Transcription:
Radosław (01:00)
Hello everyone in another episode of our podcast, Crossborder Insights. My name is Radek Opalko, I’m from Media4U and today we will be talking about German market and that’s why we have Nadja with us. Nadja works in Makes You Local and is responsible for German market. So hello Nadja.
Nadja (01:23)
Hello, nice to meet you.
Radosław (01:24)
Nice to meet you too, it’s really good to have you here. First of all, maybe you would say a few words about your role at Makes You Local.
Nadja (01:34)
Yeah, sure. I am a Localization Specialist at MakesYouLocal. I’ve been here for two and a half years and I’ve, yeah, specialized in localization for online shops and I’ve helped a lot of them in my time here already. And I am also an e-Commerce Manager and the Team Lead for our team here in Berlin in our office. And yeah, I really enjoy the work that I do in localization. And yeah, the German market is not always the easiest. So I’m glad I can be here and talk about it.
Radosław (02:20)
Yeah, and what’s very important is your mother market. Yeah, so you come from Germany.
Nadja (02:24)
Yeah. Yes, I am German. I was born here. I live here. I am fully German.
Radosław (02:29)
Yeah, so it’s good to have you here because you are a very good source of knowledge. We at Media4U are in the situation currently that we are expanding our own operating area, by the DACH region, the analysis of the German market are very close to us. So today’s episode will be also very interesting for me. a little bit, and I may have some questions which will be also from our experience and from our researchers. But first of all, tell me, because when we were doing the research,
Nadja (03:01)
Very personal.
Radosław (03:17)
It’s said that Germans are more and more open to buying products from online stores. If you could say, is it true? Because of course, the pandemic started in the whole Europe, people started to be interested in online shopping. outside of the pandemic, how would you say? Are Germans very open for online shopping?
Nadja (03:43)
I would say yes, for sure. It really depends on the products they’re buying though. obviously during the Corona pandemic, everything was bought online and we could really see a huge boom in the industry. But now I think it is still very high for fashion. That’s also something that I personally buy.
Radosław (03:46)
Mm-hmm.
Nadja (04:13)
I don’t really buy like big like items, for example, furniture, you know, like that’s the kind of stuff that Germans tend to want to look at somewhere, like they want to see something and maybe touch it and just kind of see what it looks like. Then they may place the order online, but they need to see it first.
Radosław (04:43)
And the daily stuff like for a supermarket or something like that. Did it become something which is more and more popular after the pandemic?
Nadja (04:53)
And yes, I would say so. We also have a client, for example, who sells groceries and stuff for the daily life. And they’re doing very well in Germany. It’s, it’s also mostly like a convenience situation. So it is obviously very convenient to go online and buy groceries and just have them delivered to you. You don’t have to go out, you don’t have to carry water up the stairs, you know, because in the cities, a lot of people live in apartments, high apartment buildings. don’t want to carry a lot of stuff up the stairs. Also, in the more like rural regions where you, for example, might not have a supermarket with a lot of choice. This might be a little bit
Radosław (05:29)
Yeah, poor courieros.
Nadja (05:50)
Like this might be even more important for them, you know, because they can just order stuff and have it delivered to them instead of having to drive an hour to the next big grocery store, for example.
Radosław (05:54)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, it’s also more and more popular here, but the pandemic also changed that a lot. Because people were forced to do that, as you mentioned. You couldn’t go to the store and realize that it’s so easy. That’s how we said. Normally you go with 12 bottles of mineral water on the stairs and right now courier can get it and it’s a nice idea. So online shopping but how about paying using these mobile devices because I was very surprised because due to this expansion which I said to you I’m more and more often in Germany right now and I was surprised that still for example in the restaurants or in the park machines there is no option for paying with the mobile device. How would you say about it? How do you see it?
Nadja (07:03)
Yeah. I think it’s also a money, like a financial situation. So for example, for a restaurant, it is very expensive to actually offer card payment. So they have to pay a certain fee, which is why they would much rather just have cash. but in general, like in grocery stores in shopping malls, like, you have the option to pay with cards, obviously. And I would say 80 to 90 % of people pay with cards. Like, I rarely have cash on me. Sometimes I do when I know I’m going to like a bakery, for example, and I need to get like breakfast, I don’t want to pay like a two euro bread with card. That seems weird to me. yeah, it is a very, it’s a split. I think it’s also a generational split. The older generation prefers the real deal, like money, real money. And the younger generation rarely has cash on them and just wants to pay with card. And if they can’t pay with card, then they’re not going to that place. They’re not buying from that place.
