Transcription:
Radosław (01:00)
Hello everyone, it’s Radek Opałko from Media4U and welcome in another episode of our Cross-Border Insights podcast. Today we will be talking about Czech and Slovak market and we have Martin Schultz with Hello Martin.
Martin (01:18)
Hello
Radosław (01:19)
So, Czech and Slovakia. I’ve done a little bit of research on those countries. Let’s say even I’m observing it with our customers that Czech is a kind of natural direction for the Polish e-commerce markets. And I’ve read a little bit and I’ve learned that Czech and Slovaks are digging very deep into the shops and they need to trust them, they need to verify, they compare the shops. How would you say about that? Is it true or not? It’s true.
Martin (01:59)
And I think it’s natural when it comes to the number of shops which are operating in those countries, especially Czech Republic, because customers are used to have a lot of options to select from. yes, they are price sensitive and every other aspect.
Radosław (02:22)
Yeah, I’ve spoken with your colleagues also from other countries and I’m asking because it’s not natural. From time to time I hear that the price has the biggest influence on the buying process. So people are looking for the lowest price and this makes the decision for them that… If the price is low, I buy, I don’t care if the shop is trusted or not trusted. That’s why I was asking and the reports are showing that people from Czech and from Slovakia are paying attention to that. So the shops, for example, from Poland planning to enter the market need to focus a little bit on building this trust and showing that they are worth buying in.
Not just compete with price or something like that.
Martin (03:22)
That is correct as well. Right. The price is important, but maybe in some general level when you compare, for example, Czech and Polish customer, they can be similarly price sensitive or maybe Czechs are even less. It depends on the segment of the customers or the product, but it can’t be said that only the price is the factor they decide about. If it doesn’t look good, or it’s not natural to them or something feels not right then the lowest price possible will not cause the success for the merchant. yeah, it’s good to have all factors of, you know, not only advertising, but as well how you display the product, the localization, the currency payment, everything on place. So the customer feels secure and thent he other thing is to don’t let the customer go during the process by, I don’t know, making some issues or possible complications when they try to finalize the purchase.
Radosław (04:37)
Yeah, it’s very, very important for the companies planning entering this market. And another similarity which I found in these reports or in the materials I received is that Czechs and Slovaks also are very… not to sound bad, impatient. They prefer very fast delivery. The best is 24 hours delivery.
But the limit is 72 hours and if more, then it may result that even if the price is good, even if the shop is good, it will be not bad. Is it also true?
Martin (05:18)
Yeah, first of all, maybe when I’m talking about both markets, Czech and Slovakia, they are pretty similar. So in general, can see them, they are quite the same. But if there will be something they are not similar in, I will mark that and say in Slovakia, they are doing it like that. in Czech, it’s the same.
When we talk about this delivery times, customers on both markets prefer to have as fast delivery as possible. Even more in Czech Republic because there are a lot of people buying on Zalando or on local marketplaces like Alza or Mall and all of them can secure pretty fast delivery to the parcel boxes for example or even to the address.
So if they compare that with the new coming shop on the market, then sure they expect fast delivery, but again, it doesn’t apply for all of the segments. And especially when it’s something more expensive or something you don’t buy regularly, I don’t know, sofa for example, then you prefer to have it in good price, in good quality from trusted shop and if the delivery is not that fast, it doesn’t matter so much, but you have to be in concrete situations. And when we mentioned expected delivery time in Slovakia, they as well expect fast delivery, but unfortunately the whole network of parcel boxes is not that much widespread yet. So maybe…
It’s a little less issue on the market when you are not able to secure that fast delivery. Still, I’m comparing these both.
Radosław (07:24)
Yeah, I’m saying about these mostly bought goods. Yeah, it’s sure that you also will not order the sofa to the parcel box. So it has to be a special delivery. And for this, these big furniture shops also have their own schedule. So we are used to that.
