In spring and during the university holidays of 2017, Chris threw himself wholeheartedly into helping to open a headshop. During this time, the idea took shape of converting his sole trader business into a limited liability company (GmbH) and setting up a wholesale business for CBD products and smoking accessories. It was clear that, in the long term, the Sweed brand could not be successfully marketed solely through the sole trader business. The key concept was «cross-selling», as goodvibe’s predecessor company had already built up a solid customer base.
At the end of 2017, Chris expanded his product range, and in early 2018 he decided to drop out of his Master’s degree in psychology and set up goodvibe GmbH.
The vision: to set up a wholesale business that sells not only CBD products, but also all products of interest to tobacconists, headshops, newsagents, petrol stations and grocery shops. The adventure began in a shared flat, where a small side room was converted into a makeshift warehouse. His friend and flatmate, Moritz Baggenstos, was also there from the very beginning. They shared not only the flat, but also the vision of a successful business idea.
(The first mini-camp in the shared flat)
Initially, the focus was on expanding the product range. goodvibe sought out suitable manufacturers whom they were convinced would be just as successful as Sweed. From the outset, goodvibe was particularly impressed by two companies: Qualicann and Purize.
Qualicann stood out thanks to its professional branding, absolutely top-of-the-range CBD flowers and CBD oils of the highest quality. Furthermore, the two founders, Levi Sewer and Steven Kretz, were innovative and personable, hands-on individuals. Right from the start, they got on well thanks to their shared mindset and the pursuit of the same vision: the health-conscious consumption of cannabis.
Another childhood friend drew goodvibe’s attention to Purize and their high-quality, extra-thin activated carbon filters. The smoke is said to be smoother and doesn’t irritate. They’re also narrower than conventional activated carbon filters and perfect for rolling. What’s more, the filters don’t get blocked, even in winter.
goodvibe contacted Purize straight away, and just one week later the first packs of Purize activated carbon filters were already being imported.
(Purize activated carbon filters)
In order to remain attractive to retailers and offer a comprehensive range, goodvibe expanded its range to include various products such as Papers, Rolls, various headshop products and Snus.
Without further ado, they also decided to set up an online shop alongside the wholesale business. Like Moritz, another friend helped out here right from the start. Canaan Leutwiler. Despite the still small range of just under 100 items, goodvibe moved its warehouse to a basement unit near Sihlcity.
(The storage area in the basement near Sihlcity -> It’s a right mess ;-))
Cooperation with both Qualicann and Purize grew ever closer. The «match» between these companies was perfect. Not only did they share similar ideas, but their personal rapport – which went far beyond business – was always based on shared values. Towards the end of 2018, the first discussions took place with Qualicann and Purize with a view to appointing goodvibe as an exclusive distribution partner and growing together.
Cannatrade 2018 marked another milestone for goodvibe. The Swiss cannabis scene was now introduced to – and came to appreciate – goodvibe’s three flagship products: Purize, Sweed and Qualicann.
It was through Purize, and thanks to its founders Roberto and his business partner Adrian, that Chris first became aware of the company Real Leaf. At the 2019 Mary Jane Fair in Berlin, goodvibe met the company Real Leaf in person for the first time. Real Leaf produces natural, nicotine-free herbal blends that are used as a substitute for tobacco. This product was the perfect addition to goodvibe’s health-conscious and sustainable range. goodvibe took on the exclusive market expansion of Real Leaf in Switzerland and opened up further new distribution channels.
2019 → First breakthrough in the Swiss market
At that time, Chris was running his business largely on his own. He ordered goods from suppliers, met with clients to secure new business, packed the orders himself and was fully occupied round the clock. The first member of staff was taken on in January 2019. Milena, who is reliable, loyal and dedicated, became goodvibe’s first employee. Her precise and dedicated work enabled Chris to turn his attention to other tasks straight away.
(Employee number 1 at goodvibe -> Milena Vukovic)
The steadily increasing number of orders, outstanding invoices and parcels presented goodvibe with yet another challenge. Day-to-day operations were taking up more and more time, leaving little scope for business development, product innovation and process optimisation.
The ordering process was not scalable, parcels were still being addressed manually, and the information systems were not interconnected.
For Chris and Milena, day-to-day operations became a daily challenge.