Radosław (08:12)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, that’s why I was surprised because we have it here. me also I … I don’t have cash with me cash for me is a problem. Yeah, because you can lose it. You can I don’t know you need to store it somewhere. I don’t I don’t use wallet because I have electronic wallet. I have my ID there. I have my driving license there. I have a bank in my mobile. So it’s strange. I’m wondering if it’s changing, yeah, because in Poland also a lot of people just entering the restaurant and seeing that, there is no card payment. I don’t enter here. Yeah. So is it the same in Germany that German companies see that and are changing that or is it that they want to stick to it because I don’t know, it’s a tradition. They want to have it and that’s it.
Nadja (09:25)
No, they are, they are offering it more and more. So it is definitely a trend that we see here as well. ⁓ but what I think is very interesting, especially for online purchases, there is one side of the Germans who want to pay as quick as possible, you know, like within like a mobile wallet, the like Apple pay Google pay PayPal, all that. But then there’s also the other side that still prefers invoice payment. I don’t know if that’s a thing in Poland as well. yeah, no, but for Germans, it’s also for business to customer. So they want to have the product in their hand and then pay afterwards. So that is a very, very specific thing in Germany. And also, mostly in B2B, but there are also invoices, yeah almost every private person wants to have an invoice. You know, after they’ve paid, they want an invoice, which states like everything that was purchased.
Radosław (10:27)
Mm-hmm. Okay, so it’s kind of more expanded receipt, So like…
Nadja (10:39)
Yes, exactly. It has the shipping address, the billing address, every position that was bought, price, including VAT, excluding VAT, and then the final price. So very specific.
Radosław (11:00)
Sounds traditional, but okay, I can understand that. I must say I also like to have some kind of proof that I bought a product and while I’m buying a lot online or in the marketplaces or in the online shops from time to time I receive for example something and there is no receipt and this is strange. Yeah, so having a receipt is kind of understandable for me, but having so detailed receipt is…
Nadja (11:03)
Yeah. Yeah.
Radosław (11:30)
It’s a very important message for the companies which want to enter the German market. Because we address this podcast mostly to these companies. Owners keep in mind Germans like to have the invoices even if they are B2C, not B2B.
Nadja (11:37)
Very important, very important. Yes, yes, and that’s a trend. I don’t think we’re ever gonna go away from that. Like that’s gonna stick in Germany, I’m sure of it.
Radosław (12:03)
So talking about these potential companies which are entering the German market, where do you see, in which sector, because you mentioned fashion, you mentioned grocery, in which sectors do you see the greatest potential for e-commerce shops, for example, from Poland trying to enter German market?
Nadja (12:30)
I still think it’s fashion. It is definitely fashion. That’s like when you look at numbers, that’s definitely where most Germans buy online. It is in fashion. So fashion, shoes, that sort of thing. Electronics is also a very good thing to buy online in Germany. But fashion still, I think it’s over 50 % that buy fashion and shoes online.
Radosław (13:05)
Yeah, I would say I anticipated that. Fashion is a very, very, very online industry right now. So most of our customers also are from fashion. So we are very familiar with that. But also depending on the strategy, you may build your own shop, but you can also enter the marketplace, which of course… Amazon is well known in Germany. How about the other marketplaces? the Polish company, for example companies from another countries should focus on while entering Germany and consider it as important.
Nadja (13:49)
There’s actually two really, really big ones. Well, Zalando is probably also like known everywhere, I would say. So that’s definitely for fashion. But two other ones that I think are overlooked a lot when entering the German market are Otto and Kaufland, which Kaufland is actually a huge grocery store all over Germany, but they have made their own marketplace where they sell everything. And they have gotten really, really big and a lot of people are buying from there as well.
Radosław (14:19)
Yeah, they recently entered Poland also, yeah, because I know Kaufland as, you know, something like from ages before, like something like Aldi or just a shop you are going to and you are buying products and right now their role is bigger and… How about eBay? Is it popular? Because they approached Poland and didn’t succeed because we have Allegro and the Allegro was kind of hard competitor for eBay and how is it in Germany? Because statistics say that it’s still popular, yeah, but how would you see it as a German person?
Nadja (14:59)
Yeah. Yeah. I see it in the statistics as well, but personally… Like it doesn’t play a role in my life. It doesn’t play a role in any of the people around me. So I don’t know where the numbers come from, to be honest. ⁓ because yeah, there’s a different, there’s like eBay and then there’s, Kleinanzeigen, which is like a reseller place where, ⁓ private people can sell stuff to other people. I think that is actually more popular than regular eBay. They used to be together, but they’re separate now. So it’s now eBay and then Kleinanzeigen. Yeah, so the reseller stuff is also pretty popular.
