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~ Ranpak ~

hoto frames+art.com manufactures and sells specific designs for e-commerce marketplaces. Our offer on eBay
photo frames and framed art. As an Omni- differs from our offer on Etsy and other marketplaces we supply.
Pchannel retailer from the United Kingdom, the Our e-commerce managers have a free reign to get samples and
company is steadily expanding its global reach both materials in, create products and photographs and place the
online and offline. We meet with Tim Jordan, Direc- listing in the marketplaces that are their responsibility. When we
tor of Photo frames+art.com, who talks to us about notice that a product performs well, we expand its scope. I can
the business and its cross-border expansion. say we do very well, as we are looking for the assistance of some
great manufacturers.”
Offline and online
From the start, retail has been an important sales channel The challenge of advertising
for Photo frames+art.com. As a manufacturer, the company As Tim has outlined the online strategy of Photo frames+art.
supplied photo frames and framed art to retailers. As the com in the United Kingdom – a marketplace-specific strategy
business grew successfully, Tim and his companions started – we come to wonder how this works internationally. How
exploring the fields of e-commerce. “That was six or seven does the company focus on optimised listings on marketplac-
years ago. As with every company, we started small. Online es in countries other than their home market? And what does
sales were outstanding, though, and we could expand our the company do to accelerate sales in these markets?
online business as well,” he remembers.
“The main challenge in e-commerce we face is making sure
An important unique selling point (USP) for the business is we have our listing and advertising organised well. We, for
that it manufactures its own products. “We can hop on any example, spend a lot of money on e-commerce advertising,
new trend or product in our on Google and Amazon Pay per
online and offline channels “MARKETPLACES KNOW CLEAR Click. It is a very delicate field,
market, at any time. With our
and you need a specialised set of
STRUCTURES. WITH A WEBSITE,
growing, we want to keep it skills to be successful. We started
as strong as we can. We have working with a partner to opti-
THERE IS A BLANK CANVAS”
now invested money in new mise this on our sales channels.”
equipment to produce as ef- “If we choose to open up a shop
fectively and qualitatively as in a new marketplace – say Al-
we can while at the same time legro in Poland – we have the
enlarging our numbers. In the United Kingdom, we are in the people and skillsets to set everything up perfectly. It is the
top three in volume and quality.” field of marketing where we need a skilled partner who can
help us with the hundreds and hundreds of options. This is
Test what works especially true for social advertising. We have mastered the
After a couple of years in e-commerce, seeing robust growth, skills of marketplace advertising to a decent level. Social
Photo frames+art.com has now started expanding across advertising is largely new to us, and that is the difficult part.
borders. Not long ago, the company widened its scope into As we work on our own webshop platform alongside our
Europe and the USA. “Amazon is our primary marketplace marketplace strategy, this becomes more relevant. We want to
when we start selling in a new geographical location,” Tim have matured our marketplaces by the end of 2020/2021.”
says. “Currently, we sell on Amazon in many large countries
such as Germany, Italy, France and Spain. When we have cre- “At that time, we want to focus on our own branded products
ated a solid ground in these markets, we start looking at other and advertising is much more required. Right now, we are
marketplaces as well. In France, for example, we have our eye doing a lot of research to learn about the best tools. Mar-
on Cdiscount. We do not want to rely on just one market- ketplaces know clear structures. With a website, there is a
place. That is too much of a risk. However, Amazon is a great blank canvas and advertising. We can do what we want, but
way to test a market and see what works.” the result depends on what we do. That is why we are looking
into becoming as visible as possible. It will be a long journey
Step-by-step approach and our roadmap changes from week to week, but it is very
Photo frames+art.com does not expand immediately. Testing exciting!”
is a crucial part of its cross-border strategy. “Basically, we have
people in our sales team that are responsible for specific markets. Photo frames+art.com starts this project in the United King-
As we are not a bespoke framer, we do not work with customised dom, its home market. “Once we have become more comfort-
designs, and we can create a solid product catalogue. We design able, we will likely expand to the United States first. Why?
a product, look at trends, designs and values in the markets and, Purely a language thing,” Tim says. Geographically, mainland
based on that, start manufacturing. Our sales and wholesale Europe is much closer for the company; however, Photo
teams can cherry-pick from both businesses to see what works in frames+art.com has seen the struggle to create outstanding
a market, both for retail and online business. This means we have localised content. “Even translation agencies cope with this

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