Season 2: Getting your sales expansion right.
ABOUT US AND THIS PODCAST SHOW
WHO WE ARE
We are Rolando Casanova and Lidia Koubová from INTERNEL, your cross-border e-commerce experts in Europe.
Rolando, originally Swiss-German-Italian, lives in Poland and brings over 30 years of logistics and e-commerce experience.
Lidia, originally from the Czech Republic and based in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland, specializes in sales and marketing strategies for growing online businesses.
Why We Created This Podcast
E-commerce in Europe is full of opportunities but also full of challenges. With this podcast, we bring you practical insights, real-life stories, and strategies to help you expand smartly, sell smarter, and avoid the pitfalls that sink so many e-shops.
Our mission? Helping e-commerce businesses grow beyond borders with expert advice from people who truly know the European market inside and out. We are here to deliver the raw, honest truth about e-commerce beyond the glossy brochures and sales pitches of logistics, payment, and service providers.
🎙️ Welcome to Beyond E-Commerce Borders – your guide to smarter sales expansion.
© 2025 Internel SA, All rights reserved
REGIONAL DIFFERENCES WITHIN EUROPE
There is no such thing as 1 European market only 44 individual economies…
To excel in Europe, you will need to understand your customers and their expectations:
Source: Internel customer survey – June 2023
© 2025 Internel SA, All rights reserved
EXPAND WITHIN OR INTO EUROPE
STEP 1: Analyse and understand customer needs/wishes, then set sales regions
Set country priorities; do not roll out everywhere at the same time.
STEP 2: Define what services you want to offer
As in a physical store: limit the product assortment to the best to start with, also avoid confusion and too many payment methods and delivery options.
STEP 3: Sell in customer currency – talk their language
Your sales platform must be in the local language; your products are sold in local currency; nothing else will work.
SUCCESSFUL EXPANSION STRATEGIES AND TRAILS
FOLLOW THE MONEY: CURRENCY (€) AND BIGGEST MARKETS
Germany, France, Spain, Italy – later Belgium and Netherlands, Austria, Slovakia, Denmark, etc.
Only at the end: other currencies, peripherical markets like Ireland, Portugal, Balkans, Baltics, and export markets like Switzerland and Norway
FOLLOW THE CULTURE: REGIONS AND LANGUAGES
Germany and Austria or France and Belgium, etc.
FOLLOW THE MAP: EXPANDING TO NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES
Conquer neighbouring countries – despite eventual language/currency differences
Unless the following countries are your home-market, avoid starting with
- export markets like Switzerland or Norway (even if they are rich)
- markets like Spain or Italy (it is difficult to expand further from there)
- specific currency markets like Poland, Sweden, Czech Republic, etc.
© 2025 Internel SA, All rights reserved
CONTACT AND FEEDBACK
We'd love to hear from you!
Do you want to know more?
Feedback?
Or do you want to suggest a topic for an upcoming episode?
📬 Contact us at: podcast@internel.eu
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© 2025 Internel SA, All rights reserved