Radosław (15:50)
Mm-hmm. So the message for the retailers, for the shops which are entering general market, if you focus on Zalando, if you focus on Amazon, Kaufland and Otto, you will get the biggest share in the market.
Nadja (16:14)
Yes, yes, for sure.
Radosław (16:17)
We’ve touched this a little bit, but maybe I would like to expand it a little bit. What payment and delivery methods dominate in Germany? Because I had very interesting discussions with your colleagues from MakesYouLocal from Lithuania and from Scandinavia and from UK, also from Czech and we’ve discussed the difference, how long you… can wait for the package, what’s important. How is it in Germany? What payment and delivery methods should we consider when we want to enter German market?
Nadja (16:57)
Yeah. So for delivery, I obviously have to mention DHL. have the most coverage all over the country. They have several like parcel centers where they can deliver from and they’re just very quick. And that’s also why Germans are a little bit spoiled, I would say with like same day or next day delivery. So the faster you…
Radosław (17:31)
Because DHL is also connected with your post, yeah? With your German Post, I believe, yeah?
Nadja (17:36)
Yes, exactly. So German Post and DHL are together and then another one would be DPD. And GLS, would say are like the three biggest ones. Because they also have a bunch of like parcel shops and the packing stations, like where you can just go and pick up your parcels where you don’t have to be present to receive the like the parcel.
Radosław (17:44)
Mm-hmm.
Nadja (18:06)
⁓ so those are the ones that need to be considered. Like for example, FedEx or something like that. That’s not a thing here at all. Like you would not, there’s no store where you can pick up a FedEx parcel or where you can return a FedEx parcel, for example, like that’s just not a thing here. ⁓ so DHL, DPD.
Radosław (18:19)
Mm-hmm.
Nadja (18:35)
GLS, those things, UPS works as well, that too.
Radosław (18:39)
Hermes because what you’ve said is corresponding with my notes and I have the four biggest ones DHL, DPD, GLS and Hermes. It might not be very obvious because for example in Poland Hermes is not a popular parcel company but I think in Germany has also kind of share.
Nadja (18:44)
Yeah. Yes, true. You’re right. Yes, Hermes is a big one as well. Yeah, you’re right.
Radosław (19:07)
And payment methods? Because you mentioned card you mentioned those invoices
Nadja (19:09)
Yeah. Germans are very, they don’t like to be in debt. So they don’t really love credit cards, to be honest. They do like to prefer like, to pay right away. They would just have it paid right away with PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay. Klarna is also a thing. or they would like to pay afterwards. delayed, again now. Yeah, exactly. Pay later. Also the slice payments. ⁓ although that’s not that popular, but, ⁓ yeah, if, if they could pay once they have the parcel, they would prefer that.
Radosław (19:47)
So, delayed payment, Bye now, pay later. But payment on delivery or payment in advance?
Nadja (20:14)
Payment in advance, not on delivery. Yeah.
Radosław (20:16)
Okay, so payment on delivery is not a thing, no, that’s not very, no, that’s a little bit old fashioned. Yeah it depends on the countries.
As I mentioned, I’ve spoken with your colleagues, there are places where it’s more popular because people like to have, for example, this in the hands. Yeah. And they say, okay, I got it. I can pay. And right now the trend is that you’re paying and waiting. Yeah. And that’s it. Yeah. And how about returning procedures? Are there any specific legal requirements or is it like in most places?
Nadja (20:56)
Yeah. I think what people who expand to the or companies who expand to the German market need to know is that Germans love to return. It is very important. love to return. If you can, try to avoid having to return anything. We always say that for a German website, just have as much information as you can on the website. If it’s fashion, for example, have size guides or like size charts, have as much product specifications as you can on the website so that a German can really make sure this is the product that they want. Because if it’s not, they will return it.
Radek (21:46)
Mm-hmm.
Nadja (21:58)
As for like legal requirements, the only thing that needs to be considered is that there is like a 14 day withdrawal period. So that’s the requirement, the minimum legal requirement. A German customer has to have the right to withdraw from their contract within 14 days. That’s set in the law.
Radosław (22:20)
It’s similar like in other countries, but in Poland, for example, a lot of companies are giving longer period, example, 30 days or even a year like IKEA, for example.