Martin (07:47)
It was meant for more expensive products. I don’t know, for example, when someone is ordering a computer or something into the kitchen, some robot or something that costs more than 200-300 euros, let’s say, new oven or dishwasher, then they consider the price more.
And the delivery is less important.
Radosław (08:19)
Okay, and another fact which I found and it would be good if you could confirm it or not is that, especially in Czech, still the most popular payment method is paying on delivery. So there is no very big trust to this online advanced payment. Is it also true?
Martin (08:44)
According to data related to last year, the cache on delivery is not the most used method anymore, but it’s still in the first three.
Radosław (08:56)
But generally payment on delivery, not advance payment but payment on delivery. It’s also the cash but also the card.
Martin (09:05)
Yes, it’s not only cash, physical money, but as well it can be paid by card or mobile during the taking over the parcel. And this is still very popular, more in Slovakia now than in Czech, but both markets are still quite old fashioned from some point of view.
And I can explain why is that because especially all the customers don’t trust all the eShops. And on one point that can sound reasonable and good. But on the other hand, they still need to pay before they can open the parcel because they pay to the guy during they are taking it. yeah.
It is important to consider to have this option when you’re entering those markets, especially when you are aiming for all the customers.
Radosław (10:09)
Okay, so this feeling that you have a parcel in your hands, now I can pay, so this is important. And other payment methods, because you mentioned a little bit about it, but especially the Polish shop owners would like to know what other payment methods are crucial and need to be included while we are entering those markets.
Martin (10:38)
Yes. I suggest to have all three main methods set in place and it is payment by card, payment by bank transfer and cash on delivery. You don’t have to have on the first day after the launch the delayed payment. For example, Klarna was launched one year ago. So recently… ⁓ so the more, more important is, ⁓ not to have like 10 options, but fully functional three main options. And ⁓ for example, I know that some of the payment gateway providers used in Poland have as well, the services for Czech and Slovakia. So the shops don’t even have to negotiate or have new contracts with local providers. But what is important to keep in mind is that not all of these payment gateways offer, for example, bank transfer for all most used banks here. So it’s good to check and select the one who offers transfer for almost all banks.
And maybe when we talked about the payments. I’d like to mention that it is very good to have Czech bank account or Slovak bank account in euros, Czech bank account in Czech currency, Czech crowns. When people are transferring money, sometimes some people don’t like to use IBAN format or they are not used for international transfers. And as well, there can be some fees for it on both sides. So it’s good to keep it as simple as possible. This is something what customers appreciate a lot. And then when there is a refund, for example, it’s return or complaint. If it is not in check currency and it’s not check account, then the transfer back to the client can be slightly different amount because of the exchange ratio.
And then it’s not good in accounting as well for the eShops and it’s not good for customers if they received few crowns less, maybe even it’s not the significant value, but it doesn’t look good. So check bank account is something good I strongly recommend.
Radosław (13:20)
Yeah, it’s a very, very good advice. And you mentioned that delayed payment at the moment is not a very popular option, but does it get popularity because for example, in Poland, pay now, buy now pay in 30 days is becoming more and more popular. I know that in some countries which we already spoken about also. So how is it here? Is it not noticeable at all?
Martin (13:54)
This payment entity in general is growing, but what I’d like to explain before when I mentioned was that it’s not the most crucial option. And as well, there have been local solutions and I just mentioned that Klarna was launched recently. So it doesn’t mean that there was no option of delayed payment, but that if you are… trying to do the best at the beginning, the localization and providing three main payment methods is more important than trying to offer something on the top of that like delayed payment.
Radosław (14:39)
OK, and you mentioned Klarna, you mentioned also that some Polish payment providers have Czech or Slovak payment banks and methods. Are there any local payment gateways or companies worth mentioning for the companies from Poland entering those markets?
