Expanding abroad with Kaufland Global Marketplace

What makes selling in Germany so interesting for Dutch sellers

We see a big trend in crossborder sales in general. By expanding beyond the national borders, you reach new target groups and therefore new customers. What makes selling in Germany so interesting if you want to expand abroad is that it has the second strongest economy in Europe and is fast becoming the largest e-commerce player in Europe. They are number one in online transactions and have a reliable delivery service. This allows you as a seller to be competitive in your delivery costs and gives you many options for storing your products.

Julia: "Als we kijken naar Duitse en Nederlandse klanten, zien we overeenkomsten in bevolking, logistiek en de manier van leven. Wat het een erg aantrekkelijke markt maakt voor Nederlandse verkopers. Ook is in Duitsland de cross-border economie groot. 95% van onze aankopen zijn buy-box aankopen. Gemak en prijs zijn daarbij erg belangrijk en gaan dus voor locatie."

What distinguishes Kaufland from other platforms 

In general, it is advisable not to choose one sales channel when you want to sell in Germany, but to use different channels. Of course Kaufland has some advantages over other sales channels. Julia about the advantages:

1. "The Kaufland brand is very big in Germany, both online and offline. On the German marketplace Kaufland has 32 million website visitors, offline Kaufland has almost 1500 supermarkets in 8 countries."
2. "Kaufland is a very well-known brand in Germany, it has a good image and people appreciate Kaufland for its low price, high quality products and large range. We also want to promote this in the marketplace, where we already have a customer satisfaction score of 4.6 out of 5.
3. "You as a salesperson are important. Kaufland is present at various trade fairs and events where you as a sales person can talk to us personally. Mail contact is always personal and you always speak to real people. There is support in different languages. We involve our sellers in the platform and find their opinions important."

Language barrier

Like many salespeople, you may encounter the issue of translating product texts. We asked Kaufland how salespeople can deal with this efficiently.

Julia: "It is important that the product description and customer service is available in native German. You can use the data we have. If you provide your own data, we have specific requirements. We have people available to help you with these translations. Our customer service works with a ticket system, we support you as a sales person with all first line questions from customers".

Selling in more countries than just Germany

Kaufland is also a great sales opportunity if you want to sell in more countries in Europe. Julia says: "Recently we became Kaufland Global Marketplace and we announced our expansion to other countries. With a simple click in our dashboards you can expand your sales to these new marketplaces. Once you have mastered the game of Kaufland Global Marketplace, you can scale up to these marketplaces very easily."

Start selling on Kaufland

"We are a general marketplace, which means we welcome any seller. We want to have a wide range, so anyone who meets the requirements is welcome."

The requirements for selling on Kaufland Global Marketplace are:

• A registered company  
• Shipping to and processing of returns from Germany 
• Invoicing for customers 
• German communication, at least in written form.    
• Product information in German
• EAN for all products
• OSS en local VAT number (non-EU vendor registration in Germany)  
• LUCID number

Watch the session with Julia Lehnkering of Kaufland Global Marketplace below