Nadja (22:28)
Yeah Yes, exactly. Yeah. So the third, like 14 to 30 days, that’s the norm, I would say here as well. The longer you can offer the better, I guess, but they will make use of it. Just to be sure.
Radosław (22:48)
Some companies started, due to the ecological aspects, started to make the returns paid. So it’s not like you can return in each shop for free. It started especially in fashion, is fast fashion, it’s not an eco way of living. Because people are buying and throwing away in a three, four months and buying new ones. So how does it look like in German in the returns? Are Germans used to the free returns or they can live if they have to pay for the return?
Nadja (23:34)
It’s going more towards that they can live with it. Because like you said, it is a ecological thing, is a sustainability issue and it is always good. We always recommend our clients to like reason with the customer and to be like, avoid returns. This is not sustainably friendly, you know, but yeah, it is, it has to be a reasonable price. I would say everything until up until like 4.95. Like that’s the, that’s the maximum I would say. And the most important thing is just to make the return process as smooth as possible for the customer. So ideally, there should be a label included in the parcel so that the customer doesn’t have to go to a store and write the address on package themselves. If that is not possible, maybe have like a return form on the website or have the label in the order confirmation or something like that, where the customer can create their own label and then just has to go to the package store and scan the code. You know, just make it as easy as possible for the customer and try to keep the price as low as possible.
Radosław (25:02)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, but in some countries it’s really problem when the return is not free. So I understand that Germans are following that it may be a paid procedure because you know ecology.
Nadja (25:17)
Yeah. And I think, I think it is, it is moving a lot to where they understand that obviously everything gets more expensive and they understand that there is a small fee to pay. So the under five euros is something they can, they’ve learned to live with now.
Radosław (25:46)
Yeah, this is one of the trends, I would say, this ecology trend. And how would you say are the other important e-commerce trends on the German market? How do customers prefer to show? How would you name it?
Nadja (26:07)
Germans are very price sensitive. So that’s, it’s very important that, I mean, obviously you can’t make sure to always have the cheapest product, but Germans will go out of their way to compare prices. Like we have price comparison sites where you can see a product and then see who sells it. And then they will go on the website.
For the company that sells it for the cheapest price. But at the same time, it’s very important, like if it is a pricier product, that the quality also is right and that this product doesn’t break after one month, for example, because they will come back and make a claim and we’ll want to, you know, have a new product as a warranty case or have a financial compensation, some sort. Yeah. So that’s very important. trust is also a very important thing. So Germans do prefer to buy from stores that are local or at least seem local.
⁓ so yeah, just try to make your website to look as local as possible.
Radosław (27:43)
Yeah, that’s what I wanted to ask because there is a common saying that German people like German stuff. Yeah, so they can even pay more if the product is made in Germany than to buy the cheapest one, but if it’s outside of the Germany. So you are saying that it’s true. Yeah, because it’s like Germans are perceived outside of Germany. But you as a German can confirm that it’s very important aspect for German customers.
Nadja (28:22)
Yeah, I think it is important. But I think it is important because the customer is thinking about convenience again. So for example, if they know this is a product made in Germany, it’s going to be with them quicker. the whole if there’s an issue with the order, it’s going to be easier for them to communicate with the website or the client, you know, in this case instead of like, I don’t know, a company from China where they have to wait over a week for their parcel to arrive and then there’s no return law or something like that. They would avoid buying from a website like that.
Radosław (29:00)
And is it on the, because you’ve touched a little bit a consumer profile and it was my one of the further questions. So we can switch to that because do you believe it’s just because of time of waiting for that or maybe there are other aspects that have an influence on that because I’ve shown the statistics that over two thirds of Germans are willing to pay extra to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, opting for eco-packaging and so on. Is it becoming more and more important right now?
Nadja (29:57)
Sustainability, you mean?
Radosław (30:00)
You can also say about other aspects which are currently taking under consideration the German customer. The German customer was perceived years ago as a very traditional, very glued to the German tradition, to the German companies. Right now we discuss they are more open, they buy online, they buy products outside of Germany but also they become more and more open for those other initiatives like Eko. How would you describe this profile of the German customer right now? Because there are a lot of things which were said about German customers from the past and how is the German customer right now?