Martin (15:05)
I think 3 most used what came to my mind just now are GoPay, Commgate or GP WebPay. I believe at least one of them is as well in Poland or Polish. But you have a lot of them. And again, it depends what is your priority because I saw recently that there is some new payment gateway which offers very good conditions for the merchants, only 1.5 % of margin and nothing else and no fixed fees and stuff like that. So there is a lot of them and you definitely have a selection you can choose from.
Radosław (15:52)
Okay, so it’s good to know and it’s worth doing some kind of research and verifying which of those payment providers have all the banks or the most important banks in the region. And you also mentioned about the return procedure, so in the form of returning cash, but is there something worth knowing for the companies deciding to go for the Czech or for the Slovak market in the field of returns and especially, I don’t know, procedures and customer requirements or habits? How would you describe it?
Martin (16:38)
Maybe I will mention three things. One is the price, if it is free or not. Second is the process and the legal requirements. So people are used to often used to have the return for free and quite fast. they just put it on the shop on the corner, which has the agreement with some delivery company. And then in two, three, four days, there is confirmation that it was received and money will be refunded in two weeks, but usually again, it’s next for four, three days. So all the return process can take up to one week from sending the parcel.
But what is important is that if you decide not to have it for free, then you can communicate it or not. And if you don’t say it and it’s only in terms of conditions, then customers are little surprised and maybe they will not buy again. So it’s the sales decision if you will communicate it clearly up to… in advance or not.
Radosław (18:01)
I wanted to say that both have their own advantages and disadvantages because people when they got to know later on maybe you know not very happy and then make a bad reputation about our shop.
Martin (18:18)
Yes, but if they don’t know it and you as a shop see that the return percentage is very little, then maybe not communicating it will cause that more people will buy, but only few of them will need to return and will be…
Radosław (18:38)
Face the problem, That they have to pay, yeah?
Martin (18:41)
need to be considered. So I’m just saying that this can, and for example, then they call to the customer service or they ask, Hey, how should I, how will, you know, and they are asking about it. And it’s additional cost when you need to talk to these people. But again, if you calculate correctly, it can worth it or not. It’s the decision of the, of the shop. And about the legal requirements.
Basically, all the legislation is following the European legislation and I expect that it’s similar in all countries around, but a person who wants to return the parcel just needs to take a piece of paper and sign the name and some identification like or the number and that it’s returned, put it in the package and send it. And from legal point of view, this is enough.
But maybe it’s not the most convenient or the best process for handling these returns on the site of the seller. So it’s usual to have section on the shop when you have clearly stated the steps and you can have the return formula there, which can be downloaded or edited and submitted online. So you basically then don’t need to.
Radosław (20:12)
Prepare the papers.
Martin (20:14)
Yes. Basically, you can process the return and then just wait for the parcel and you are not leaving it all for the customer to handle it and then someone in your warehouse to investigate what is it from whom, if it is not okay or late or whatever.
Radosław (20:35)
Yeah, so from the perspective of both sides, yeah.
Martin (20:40)
Yeah, so if you have clear information, return formula and the process on your end, the eShop end is good, then customers don’t have any other additional requirements local wise.
Radosław (20:57)
Okay, so you described us what are the preferences about the return policy and maybe you would say to us, are there any other specific or not specific requirements or aspects about the customer service which are important while we are entering to those markets and the expectations from the customers. How would you say?
Martin (21:31)
Customers expect local customer service and then in second turn they care about if their problems are solved. So it’s not that they expect ABCD and you can list it and when you have it, then it’s done. But in general, it can be told that they expect local phone number, email address, and as well chat is fine.
