On which of Amazon Europe’s marketplaces shall I start? Maybe one of the most frequently asked questions when it comes to expanding to Europe. Long story short: it depends. On the one hand on your product and on the other hand on the market(s) you are targeting. Usually, it makes sense to start in the UK or in Germany. Starting in the UK makes sense especially for sellers from other English-speaking countries, so you can start selling in Europe without having your listings translated and with a higher feeling of control over your supply chain. Of course, translations are quite important when you expand to other European countries as many documents, also the documents regarding VAT, are mostly just available in the national language. All in all, it makes it easier to get used to the European taxation system when the documents are available in the mother tongue.
When it comes to starting in Germany, you have a big market size advantage. In Germany, there live 87 million consumers with the highest purchasing power and the field – and especially the success – of e-commerce has risen drastically in the last years. Since it is more or less right in between all other European marketplaces, the delivery time to your customers is rather short and the earlier a customer gets his order, the more satisfied he is. Thinking about the importance of positive reviews and customer satisfaction, this can increase your turnover and your image or the image of your product/brand as well.
But again: there isn’t like the perfect country to start selling in Europe, you always have to keep in mind where you want to sell to or rather where you will have the highest turnover.
Not only the “big” marketplaces in Europe are worth striving for. Starting in smaller marketplaces can bring several advantages as well, such as identifying niche opportunities or the lower need for inventory investment.
Furthermore, if you want to expand across Europe and reach customers in different European countries, you will have to ask yourself if either the European Fulfillment Network (EFN) or Pan-European FBA (PAN EU) is the solution which fulfills your expectations.
To get a brief overview about EFN and PAN-EU, here is a table which points out the main differences:
As it is not always obvious which way will be the most profitable one and as there are different other aspects you should keep in mind, you can use our free consultancy on fba-hero.com to find the best marketplace in Europe for your company.
