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Learning in France
Preparing yourself before entering a new market is an Not only does availability in European markets differ; the
essential part of expanding your business. For Medisol, way of selling varies from one country to another. Joziasse:
France was their first country to expand internationally. ‘In the Netherlands, we sell fifty-fifty to resellers and end
It was a market in which they learned a lot about how to consumers. Considering our market share here, it is very
handle their business cross-border. ‘It turned out AEDs likely that if you see an AED somewhere, that is order on
are an even more complex product than we imagined. our shop. Other markets have a different ratio. In France,
Customer questions were very hard to standardise, as there for instance, we focus on resellers while the Italian market is
are numerous types of AEDs, from different brands and very much directed to end-consumers.’
in different types. If we wanted to become successful, we
realised we had to keep our service in our own hands, close Something that benefits both end-consumers and resellers,
to the source of our knowledge,’ explains Joziasse. no matter their location, is that Medisol has a brand
independent strategy. The online provider delivers all kinds
Another thing that had to be taken into account was of AEDs, of different types and brands and in different
the field of laws and regulations. In the Netherlands, languages. As well as this, it is able to provide in-depth
historically, there has been done a lot of research on information on all of these products. ‘Often, our competitors
resuscitation. ‘It started in the 18th century, as the Dutch are contracted by one or two manufacturers, which means
had to deal with the problem they are more likely to
of water, the rate of drowning be slightly biased in their
HAVING ALL OF OUR
men was high. Research advice. It makes sense,
on resuscitation techniques as they feel the need to
therefore began early and it for sell their products,’ tells
SHOPS AVAILABLE ON
us it was no surprise that the Joziasse. ‘Becoming brand
Dutch are a precursor in the use independent took us a
of AEDs too.’ while. Now that we have
ONE SYSTEM GIVES gained a dominant position
That said, not that long ago only in the market, though, we
ambulance staff and doctors were are highly benefitting from
US A HELICOPTER
allowed to use defibrillators in this strategy. It is highly
Europe. ‘When someone goes valued by our customers,
in cardiac arrest, resuscitation too.’
VIEW OF OUR TOTAL
needs to be started as soon as
possible. It is a matter of buying In-house strategy
time,’ explains Joziasse. ‘As only While selling in sixteen
ambulance staff was allowed markets, the French
to use AEDs, and none were ORGANISATION. example illustrated to
publicly available, someone Medisol that it wanted to
had to provide manual CPR, specifically do all of the
increasing the chances of failure. work for all their markets
It was between 1998 and 2000 that the first AEDs were in their headquarters in Vlissingen, the Netherlands. ‘We
provided to the public market in the Netherlands.’ This adjusted our expansions strategy to make this possible,’
made it possible for others to use it in case of emergency. says Joziasse. ‘When we want to expand to a new country,
In the Netherlands, regulations were adjusted in 2002. we look for a native speaker that wants to work and move
Other countries took longer to do this. France was ready in to the Netherlands. That person has a lot to say about our
2007. ‘Only since 2012 has it been allowed for everyone in local web shop for that country. Not only will that person be
the European Union to use an AED in case of emergency,’ in charge of communication and sales of that region, they
Joziasse concludes. also get their say in what the web shop should look like. It
is important for us to know if we should embrace specific
Providing service to the market(s) uses or need to be warned of others, especially as we want
These days, the Dutch market has matured a lot. With to present ourselves as local as possible. Our natives, for
only a limited number of players, most of them online, the example, know to which national and local medical councils
market saturated quickly. ‘The occupancy rate of available we should reach out. By having these local collaborations,
AEDs in the Netherlands is higher than in most European we can present ourselves as a company with sixteen local
countries. Therefore, markets that are less mature, like the subsidiaries,’ he states.
Swedish market, are far more interesting for commercial
purposes,’ Joziasse says.

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