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~ Clicktime.eu ~

A GROWING

MARKETPLACE

BUSINESS:

CLICKTIME.EU

Text: Nico Hoeijmans // Photos: Nathalie van de Leur, Clicktime.eu

Back in 2006, Marga Trias decided to leave her job and focus on starting her own company:
Clicktime.eu. Here, she combined the upcoming opportunities e-commerce off ered as well
as the business her family was active in: watches and jewellery. We talked to her about the
development of Clicktime.eu, from a small Spanish web shop to a cross-border marketplace
seller, and what it is like to strategically grow a business on marketplace platforms.

tarting Clicktime.eu market. ‘For us, another advantage was that marketplaces
Th e online shopping market had a completely diff erent generate more traffic to your products from the start. They
Slook back in 2006. Marketplaces like Amazon, CDis- are well-known, trusted and therefore, are often visited by
count and others had yet to realise their dominant position, consumers. Consumers feel safe as the marketplace assists
while cross-border shopping was still in its relative infancy. the buyer in case of possible faulty deliveries or damaged
‘At that time, it made sense to start my own web shop. Th at goods,’ explains Trias. ‘We decided to go for it.’
was the way to start an online business. Our business model Clicktime.eu expanded its business with an Amazon France
was based on this principle and our fi rst online sales were shop. It turned out to be a success. Following the French
generated through our own platform,’ Trias recalls. example, Amazon UK, Germany, the United States, Canada,
Japan and other markets were added. ‘These days, we are
Clicktime.eu was a hit and performing very well online. selling on all Amazon marketplaces. The only exception is
Trias: ‘One day, we were approached by Amazon France. Amazon India, which is a market of its own.’
I believe it was back in 2008 and the Spanish Amazon
platform did not yet exist.’ She laughs, continuing: ‘They Marketplace strategy
asked us if we would consider start selling our assortment Selling on marketplaces changed the original business
through their platform. It was something we carefully strategy Clicktime.eu followed. ‘It is not just something
weighed up before deciding to do it.’ you do lightly,’ Trias says. ‘It is important to look at it from
all perspectives. For example, we had to decide how to
Reaching new markets by yourself and your own web shop deal with our marketplace competitors. Would we focus on
is possible. However, it is no secret that marketplaces offer price? How would we be able to generate visibility on such a
a relatively easy and less expensive route into a cross-border competitive platform? We had no intention of being a price

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