If they reach to the customer service, they expect return time on the phone. They don’t like naturally to wait online half an hour as when you are talking to, I don’t know, some huge corporate. So respond time on check number in Czech language. The same applies for Slovakia and Slovak number and Slovak language. And then…
Email communication should be responded in the same day or the next day, not like two, three days after they request something. And as well, people here expect that the customer service agent is able to solve the issue, not only inform them. for example, for what we do, customer service for our clients, even often from Poland in Czech Republic, customers ask like, can you edit the order or please cancel this one? I just created another because something or payment is not functional. Can you send me the information how to do the transfer? So the customer service agent is not only informing the very basic information, but as well as the help or problem solving person who as well knows the products because for example, when you take the ladies who like to shop clothes and they are like 45 plus age, then they often call and ask about the product, product information. They can read it like material is cotton or wool and the size is, but they need some kind of assurance that it’s okay, be fine and then they can return for example, something like that. So the customer service needs to have some level of quality to provide its function on check and select market.
Radosław (24:13)
It’s very important what you’re saying because you know, in the age of AI right now, we from time to time see that the companies or the shops tend to have, I don’t know, chatbot or something like that to service the customers. And yes, chatbot will say where the parcel is or something, but the things you mentioned not so.
It’s crucial information for the shops which are planning to go to these countries that they need to know about it, this human factor or this customer service wider than is highly recommended.
Martin (24:57)
It is and as well the chatbots are here quite common as well and I can see that the quality is changing so it’s not annoying you anymore, but it’s providing the information and what is good is to have the option in the chatbot to be connected directly to the human so if you comfortable with the chatbot and chatbot is providing the correct information that it’s super fine that you don’t have to wait for someone and type the, you know, this is the issue, blah, blah, blah. But when you start to, you know, be a little bit nervous, then, and you can be unhappy customer or you can be redirected to the person who will swiftly fix your problem.
Radosław (25:45)
Yeah, so you’re not saying chatbot not in general, but it needs to be a good chatbot, Who will cover this aspect. Well, the chatbot will not say if this blues is, I don’t know, good for the evening party or something like that. This is what live human only say. But we started to talk about big words, yeah, chatbots and…
This provoked me to ask what are the biggest e-commerce trends right now in the Czech Republic how would you describe it?
Martin (26:27)
Yeah, again, from my point of view, it’s quite the same or comparable to other markets and countries around. But in general, if I should just mention some, it’s constant growth of mobile shopping. Now in Czech Republic, you have to have optimized interface for mobile device as well the whole checkout process including payment and selecting every step in it. And then growing focus on customer experience. It’s not only about the customer service but about whole experience from how shop approach the customer marketing wise then how the customer feels during and after and maybe some after care when they can receive some voucher or questionnaire or something if they will agree on it. customer experience as a whole and then maybe as we can see that sustainability is important.
Maybe it’s not that much when you compare it with the Northern countries, for example, but it’s something what needs to be taken into account as well when communicating, for example, product text or delivery, especially younger customers can see this as a benefit.
Radosław (28:15)
Okay, so in the field of trends, have mobility, have customer experience, which is good and which is in general seen also in other regions. This mobile first approach, I would say it’s right now crucial one because a lot of people are resigning even from the stationary… PCs or even laptops and they using mostly their devices. Everyone has a computer in the pocket. Yeah, right now.
Martin (28:49)
Me personally, I have few apps in the mobile device from my favorite shops. And sometimes it happened that I select something on a computer and then when I have it in the basket, I found out that, okay, so now I need to log in, type the card and things like that. So then I just open a mobile, put the same product in the basket and then the checkout process is really swift.
If the company is able to provide something like that and it’s not maybe the main thing when you are entering the market. together with loyalty programs and marketing activities, can consider having maybe not an app, but at least the interface fully able to be operated on the mobile devices.
Radosław (29:48)
Yeah, especially that, you know, I represented the technical company. we know that, for example, right now, it’s not necessary to have the separated app, mobile app, as it was some time ago. Yeah. Okay. You can have it and it can have some additional features or something like that. But there are also technologies when you can put your shop into the mobile view and it looks like app, but it’s not an app. Yeah. So this PWA or…
and other possibilities. So there are a few ways to solve it and to make the customer feel that the shop is made especially for the mobile app and the experience is really good. It’s not like… Still, you can find the shops and I’m viewing a lot of shops because we are building them for our customers. So we need to be up to date. So we review a lot of shops.
