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"The mistake everyone will tend to make is [believing] that the customers are a bit the same, which is true … But in the same way, even in Europe, you don't talk the same way to a German customer [as you do] to a Spanish customer." — Jérôme de Guigné, CEO and Founder of e-Comas
Brands are continually exploring new avenues to drive growth. For companies in the U.S., this often means looking abroad.
Regions like Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) offer promising growth opportunities on the digital shelf. That is if brands are developing an ecommerce strategy that truly resonates with this audience — and isn’t just a slightly tweaked version of their ecommerce approach in the U.S.
Jérôme de Guigné, CEO and founder of ecommerce agency e-Comas, has extensive experience in the EMEA market and has helped many brands develop profitable ecommerce strategies in the region.
de Guigné joined a recent episode of the "Unpacking the Digital Shelf" podcast, "Growth Opportunities in EMEA," to share his perspective on how brands can effectively translate their ecommerce efforts to capture greater market share in this part of the world.
According to de Guigné, the first and most important thing to understand about EMEA is the size of the market, which will significantly inform each brand’s investment decisions in the region.
"Clearly, the potential of the European market altogether is probably similar to the U.S. in terms of the number of consumers," he says. "However, it's more complicated."
de Guigné likens navigating EMEA’s ecommerce landscape to having to convince Texas residents and Florida residents to buy the same product rather than speaking to a specific like-minded audience segment more broadly.
Sometimes U.S.-based brands will try to lift and shift the same approach from the States to EMEA, but that hardly ever works. According to de Guigné, that’s because — along with understanding the size of the market — brands also must navigate complicated logistics and import and export tax considerations in EMEA.
"The mistake everyone will tend to make is [believing] that the customers are a bit the same, which is true … But in the same way, even in Europe, you don't talk the same way to a German customer [as you do] to a Spanish customer," he says. "It's understanding that you probably need to revise the way you've been selling. What was the success recipe in the States, for example? It probably will have to be nudged or changed a bit."
de Guigné offered several best practices for brands expanding in EMEA and developing an ecommerce strategy tailored to this region.
First, brands must decide on their product availability and assortment in EMEA. Next, they must determine their rollout on a country-by-country basis. Should they launch in Germany first or the U.K., for example?
"Do you want to really go fast and [go] everywhere and start slow from everywhere? Which I don't really like. Or do you start and try to be strong in one and then expand in the others? Which I much prefer." — Jérôme de Guigné, CEO and Founder of e-Comas
He says brands also need the right logistics partner, as well as a partner who can help them localize their product content. This approach isn’t as simple as translating product information from U.S. English to British English or French.
de Guigné gave the example of packaging on a product in Europe that had measurements in gallons and a map of the U.S.
"As a French customer, I was not impressed by the customer experience … Maybe I'll understand the English, but it's a map of the U.S. where the water is hard or soft," he says.
de Guigné adds that it’s critical for brands to understand the key players in the market. Fortunately or unfortunately, there’s not much difference between EMEA and the U.S. in that Amazon still reigns supreme.
de Guigné says Amazon is big in Europe, especially in Germany and the U.K. He advises U.S. brands entering EMEA to focus on Amazon first.
"Most of our brands really focus on Amazon," he says. "Once we’re strong or we've hit a bit of a ceiling, then we advertise a bit more. Then, we go to other marketplaces."
de Guigné says brands must get a better idea of their conversion rate before they launch on Amazon in EMEA. They also should understand what customers are buying directly from them without going through a third-party seller or marketplace. From there, they can launch on the channel and expand their distribution.
One important thing de Guigné notes is that “Minimum Advertised Price” (MAP) pricing doesn’t exist in Europe, so pricing is more challenging in the EMEA market.
"If you start with distribution and putting your price everywhere, the chance is your prices will go down and you can't do anything about it," he says. "It's much better to build it in one place, have a strong foundation, and then start to expand."
Several of the brands e-Comas collaborates with demonstrate a potential pathway for success in EMEA.
de Guigné gave the example of a U.S.-based water products company that expanded in Europe. The brand employed a country-by-country strategy and has simultaneously focused on building its Amazon presence and its own direct-to-consumer (DTC) channel using Shopify as its backend.
"They started with distributors, selling their products very low funnel and really trying to get people just to buy," de Guigné says. "Then, step-by-step, they've started to grow up the funnel."
The brand has pivoted its online success on Amazon into offline relationships with brick-and-mortar stores in the market. In the process, it has steadily grown its base of loyal and repeat customers across both digital and physical touchpoints.
While all these strategies work well to help U.S. brands grow in EMEA, at some point, every brand will hit a ceiling, according to de Guigné. This stage is when building community becomes even more critical.
"That's where you have to use social media tools and social community management tools," he says.
Similar to the U.S., Facebook, Google, Instagram, and now TikTok are invaluable tools for brands that want to expand their customer relationships offline and outside of the Amazon platform.
"The idea is to have people on their customer journey see your brand in multiple areas," de Guigné says. "If you are working only on PPC [pay-per-click advertising] and linked to a small number of keywords, it will be very difficult to reach out. We've started to offer this service … Because we saw that it was needed for brands to go to the next level and to start to speak to a wider audience."
For brands to succeed across borders, they need to take the time to understand the nuances of each local market and the customers within it.
While there may be some similarities between the U.S. and EMEA, understanding what distinguishes the regions can make or break a brand’s success. Brands must take the time to learn about new customers, understand the market’s unique tax and logistics considerations, and tailor their Amazon strategy to each country.
With this level of due diligence, by collaborating with the right local partners and developing an ecommerce strategy, brands can prime themselves for growth in EMEA — and potentially, beyond.
To hear more of Guigné’s insights about how to expand in the EMEA market, listen to the full podcast episode of "Unpacking the Digital Shelf."