Nadja (30:37)
Yeah. I think we are definitely going a little bit away from the tradition, ⁓ but not completely. it is definitely, like you said that they do pay more attention to be eco friendly, stuff, but it’s also, like I said, the quality also needs to be there. Like if, for example, a German customer is asked to pay more for a „sustainable” product than for a … non sustainable one, they need to see that it’s actually worth it. You know, they are very, very critical about greenwashing. Like for example, pretending that something is sustainable, but then it’s not. So they will be very angry if they’re being, I don’t know, I want to say lied too, but it’s not something they enjoy. So they want transparency, they want sustainability, and they want quality.
Radosław (31:58)
So this have to be not only words. Yeah. So this is very important message for the companies entering German market. If you, if you write on your shop, if you write on your website, that product is sustainable, it must be sustainable. It’s not, it cannot be only a marketing. Yeah.
Nadja (32:13)
Yeah. No, it has to be explained somewhere, preferably. if there’s like on the website, you know, in the footer, a lot of times you now see sections that say sustainability or how we make the world a better place or something like that, you know, how we make Earth a better planet. That is something that a German values a lot. And then if they also can really see it on the product that this is very long lasting or even if it’s not, then the warranty regulations have to be correct.
Radosław (32:54)
Mm-hmm. And if we are talking about the customers, what customer services are most expected by German customers? Yeah. How would you describe them?
Nadja (33:06)
I would definitely say that German, like the German language is the most important indicator for a good German customer service. A lot of us speak English and it’s not that they don’t know it, but it’s a way of communicating.
Radosław (33:11)
Mm-hmm.
Nadja (33:33)
You know, I communicate different in English than I do in German, for example. So if they can communicate in German, they would prefer to communicate in German. And that’s also the same in emails and chat, like if you have that. And in general, I would say they still prefer to talk to a human. That’s also a situation, obviously, that needs to be mentioned in times like this. So a lot of times we see, ⁓ customer saying, ⁓ is this a bot that I’m speaking to, or am I speaking to a human? Like they really want to speak to a human being. yeah, same. Yeah. I can understand that as well. And, yeah, a lot of times people still like to just pick up the phone and, ⁓ make sure that they can get the help immediately. I think it’s a time thing as well, you know, the same with delivery and convenience, they want quick solutions.
Radosław (34:44)
So it may be perceived as some kind of cost, you need to have it settled while you’re entering Germany, because not always you have someone in the company who is a German speaker. But if we would look more general, what are the main costs or challenges for the companies outside of Germany while entering the German market?
Nadja (35:11)
I think everything around it, you know, so making sure that the right logistics are in place. So contracts with the right delivery companies. Also, of course, the legal requirements. That is also something that I know that a lot of clients coming into the German market are very worried about.
Radosław (35:20)
Mm-hmm.
Nadja (35:40)
Because it is like, obviously we have the EU regulations, but Germany is very specific. Like they are, it’s a whole another level. But obviously now speaking as a German, I think it is not something like to be afraid of. There’s people who know, like people who are experts and people who can help.
Thankfully, now with the like the VAT situation, there’s the one stop shop, like option, so you don’t have to register with the finance office to get your own German VAT number. You can just do it through this system. But yeah, those are all things that need to be considered. And also, of course, the localization of the website, because
You cannot come to Germany and just, for example, translate a Polish website into English. You know, like it does have to be in German. has to have German delivery times, delivery options, payment options, like all that sort of stuff that may be popular in Poland is not popular in Germany.
Radosław (36:44)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, so we should… This was also one of my further questions. what should be paid attention when translating website into the German language? You mentioned a few things, but to summarize, because mostly are listening to us companies which are interested in coming in Germany. We know that now is the era of AI or in German.
Nadja (37:15)
Yeah.
Radosław (37:31)
So a lot of companies think that I will take my website, I will put it into the chat GPT, it will give me the translation and I’m done. I put it in the website and it works. But I know that specifically in Germany, it’s not the good way. That it should be a lot more attention here.
Nadja (37:31)
Yes. The thing is, AI works good in German, like it works really well. But the thing is also that a lot of people now know about ChatGPT and they can tell. They can tell when something is just machine translated versus when it’s translated by a person who obviously knows the culture, knows how to speak, knows how to say certain stuff. that’s very important to keep in mind, like the local view on it, like the local point of view. Also, cultural nuances, for example, I know that Mother’s Day is not on the same day in every European country. So this needs to be considered also when promoting stuff on the website. Also, Germany is such a big country. don’t think some I don’t think people realize how big Germany is like we have so many different cultures and so many different holidays and happenings that as well.
Radosław (39:07)
Even the governments of the lands in the different regions.