And there are still a few examples which are not optimized. And right now when you encounter the not optimized shop, it’s an issue. It’s not like that well optimized shops are exception. The not optimized shops are exceptions, I would say. And this is very important in this region. it’s not…
Martin (31:14)
Sorry, when you touch this optimization and we combine it with the localization, it means, for example, when you have some pop-up notifications or you are setting the discounts for special occasions like two days only, and then this should be localized for local currency as well. Or when you have transactions, emails, and you are communicating something and maybe you translate it, but you… it looks different when the currency is checked in euros. have to round it and it definitely needs to different. paying attention to these details can cause that the customer feels like, it’s natural and it doesn’t in their mind that, it’s not localized. Because as you mentioned, it’s almost the exception that the shops are not fully fine tuned.
Radosław (32:11)
Yeah, and this is not very good. And we’ve talked about the trends, but if I would ask you just name three main characteristics of the Czech and Slovak market, what would it be? And it would be the same or would it be different for Czech and Slovakia?
Martin (32:32)
The Czech market is twice that big as Slovakian. For example, from Polish perspective, Czechia is four times smaller population. It’s 10 million or 11. And Czech Republic is 10 million, Slovakia is five something. So it’s half that size market. if you, you you need to consider this as a main factor that they are not the same.
And then the logistics and overall customer expectations in Czech are maybe a little bit higher. And as well, in Czech Republic, typical customer is from 25 to 45 years, an online active person. In Slovakia, it’s… little younger person. If you are considering this because you are aiming for a customer group, you can take it into account as well.
Radosław (33:41)
You already answered my next question, but maybe we will tell more about it, about the typical customer. How would you describe it? In Czech and in Slovakia. You mentioned that Czech is twice bigger than Slovakia.
But in other aspects, the age of buying person, the occupation zone, how does it look at the customer on this, on one and on the other side, taking under consideration e-commerce, of course.
Martin (34:16)
So as I said, the Czech customer age is more widespread, more wide. And then on both markets, maybe more in Czech, the people are using, are checking the prices. So they can use, for example, Heureka or Zbožice Z, basically the price comparison sites. And on them as well, the shops can sell through directly. And this can be as well taken into account when you are planning to launch in Czech, if you want to be on this marketplace or other marketplaces, for example, the ALSA or the Maldives, because the behavior, what’s the question now, or what’s the profile is that person often is looking if there is… If the way is not that it’s led from the campaign to the page and to the product, and then the product is purchased. If there is something like person is looking for it actively, then they often can go to, for example, ALSA and try to find if it is there and what’s the price and if it’s good, they can pay. But if it is not there or it’s expensive, they can select another, the searching engine or, know, Google it or, then they…they can see the price. So to be there on the price comparison side is as well one thing to decide about.
Radosław (35:56)
So people are checking, And is there any significant change recently? I mean, in the last, I don’t know, few years of, I don’t know, age of people buying in the internet or when entering right now, should we focus on these younger people, as you mentioned, or the older people are gaining? How do you see it?
Martin (36:26)
The factor most affecting this was Corona, I guess, the pandemic and that caused not only growth of the e-commerce as a whole, but as well that people who was, you know, keeping to shop physically was forced to change it to online environment. So…
That’s why the age and the structure of customers changed. Maybe it’s now again different, but I believe that a lot of them remain active online and they are buying now online still. They didn’t switch back to the physical shopping.
What was the question again?
Radosław (37:21)
Is the customer profile changing recently? Do you observe the change, significant change? Because we know that younger people are the most buying people in the internet. It’s about targeting for the potential shops which are entering the market. Should they target mostly those younger people or also…
Also, and you answered this partially because this is the same as in Poland, during the corona, people who… It’s like, know, uncles, grandparents, which were never using the internet for shopping, they started and this stayed with them. They convinced themselves that this is okay.