Moritz and Canaan had already been working on a new website in their spare time, with direct integration into the ERP system. However, the long-awaited go-live was delayed by almost two months due to Moritz’s main job as an IT consultant.
2020 → an eventful year with many changes
The discussions with Moritz became more intense, and the lack of resources became increasingly apparent. Chris persuaded Moritz to give up his IT consultancy job in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic and dive headfirst into the adventurous world of start-ups.
His focus was on clear structures, a modern website integrated with the ERP and CRM systems, and professional stock management. Goodvibe moved into a new 100-square-metre warehouse in Unterengstringen.
(Warehouse and office in Unterengstringen -> it’s starting to look a bit tidier ;))
Just as these major changes were taking place, the lockdown hit, turning the entire business on its head. Wholesale trade came to a virtual standstill for a few weeks, and, like many other companies, goodvibe began to face existential fears. Fixed monthly costs had risen many-fold in the space of six months. Three salaries had to be paid, on top of the high rent for the new warehouse. goodvibe was primarily focused on the wholesale trade, but managed to stay afloat thanks to its online shop, which achieved higher sales figures during the lockdown.
A turbulent few months followed, marked by numerous changes and innovations. Once the coronavirus crisis had eased somewhat over the summer and the new processes had been established, goodvibe was once again in a position to focus on new markets and products. Ticino and French-speaking Switzerland were the two key new markets to be tapped into. Two friends, Orestes and Sam, were taken on on a temporary basis. Thanks to their excellent language skills, they opened new doors and laid the foundations for sustainable partnerships in the respective linguistic regions.
In addition to its core business of wholesale and the secondary source of income provided by the online shop, goodvibe was able to launch its third pillar, «Distribution Solutions», in 2020. goodvibe is now a distribution partner for three different online shops and distributes their products from its own warehouse.
Thanks to the technical integration with Galaxus, goodvibe has secured another unique sales channel. The new «Headshop Items» category was created specifically for goodvibe, and our products can also be found there. goodvibe is the exclusive retail partner for the Headshop & CBD range. We can publish new items on Galaxus within a few hours and handle the dispatch ourselves. Our high-quality products have also impressed the experts at Galaxus.
2020 was a tough year, but ultimately it was characterised by lasting positive changes and improvements.
2021 → Focus on the B2C online shop
Having successfully overcome these challenges, our team spirit was strengthened, and we were well-equipped and highly motivated to tackle 2021 together. At the start of the year, our focus was clearly on innovative products, our own brand and sustainable growth. A completely revamped website with a clean design was launched in April. After some initial teething problems, the new website ran flawlessly, and we were able to offer our customers an even better experience thanks to its stability and the range of options available.
Our new online shop now needed to be filled with plenty of content and optimised and linked across all sections in order to achieve good Google rankings. To this end, Christoph Bucher was recruited in the summer of 2021; he is an experienced copywriter who was already very familiar with the products even before joining goodvibe. As well as creating content, Christoph also took on responsibility for newsletter marketing and customer service.
(Employee number 3 at goodvibe -> Christoph Bucher)
There was a significant change in the product range: Snus! Following changes in the law, all Snus products were now legally available for sale in Switzerland, whereas previously – particularly the most popular brands such as Siberia and Odens – they had not been legal. goodvibe found a reliable partner who was henceforth able to supply goodvibe with all the major brands. From then on, the focus in B2B sales was primarily on Snus, partly because CBD products had definitely lost their initial hype and Snus represents a larger, albeit highly competitive, market.
2022 → The year of growth par excellence
The 100-square-metre warehouse in Schlieren had definitely become too small, so on 1 January 2022 we moved to a warehouse and office space in Rümlang measuring just under 300 square metres.
(Our current warehouse in Rümlang)
Looking back, the summer of 2022 can be described as something of a game-changer.
Firstly, the substantial investment in expanding the online shop finally paid off, and from then on goodvibe was among the frontrunners in every category. We reached page one in Google’s organic search results for practically all the keywords relevant to us. This gave us a massive boost, and orders increased significantly.