Nadja (39:14)
Yeah. Yeah. And also, for example, I don’t know if you know about carnival, the big partying in February, for example, February, March, that’s super, super popular in the northern and middle part of Germany. But for example, us here in Berlin, we don’t celebrate it at all. Like we’re so close, but we don’t celebrate it at all. And the South has different holidays like they’re more religious like religiously aware for example they have a lot of religious holidays which we don’t celebrate here
Radosław (39:47)
Oktoberfest I think, it’s not for the whole Germany or it became the whole… the for the whole…
Nadja (39:55)
Well, that’s something I would say. Well, it’s originated in the South, but there’s a lot of Oktoberfest happening like up here, up here as well.
Radosław (40:10)
So it became more popular because I connected it typically with Bavaria, with the south Germany. was for me Oktoberfest … meant south of Germany. Yeah.
Nadja (40:18)
Yeah. Yeah, and that’s where the original Oktoberfest is. This is still the original. But yeah, that’s just, there’s a lot of different things happening all over Germany. And like you said, we have the different states that all operate differently. And you really need to be aware of where is your target group? How does this affect your business, your marketing, all of it.
Radosław (40:54)
Yeah, yeah, that’s also I wanted to ask What are the local regulations affecting online trend in German market? Yeah, because for us for example when we were preparing our German company because we have a daughter company in Germany So we had to create the website and while we were creating this website our advisor said that for example You have to have the impressum document. Yeah And we said, what’s impressum? Yeah. And, and they explained us that this is a very, very strict rule that you have to have it. So, ⁓ if you could describe for these companies, ⁓ because we know what rules are in Poland. They are also a little bit different than in the whole Europe about what this webpage should have or online shop should have. So, if you could, in a few words say, what are the local regulations which they should meet while building a shop for Germany or for certain regions for example.
Nadja (41:52)
Yeah. Yeah. So like you said, we have EU regulations, which obviously apply to all of us. But yeah, I still think that Germany is very specific and we have a lot of laws for data protection. have a lot of laws for consumer rights. Like the online consumer has so many rights that a … company has to know about and comply with because the consumers know about them as well. You know, it’s not like they don’t know, they know, and they will look for those implemented regulations on your website. And four of those documents that always need to be on the website is the imprint, impressum, like you said, there’s the withdrawal policy, there’s the terms and conditions.
And there’s also the data policy, privacy policy, which includes like the whole GDPR regulations, like how is a customer’s data used, which cookies are being used, like all of that. And that can be quite overwhelming. I’ve learned that. But there’s a pretty straightforward way of writing them. And there’s a lot of websites that also have like those templates, for example, where you literally just put in your information, and it creates those legals for you.
Radosław (43:40)
Yeah, but what’s very important and we have also witnessed that it’s not so simple that you take a Polish document, you translate it in German and that’s it. Yeah, because there are very strict regulations what should be in this document. Yeah.
Nadja (43:50)
Yes, so translating legal documents is the worst thing you could do in Germany. Because … that’s like you said, it’s almost always not complying with local regulations. And it’s it’s little things, you know, for example, the the minimum withdrawal, right, like the 14 days that has to be there. The the imprint … impressum has to have a phone number. A lot of people don’t know that, for example. Even if you don’t offer customer service via phone, there needs to be a phone number in the imprint. It doesn’t have to be a German one, but the customer looking at this has to have a phone number there to be able to reach out to someone in some way.
Radosław (44:47)
Yeah I think that while we were creating our documents, there is even a rule that you have to be responsive under this number in certain amount of hours. If not, then customer can sue you. Yeah, because it was very interesting for us. Yeah.
Nadja (45:01)
Yeah. Yeah. I don’t know about that, I know that there has to be a phone number there. Yeah.
Radosław (45:11)
Sorry for the details because we went through that so it’s pretty fresh. We took a legal company to create them because we tried to do them on our own as you mentioned that using those templates but later on it resulted that it was more effective if you can take the company from Germany, the law company from Germany, the specialized in that. They have formulas that you fill in, you give them the data and in few days you have the ready documents. So I suppose it’s the best way to proceed for the companies.
Nadja (45:49)
Yeah. Yes, for sure. And I think this is also something that you should not like save money on, you know, like there’s other things that you can save money on, but the legals that is very important that they are in place. Because if not, you could get legal fees, like there’s organizations that can sue you and it can result in a lot of, I would say a lot more money loss than you would invest in just having correct legals, you know?
Radosław (46:26)
Yeah, it’s very important. So shop owners pay attention to that and don’t save on this part. Yeah, we also were informed that it’s not worth saving here. It’s good to have these documents well done. And talking about what should do or what should not do, how would you describe the red flags in the localization. So how you can see that localization was done not good for German market. What are the most common mistakes that companies make while entering German market?