This is why I was asking if it’s the same here that in the last two or three years we observed that the more age advanced people are interested in e-commerce.
Martin (38:24)
That’s the trend, I would not say that the aim for this custom group or something like that, it depends on the product, on the plan and everything. I will not answer your questions super confidently.
Radosław (38:43)
Not a problem. I’m digging because the shop owners are asking us who should we target the campaigns, who is our buyer. So I think this is something they would like to know. going off this topic, I would touch on another topic concerning the shop owners. Are there any local legal… aspects affecting the entrance to those markets. mean both, but maybe you will say that here is different and here is different. So in a legal point of view, what should shop owner focus on while entering the Czech Republic? Any special rules or in general the same as in the other European countries?
Martin (39:41)
I would say the same. Maybe I will just mention two points. It’s that when you are displaying the prices, it should be including VAT no matter what. And if you are a VAT payer and you decide to sell to another company, which means without VAT, then the end price needs to be… reduced, but it’s obvious and more technical. So display always prices with VAT. And then what was recent change? It’s that when you display price and you put it on discount, it’s good to or it’s mandatory to have displayed as well the previous price in past 30 days.
So you are transparent about the previous price and new price. If it is another growth of the price, then it’s able to be seen that it was more discounted before.
Radosław (40:52)
But this is omnibus rule or another special for your country.
Martin (41:00)
This applies for the Czech Republic and in Slovakia it’s not mandatory yet, but it will be soon because it’s again European legislation. So if you are planning to launch, it’s maybe easier to have it set or preset at least and then launch then. Yeah. Or then to solve it when it will be mandatory in Slovakia as well.
Yeah, and then all standard procedures like they need to, customers need to agree when you want to reach them by email marketing, for example, and so on.
Radosław (41:43)
Okay, so in general, you need to stick to this European Union rules and it should be enough and okay for the Czech and Slovak market, So according to the legal, yes. And on the other side, should this shop owner focus on any… cost challenges while entering these markets and special cost challenges. How would you say it?
Martin (42:19)
If the shops are experienced expanding to another markets, it will be quite similar. Both markets are not the easiest. So you need to know what are you doing before you enter. And you need to have some amount for the full localization and launch, but there are no specific extra costs which you can’t expect on other markets.
Radosław (42:49)
Yeah, besides those natural, yeah, so if you want to have your own warehouse there, then you need to find it and buy it or rent it or something like that.
Martin (42:58)
You that you will set the warehouse as the first thing. You will try firstly to ship it from your warehouse in Poland, for example, and have it one day longer, the delivery time and so on. So from my point view, it’s not the first cost or cost connected to the launch. What I will really recommend to consider is to have the localization on place.
So the customer when it’s browsing the product is seeing it naturally and then adding additional features like faster delivery cost by local warehouse and so on.
Radosław (43:44)
Yeah, you touched very sensitive topic and it’s what makes you local does very, very good is this localization aspect. And I need to ask because it would be good if you could describe what to focus on taking under consideration Czech and Slovakian market. But on the other hand, what are the red flags of the poorly performed localization?
What should be a warning for a shop while entering the Jack and Slovak market while their localization was done and you get the signals? So first of all, please tell us what we should focus on and then what not to do. Because it’s also very important.
Martin (44:34)
You need to look to your shop through the local eyes, basically. think as a Czech or Slovak person and then adjust or adapt the interface according to the need of this person. So, text, currency and everything needs to be in place, as I mentioned previously, not only in the main text, but as well… in all the steps in checkout process in transaction emails and everywhere. And for example, you in Polish language as well have the genders and all the variations of the words. So if you are translating, you need to be precise if you say red dress or red table or red… It’s different and it needs to be inflected correctly so it doesn’t sound like it was machine translated. Customers can be sensitive on that. They can see like, so this is some machine translation thing. Maybe will I get the product? And this is certified, but they can think like that. And what’s the red flags? Maybe… performance which is not as expected. So you can then ask yourself, is, what can cause, you know, these performance or not enough, completed purchases or whatever is the, the metrics you follow. So, maybe when you have already shop on and you are struggling on some part of it, maybe it’s good to let it check by the local person, just do the kind of site check and do the test order and see all the emails which the flow which is there and just verify that everything is correct or if there is maybe some one thing which is causing the issue it can be fixed quite easily but you need to find it first.
