Our eastern neighbors have a large, growing market. The perfect opportunity for your business.
We have much in common with Germany in terms of language and culture. Last but not least, the German market is twice as big as the Dutch market. For this expansion to succeed, there are some important elements that entrepreneurs should not overlook. For example, volumes and names of keywords can vary enormously in Germany. Furthermore, there are plenty of issues to consider when expanding into Germany, such as the language, culture and difference in consumer behavior.
The need for security can also be seen in the online behavior of German consumers. Compared to the Dutch, they are more alert to privacy. This has implications for device and social media use and willingness to do online banking, among other things. E-commerce in Germany is very different, but also similar to the Netherlands on many fronts.
Soundness is an important component for German success. With a German online shop seal of approval, you show how reliable your e-commerce shop is and you are 1-0 ahead of shops that do not have this. We recommend Trusted Shops as a Hallmark.
Consider carefully which marketing channels you want to use, as this requires thorough market research. Online marketing in Germany differs from Dutch marketing in many ways. For example, in search engine marketing, there are major differences in search volumes, competition levels on keywords and cost per click on paid advertising. When competition levels are lower, it may be a logical decision to deploy SEO in Germany. With intense competition on certain keywords, it may be smarter to advertise in Germany.
You can also analyze with a specialist whether to optimize part of your offer organically, and part to start selling through ads. This also applies to digital marketplaces in Germany. For example, there is no bol.com in Germany, so other marketplaces are a lot more relevant to sell your products on. The most popular marketplaces in Germany are Amazon, Quoka and Ebay.
Tomahawk is a premier partner of Google, making it one of the top 3% best online marketing agencies in the Netherlands.
Our German specialists receive continuous training and have direct access to closed betas: new features within Google Ads that have not yet been rolled out to all advertisers.
Belgium is a neighboring country with cultural and linguistic similarities. Yet there are also many differences. Flemish-Dutch is slightly different and a large part of Belgium uses the French language. It would be a shame to overlook this, because it is a promising market!
The United Kingdom has one of the most mature European e-commerce markets with the highest online sales in Europe. Thanks in part to enthusiastic online shopping by British consumers, e-commerce in this country is stable and stronger than ever.
I'm Roel, founder of Tomahawk. I am happy to help you from our office in Nijmegen.