Nadja (47:13)
I think, I think I’m going to be repeating myself a little bit here, definitely simply translating. So you cannot be sure that a tradition or some word that you are using in your native language is also a word that is being used in German or for example, like for like certain sayings.
If you want to be funny in your native language, it may not work in German. So it really, needs to be localized and not just translated. You know, there’s so many things I’ve heard it in from Danish to German, for example, like certain sayings, they just don’t work with us. And also we have different kinds of humor. Communication style is so different. Germans are very direct. They don’t want to beat around the bush. just hard facts, you know, they don’t want descriptive imagery, they just want facts, specifics. A lot of times, I think it’s also very funny. Germans will ask you for a manual on how to build something before they even have the product. Yeah, so they want as much information as possible to make a conscious decision on the purchase.
Radosław (48:51)
This I also saw in the materials where I was preparing myself to this interview that Germans are making a lot of research before buying the product and while researching I know that they are comparing the price as you mentioned, they are probably comparing the parameters but what about customer reviews and feedback on their websites. Is it important or is it not very important in Germany?
Nadja (49:24)
It is very important, very, very important because this can influence a customer’s decision to actually make the purchase. This is so important. Like I cannot even stress it enough. It’s very important. also certain trust marks on the website. So for example, websites like trusted shops. They give you, I don’t know what it’s called, but it’s like a stamp that you can have on your website, which says basically just that this website is approved by trusted shops, you know, and that kind of leads us back to the trust that people or German customers need to have. Like they are not. Yeah, they just want to have a trustworthy shop they can buy from. And if it has this badge, this trusted, that like trusted shops badge or any other badge sort of that they know, they are more likely to place an order through that website.
Radosław (50:30)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, so another message for shop owners, if you don’t have yet the customer reviews when you plan to go to the German market, it’s a must have.
Nadja (50:47)
Yeah. And also a lot of German customers like to leave reviews like after they’ve placed an order, after they’ve received their order. It’s always nice to send an extra email out, you know, from a trust or from a review site where they can say, Hey, thank you for your order. Do you mind leaving us a review on how your experience with us went? That sort of thing. And then they will leave a review.
Radosław (51:14)
And is it because, for example, the trend which I observe in Poland that people like to give them negative opinions? Yeah, so if they are a witness of some kind of unfriendly behavior, they are very likely to write a negative comment. that sucks. This didn’t work. About the positive comments, mostly it’s like, okay, I will give this five stars, but writing, you know, a sentence or two is difficult. Is it the same or Germans like to give a good opinion?
Nadja (51:49)
No, that’s actually that’s funny. That’s the exact same for Germans as well. So they will write this much in a negative review, but they will say one or two words in a positive review. Yeah, it was okay. Yeah, I will buy again.
Radosław (51:54)
Yeah, it was okay. Yeah. Just a few stars and that’s it. Yeah. Yeah, so I believe it’s the same here. You mentioned this a little bit, but maybe we can tell a little bit more about it. What are the best strategies to promote the store on the German market? Yeah. So I have a store here. I own the German market. I make a good localization because I’ve listened to the Cross- Border Inside podcast and they said that I need to do that. And now I have to promote my shop. What are the best strategies for that?
Nadja (52:45)
I think there’s three ways. there is influencer marketing. ⁓ there’s a lot of influencers in Germany. ⁓ and if you can, there’s like two ways you can promote through an influencer. So you could, ⁓ invest in a big influencer that promotes your product one time, for example, or you could look for like more smaller ones that promote more products. that, that would be an option. Another one is marketplaces, obviously. So if you can have your own localized website and also sell on the marketplace, that will for sure give you the trust of a German customer. And thirdly, physical stores. So if you have products that could be sold in a physical store, or if you have physical stores in Germany, you are you already have a name, you know, and people know your brand. So that’s the third good option. But we, I always recommend having obviously your own website and then one of the other options. So if you can, or if you have the opportunity to sell in a physical store or on the marketplace.
Radosław (54:19)
And these paid campaigns, Google, Meta also.
Nadja (54:24)
Yeah, yes. Yeah, there’s a lot of coverage on all social media. I think actually YouTube is the biggest one in Germany still like that’s the biggest social media. And then Facebook, Instagram. And TikTok is not that big in Germany. But yeah, those, those are YouTube. Yeah. Place place YouTube ads.