Radosław (46:54)
Yeah, so mostly the analytics, the verifying the results, yeah. And I think the patience, yeah, because we also facing the customers which are struggling to have the best results in the beginning. And from time to time, it needs to make some more… some longer period for people to get to know your shop, to start trusting it because we’ve talked about it, that Czechs and Slovaks are pretty aware here. it sounds like it might take some time to build this trust and to have the results which were planned.
Martin (47:42)
Yes, that can be the case as well. Sure.
Radosław (47:49)
And on the other hand, do Czechs and Slovaks pay attention to the customer reviews? Is it very popular or should the shop owners consider this option? Because I’ve spoken with your colleague from United Kingdom and she said that it’s crucial for the British customers. Yeah, so if you don’t have customer reviews, then you shouldn’t launch, I would say. And is it so as important also here in this region or not?
Martin (48:25)
It is important but hopefully it’s not that much important as in Great Britain because how you want to launch with reviews it will be not the real review and maybe it will be worse than if you don’t have any reviews.
Radosław (48:43)
But you can also translate the reviews from Poland, for example. If you have an instance in Poland, then you build the shop in Czech, for example, and it has the same product like Amazon does. When you go to the Amazon, you view the product and you have the opinions from different countries, even though it’s Amazon PL, so it’s Amazon Polish. So I would say that you can do that, of course. I understand that in the beginning, if you start from the scratch it’s then but having this option or not is from time to time a decision to be made by the shop owner while entering because for example in Poland they don’t have reviews but they are entering the market and they hear that reviews are very important let’s build this functionality.
Martin (49:32)
Reviews are important. You can have them on the site as well. The Heureka I mentioned before can provide you with a stamp like trusted shop. It’s only authority which is widespread and seen as verified. And you can translate some of your reviews but maybe more than testimonials because if there is a new shop launched last week and there is 7,000 happy customers from Poland, that’s great. I expect that they are doing well and I will get the product, but maybe the delivery will be different because it will be done by the Czech delivery company and the customer service will be done by different person and a lot of things are different. maybe it’s not that it’s not the similar case, use them, but it’s better to gain local ones and you can do it by mailing or asking our customers if they are happy that they can provide or on social media and so on. The shops definitely know how to do it. I’m just saying that it’s good to have, but to have them real is better than…
Radosław (50:56)
Not have them. Okay, so we’ve talked about how to localize the shop. So we have the shop, we have a launch, we have localized it well, but how to promote it on this market? What promotion strategies are the best for the region?
Martin (51:18)
Yes, that will be quite similar as in Poland. And the omni-channel approach is most used now. And you can have, you it depends what’s the strategy of the seller or the shop. But in general, people often use social media a lot. And it’s good when you can have a physical store as well, at least two, three of them. It depends again on the product. If you are selling sofas, then it’s good to be able to see the sofa, sit on it. So there are no super specific rules how you will approach customers more productively than in other countries around.
Radosław (52:11)
Okay, so social media and other strategies which were done in Poland should be also effective in those markets, yeah?
Martin (52:23)
Yes. And as well, you should have the CEO optimization and be traceable or be able to be Googled. For example, there is another search tool beside the Google. It’s called Sesnam in Czech Republic and it has up to 10 % of the searches, but mainly all the people who use it as well as an email client.
So should this be used as well or not? Or Google is enough? And questions like that need to be answered before your entire marketing strategy is launched.