Shortly afterwards, we found ourselves having to distance ourselves somewhat from our original slogan, «Enjoy the Green Side». The trend and boom in single-use e-cigarettes continued, and after much discussion, we decided to follow this trend, even if it meant moving away from our sustainable approach.
goodvibe quickly became one of the largest distributors of Vapes in Switzerland. This was largely due to significant investment in B2B sales and the fact that some outstanding new staff joined goodvibe. Special mention must be made of Baris Gezsat, who successfully leads the sales team, and Dragos Badea, who introduced the B2B CRM programme HubSpot at goodvibe and gradually improved it to provide customer advisors with an incredibly useful tool. Furthermore, Valentina Besabassi took over customer service for both B2B and B2C, and Dax Castellon was identified and recruited as the ideal web developer for the websites.
At the end of 2022, we reached another milestone. For the first time, goodvibe employed more than 10 staff members.
(The Team-goodvibe in December 2022 -> Alireza Amani, Rene Denzler, Michael Burtscher, Milena Vukovic, Valentina Besbassi, Sami Zeriouhi, Christoph Bucher, Moritz Baggenstos, Dax Castellon, Christoph Meyer, Baris Gezsat)
2023 → Stabilisation, structures, processes
Following a year of growth in 2022, during which the workforce had grown rapidly from 4 to 11 employees, the main priority in 2023 was to implement clear structures and processes in order to lay further foundations for renewed growth spurts.
From then on, goodvibe consisted of four more or less independent departments: Logistics, Back Office, B2B and the E-commerce (B2C) department.
On 1 January, we moved again – though only the office part of the business – to make more space for our products in Rümlang. The new office is located in Zurich Binz.
This summer, Moritz Baggenstos – one of the people who had really helped to get the company off the ground – left us. He stepped down from his operational role at goodvibe to join his father’s company. We would like to take this opportunity to express our heartfelt thanks to Moritz for the wonderful time we had together and for the many efficiency-boosting measures he implemented. We wish you all the best in your future career and are grateful that you will continue to support goodvibe strategically in your role as Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Thanks to the excellent sales figures in the e-cigarette sector, particularly for the Elfbar brand, goodvibe has attracted the interest of a major player. Heaven Gifts, which manufactures the world’s two largest e-cigarette brands (including Elfbar and Lost Mary), expressed an interest in closer collaboration, much to our delight. At the end of 2023, goodvibe therefore became one of the key distribution partners for Elfbar and Lost Mary, and at the start of 2024 launched one of Lost Mary’s most exclusive products, the MO5000.
2024 → Professionalisation and changes
Just before the end of 2023, we were able to bring Dominik Wensauer (Managing Director, E-commerce) on board as a key addition to our team. With his expertise, he is helping us to drive the growth of our B2C online shop and successfully navigate the challenging transition to a new ERP system.
The year 2024 was marked by impressive achievements: we achieved remarkable B2C growth of 60 % and strong B2B growth of 25 %. At the same time, the launch of the new JTL ERP system marked a milestone that proved a real test for the entire company. The transition required not only countless hours of work, but also a great deal of perseverance and team spirit. I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks to all goodvibe staff, who, through their tireless dedication, have shown that together we can overcome any challenge. This project has brought us closer together as a team and made us stronger. We are proud that 90 % systems have successfully completed the migration and that the expected efficiency gains are already being felt.
At the same time, the new Tobacco Act, which came into force at the start of 2024, brought about significant changes for the entire sector. Despite many uncertainties and initial ambiguities, we have overcome these challenges and have been able to further strengthen our position.
Over the course of the year, we have strategically expanded our team: Julian Bosshard took on a key role as our first Key Account Manager, whilst Anja Erne and Pierre Müller brought their experience to bear in marketing and logistics.
Another highlight was the further expansion of our warehouse. To cope with the increasing volume of goods handled and to be prepared for future growth, we have increased our storage space from 250 to 450 square metres.
These successes bring us to goodvibe has had another record year and is setting important milestones on the path to the future:
- Number of employees: 15
- Parcel deliveries: 26,000
- Storage area: 450 square metres
We look back with pride on an exceptional year and look forward to celebrating new successes together.
2025 → Outlook
In 2025, we look forward to shifting our focus back outwards. Thanks to our expanded warehouse space, we will be able to attract attention with a wide range of new products.
Furthermore, we are on the verge of finalising exciting distribution partnerships that support our vision of establishing innovative brands on the Swiss market. We are convinced that these partnerships will not only open up new opportunities but also further drive our growth.