Radosław (54:35)
Okay. So YouTube.
Nadja (54:54)
Yeah, a lot of people use YouTube, so… at the end, very important topic which was also touched a little bit by you before, but it would be good to summarize a little bit about these shopping seasons. Because you mentioned that there are some special moments in Germany that are better for promoting the products or for selling.
Radosław (55:21)
Of course, have these global ones like, I don’t know, Valentine’s Day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas and so on. But if you could advise a little bit to people outside of Germany, what are the seasons where the sales may be increased or decreased because of, I don’t know, vacations or something like that? How would you say, how does it look like in Germany?
Nadja (55:42)
Yeah. I think the end of season sales are always the ones that are the most important ones. We actually have a term in German that it’s Schnäppchenjäger, which is a bargain hunter. So they love to look for, you know, sales and cheap prices and where they can get like a good discount and offer. So now after Christmas, I think most companies are already starting their like end of winter or after Christmas sale on the 26th of December. That’s a huge sale opportunity. And then also after summer. So end of summer sales, especially because fashion is so big in Germany. Those are the very high seasons. then of course, like you said, like Black Friday is a big thing here as well for electronics. Yeah, but I think during summer, let’s say June until beginning of August, that’s where a lot of people are on vacation, where they don’t spend that much money unless they’re maybe bored on their vacation, they scroll on their phone. I think they’re more likely to enjoy an end of season sale.
Radosław (57:29)
And you made me curious, when do you have Mother’s Day?
Nadja (57:32)
It is, well, next year it’s the, I think it’s always the second Sunday in May.
Radosław (57:42)
Okay, second Sunday. So it’s not an exact day because in Poland we have exact day. It’s the 26th of May. So it’s not an exact day. It’s…
Nadja (57:51)
No, it’s always the second Sunday in May.
Radosław (57:54)
It’s like this. Yeah, OK. And the Child’s Day also, it’s moving or not?
Nadja (57:58)
Yeah. No, that’s on the 1st of June.
Radosław (58:05)
Yeah, so that’s like we have. It’s always first June and people are happy, kids especially, parents not so.
Nadja (58:13)
Yeah, What’s also always moving is Easter. That’s also not on the same date. And yeah, this is also something I guess, where we in Germany all have the same holidays, you know, the same days off. But for example, in November, there’s so many holidays in the south of Germany that we here don’t have. So they actually had to give us an extra day in Berlin because we don’t have enough holidays compared to the other states. So they gave us International Women’s Day on March 8th, is where we have a day off as well.
Radosław (58:52)
Mm-hmm. It’s good because in Poland it’s not a day off. We have this Woman’s Day, it’s also March 8th, but it’s not a day free of work. But I know that in some regions the Woman’s Day also is on the other day of the year.
Nadja (59:17)
Yeah. Yeah. But that’s very interesting what you said about Mother’s Day. So for example, if you were to promote Mother’s Day, like if you have a company that sells products that makes sense to promote on Mother’s Day, you could not promote it on the same day in Germany as you do in Poland. So, yeah.
Radosław (59:40)
Yeah, so that’s why I was asking because for example, I’ve spoken with people from Romania and they have their own Lover’s Day. So there is a Valentine’s Day, the official one in February 14th, but they have also their own. So this is also a good moment, for example, for selling certain goods or certain services. So it’s very important to make a research and to prepare my shop depending what I’m selling for those special moments in the year in the certain region. But also when you’re preparing these reports for the potential customers in the Makes You Local, you probably are informing about those seasons.
Nadja (1:00:17)
Yes, always, always. We actually have something called a local marketing calendar, which we do for every country and we do it for every quarter, where we just write about the happenings and holidays that are happening all over the country in those specific months in the quarter. And yeah, our clients can just download it for free. So they know, okay, when do I promote this in Germany when is it not okay to promote something in Germany? You know, that sort of thing.
Radosław (1:01:06)
Okay, so thanks a lot for those wide explanations. I know a lot more about German market. I hope our listeners also. It was really good to have you here. I convinced all the listeners to contact Makes You Local if you want to enter the German market. They will certainly help you and we from our side as Media 4 U can make your shop ready for e-shop ready for that so also it’s very important to combine those two things yeah technical aspects and everything around coming together it’s a it’s a very important to make a good preparations yeah to to enter the market. Nadja … once again it was really really nice to have you thanks for coming and I hope we will see each other and some other future events.
Nadja (1:02:07)
That would be nice. Thank you for having me.
Radosław (1:02:10)
Thanks, bye.
