Do your aspirations seem out of reach? Keep going. We’ll tell you a real story of our business partner who in less than 10 years became one of the top players in the European online market.
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IRISIMO is one of the special partners for Dexfinity. We have been working together for 10 years and together we have pulled its annual turnover from the original 400,000 euros to 5 million euros.
How can ecommerce penetrate Europe with such huge profits? Read about our rewarding cooperation.
College Project with a Big Dream
In 2005, the owners of today’s IRISIMO founded the first version of the Hodinky.sk eshop as part of a university project. Their dreams were bigger, but they realised they needed time.
The founders started in a small stand in a small town shopping centre. From the very beginning, they were aware of the importance of a fair approach to all customers.
Growth leading to new opportunities
Customer satisfaction grew and the brand kept on thriving.
IRISIMO prides itself on exclusively selling genuine products that come from official distributors. This is the reason their customers are always assured of a professional approach and a guarantee of warranty and post-warranty repairs directly at authorised service centres.
In 2013, they chose to take their business to the next level and approached Dexfinity.
If a brand has ambitious goals, it should work with an experienced marketing partner where the results speak for themselves.
When One Country Is not Enough
A business should think big to grow. Imagine a state in which your business is ten times bigger than it is today. When it reaches the highest limits of your home country, it is time to move beyond borders.
Ecommerce penetrating Europe
We started working with IRISIMO in March 2013 and expanded to the Czech Republic in October. However, we quickly found its potential to grow beyond far wider borders.
Choosing which countries a business can expand into depends on many factors. A lot of eshops are driven by feelings and it doesn’t always pay off.
We analyse markets using the following:
- Google Trends
- Google Exporting Tools: a quick and accurate assessment of the potential of countries for a given business sector
- Analysis of micro and macroeconomic or demographic factors
- Payment and delivery options
- Competitive analysis in each country
- Customer behaviour and country-specific factors
10 markets in 8 years
IRISIMO has grown rapidly and successfully. It soon became one of the top players in its segment in the CEE region.
The expansion itself, however, required constant communication and close cooperation. Success is also hidden behind a perfectly set strategy.
Our ecommerce digital marketing strategy consisted of:
- Thorough consolidation of the market position
- Clear and precise objective definition
- Definition of target audiences
- Creation of an online marketing mix
- Definition of KPIs
- Campaign planning
- Selection of communication channels
- Continuous reporting of results
- Ensuring sufficient financial resources
Always use real data when choosing the right country for expansion.
Ecommerce Europe expansion
If a brand from Slovakia or another small country has global goals but fears that it has already tapped its greatest potential at home, it will often be pleasantly surprised.
In the case of the IRISIMO brand, the original country Slovakia represents only 25% of the total turnover. Croatia and Slovenia are among the fastest-growing markets.
Customer behaviour in different countries
- Did you know that in Slovenia, people are really searching and waiting for discounts and flash sales or coupons? to buy from new e-shops?
- Luka Uvodic (Dynetix) claims that “When your webshop starts selling in Slovenia, people will track it, wait till your products get on sale. Some people even track and wait for the biggest discount and only then shop.”
- in Google Ads, do not count on quick revenues from Shopping campaigns, only classic Search ads are present. You can still use a variaty of smart display campaigns and discovery campaigns to boost your sales though.
- On Facebook and Instagram, bear in mind that your audience in Slovenia is much smaller (3x smaller than in Slovakia and 6x smaller than in Czechia), therefore broad targeting strategy could work better and “only creativity of your ads” really matters
Important Support in Difficult Times
Like any other business, IRISIMO became more alert and scaled back its activities after the pandemic. No one knew what would happen and how the situation would develop. There was an initial panic and a sudden drop in sales.
As a strong business partner, Dexfinity decided to support IRISIMO. We proposed to share the marketing costs.
How does performance-based cooperation work?
We trusted our work and our partner so much that we opted to go to market with skin in the game and be rewarded only for results.
The commission form of collaboration or the pay-for-performance model requires absolute transparency. Both parties see all the numbers, the entire cleared turnover.
The client sees which finances go towards marketing and what is left over for Dexfinity as a reward. The numbers are revised every month, testing which situation is a win-win for both parties.
A real example: If an eshop has a monthly turnover of €100,000, the agreement is that 10% goes to cover marketing costs (credits) and 3% of the turnover is for Dexfinity. In this case, €10,000 goes purely to marketing and €3,000 is redistributed to the people working on the project.
The objective of the commission-based cooperation is to maximise the efforts of all members involved in the project, to treat the partner’s business as their own and to strive to surpass the current turnover every month.
When this is achieved, Dexfinity receives a larger budget, which it redistributes among the specialists involved in the project. In the end, it will deliver more services and even better results to its partners.
With the performance-based remuneration model, the client can grow indefinitely.
Challenges of commission-based cooperation
Collaboration in the form of pay-for-performance, however, is not suitable for every client. It is important to work together for 3-6 months at the earliest. This gives Dexfinity time and space to get to know the client’s product portfolio and the brand’s processes.
Commission-based collaboration is a symbiotic relationship and needs time to settle in. It is an agreement that partners often tend to change at the first discrepancy. Nine to twelve months is the time for the collaboration to settle down and be mutually beneficial.
The eshop owners need to specify what they expect at the beginning and communicate all the time with the Key Account of the project – an “external-internal” employee of the business partner, who plans and composes the cooperation for the future.
SEO and branding within the success fee
Content marketing, link building and overall SEO are initially “unmeasurable”. The results only come after a few months. However, if there is an extra budget leftover from the commission collaboration, it is set aside for branding activities.
Summary of Cooperation with IRISIMO
- Currently, Dexfinity takes care of Google Ads, SEO and comparison shopping. Weekly, we evaluate key performance identifiers, present new opportunities, set short-term goals and consult on campaign budgets.
- We were able to identify the right foreign markets and prepare the brand to successfully enter new countries.
- With IRISIMO, we consult not only on marketing activities but also on logistical processes, legal provisions and payment method issues.
- Together we have conquered 10 markets.
- We have grown from an initial €400,000 p.a. to €5,000,000 p.a.
Become the Ultimate Best
Did our partner’s story catch your eye? Are you wondering about the opportunities offered by foreign markets?
Take your business beyond borders and put it in the hands of experts who are not afraid to be rewarded by results.
Thanks to the Dexfinity Editorial Staff for Creating This Article
Author: Veronika Svajčiaková
Editor: Martin Bartl
Translator: Mária Streďanská
Published by: Róbert Hošták
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Michal Lichner
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