Radosław (53:05)
Yeah, in terms of… In terms of SEO, of course, this localization is also important, because certain words, certain prepared phrases are very, very, very important, And some… One interesting, I think, or the aspect…
Are there any seasons in Czech or Slovakia region that should be taken care of specially? I mean, does Czech and Slovak celebrate the same as other Europeans? I mean, the most popular events like Black Friday, Valentine’s Day, are commercial days where the shops are selling more. Are there any other in Czech or… Are those also very popular? How would you describe it?
Martin (54:03)
The seasons, you need to take into account all of regular like Christmas period or Black Friday or after the New Year’s Eve. Usually in Czechoslovakia there is a sale of the products. Then Valentine’s Day, Eastern Summer sale period and back to school is recently being recognized or seen. It was not 10 years ago, but now I can see it everywhere. And maybe what is not common in Poland or around is one thing which came to my mind now and it’s called Marian Days. It’s a few days in September, in the middle of September period where one printed media, the magazine, cooperates with a lot of brands, mainly fashion design and stuff like that. And people who read this magazine or have it in app, they can have discounts for these cooperating brands and it’s in Slovakia as well.
Radosław (55:23)
So it’s a printed, yeah, so it’s a printed magazine which has some kind of coupons or what does it have?
Martin (55:29)
Yes, it’s printed magazine with the coupons. So you have the discounts only when you buy the magazine, which costs like four euros or something like that. Or you can have the magazine in your mobile device so it doesn’t have to be printed, but you paid for it.
Radosław (55:47)
So pay for the magazine and you get the discounts which are accumulated from different shops in one place.
Martin (55:54)
Yes, and it can be hundreds of shops, not few.
Radosław (55:59)
So it’s very good to know for the potential shops which are potentially going there.
Martin (56:06)
If the product fits the… Yes.
Radosław (56:10)
The magazine. And it’s somehow branded, some special brand. don’t know. It’s a fashion magazine or is it a retail magazine? Or is it wider?
Martin (56:26)
No, it’s a fashion magazine for ladies, mainly standard local media kind of thing.
Radosław (56:39)
Okay, so it’s worth to notice. Okay, so last question. We’ve talked about a little bit of influence of coronavirus on the region. So it’s more or less the same as it was in the whole Europe. But do you see also the influence on other global… events like for example the war on Ukraine or the Middle East war, is it noticeable on the Czech and Slovakian market or is it totally transparent and it doesn’t affect at all?
Martin (57:14)
It affected but not directly. My point of view, the effect is through another changes and it was the inflation and in Czech there have been really high inflation during past years and it affect the change of prices and what caused the less purchasing power of the people. So the growing interest in more, less expensive alternative of the products is logical step. And maybe a lot of people who are running like refugees staying in the country created the new customer group because
It’s a lot of them and eShops can aim on them as well or can adjust the communication at least. So it’s mainly the change of priorities when purchasing and as well this spreading of the customer groups.
Radosław (58:31)
Yeah, it’s the same as in Poland, still for me, for example, it’s not very clear if the inflation was provoked by a coincidence of those two events, mean the corona and the war or each one has its own influence, but it’s noticeable, I believe, in the whole Europe.
Poland is in direct connection with Ukraine, so we are more directly affected, but I see that the economic and the business influences are more or less the same.
Martin (59:12)
Yes, unfortunately this, but it’s another challenge.
Radosław (59:18)
Let’s hope it will solve quickly and everything will get back to normal. Okay, Martin, thanks a lot for coming today. Thanks a lot for being here. A lot of useful knowledge for the potential shops which are planning to go into this direction. Of course, for the listeners… The message is if you need some help or advice makes you look is here and media4u also can support it technically. So we are cooperating together and we can make it easier for you to enter those markets. It was really nice speaking with you, Martin. And see you with another initiative.
Martin (1:00:16)
Thank you.
Radosław (1:00:17)
Bye.
