I think the main advantage of eMAG Marketplace is the exposure. I like to do online shopping and, after a few years of online experience in IT, I launched Care Spot, but on a totally opposite niche, more “beautiful”, I mean in the beauty area.
Care Spot sells a wide range of professional hair, skin, body and nail care products. We have been online since 2009, and during this time we have offered our customers internationally renowned products and advice on the products present in our store.
In 2013, we decided to join eMAG Marketplace platform, because it gave us quick access to a huge number of customers. Which would have been much harder to reach, with very high costs and in a long period of time. Another very important element we took into account were sales. Higher sales lead to higher turnover, which is a plus on the table of price negotiations with suppliers.
The immediate changes were those related to rolling stock, which increased significantly. As a result, we increased stocks. Obviously, the number of products listed in the beauty category has also increased. Last but not least, we managed to diversify our products and added new categories: jewelry, children and fashion. The highest order received on Marketplace exceeded the amount of 6,000 lei, consisting of perfumes and cosmetics.
It is true that the road was not smooth. In the first year of activity, for example, we encountered technical problems. But both we and the Marketplace platform team were at the beginning.
The good news is that we have outgrown them pretty quickly, and now, through the Marketplace user account, we have access to a lot of useful features, such as adding active offers or performance indicators.
After 3 years of activity on the Marketplace platform, I noticed how much the buying behavior of customers has changed. At first, I received hundreds of customer calls, over 90% of the conversations opening with the question “Are the products original?”. Now, these questions are much rarer, and the orders more. We’re on the right track.
Therefore, I recommend companies – especially those at the beginning of the road – to launch their products on the Internet. For me, the online environment means freedom. In offline, you are quite constrained or restricted to the place where you operate, with quite limited opportunities to grow. I’m not saying this isn’t happening, it’s just that it’s much harder. It is difficult to sell to a customer in Arad if you have a shop in Braila. Online, you can sell to a customer in India as long as you know how to reach him.
Silvia Constantinescu, Carespot
