In this five part series, in partnership with Cdiscount, we have examined the French ecommerce market and explore what UK sellers need to know about selling in France. We previously looked at: The state of French ecommerce; The French Shopper; Logistics, Mobile & Payments; and Selling with Cdiscount. Today we take a look at Skull Shaver and their experience of selling in France.
You can also now download this entire series along with additional content as an eBook – The French Ecommmerce Opportunity, which examines what UK sellers need to know about selling in France.Skull Shaver
Skull Shaver is an American brand selling razors for men and women. The company began by selling on Amazon in the US but later developed its own ecommerce site.
Having established the brand in the UK, the company has been targeting growth in mainland Europe, with particular ambitions in the short and medium term to expand in countries such as France and Germany.
“Each market is very specific, with its own particularities”
– Alla Karapetyan, ecommerce and digital marketing specialist, Skull Shaver
The company decided to look at local French marketplace Cdiscount. There were a number of reasons for choosing the marketplace, including its cultural relevance and popularity with French consumers.
There are also specific French customer preferences that Cdiscount is able to accommodate: Karapetyan says that customers like to be able to pay in instalments, which is available on the marketplace.
The company faced some logistics challenges when expanding into France, including unreliable parcel services. Earlier this year the company began using the Cdiscount fulfilment service, starting with adding three reference products and then expanding the offering to the rest of its product range.
Alla believes that the “Fulfilled by Cdiscount” stamp of approval leads to greater conversions. It also leads to “decreased hassle” on Skull Shaver’s part and a much better and faster delivery service for customers.
Skull Shaver has its own warehouse in the UK. In France its stock is stored in a mixture of Cdiscount and Amazon warehouses.
The KPIs for success in using Cdiscount was volume of sales, with Alla saying that Skull Shaver is seeing “quite impressive year-on-year growth”. She also highlights the value of having an individual point of contact at Cdiscount for addressing any issues that arise.
Skull Shaver plans to continue using a local approach as it expands across Europe, including localised ecommerce sites for each market and local options. For example, while in Germany the brand only sells via the local leading ecommerce site, in the future Skull Shaver will evaluate local marketplaces. As in France, the company plans to take into account accommodating local preferences: in Germany parcel recipients like to pay cash on delivery.
Beyond France and Germany, Skull Shaver plans to sell into the likes of Scandinavia.
“Our brand has great potential. We want to offer local benefits for the local customers.”
– Alla Karapetyan, ecommerce and digital marketing specialist, Skull Shaver
