Page 17 - CBMAwards2023

~ PostNL ~

HOW TO

WIN CONSUMER CONFIDENCE

WITH A LOCAL HERO

WINNER
POWERED
BY
Text: Team PostNL International // Photos: Cross-Border Magazine

What began as a two-man business in Finland and grew over the course of seven years to
become a scale-up in 12 countries: Swappie. The company buys second-hand mobile phones,
refurbishes them and then resells them. However, the greatest obstacle to international

e-commerce growth has turned out to be consumer confidence. Or rather, a lack thereof.
Country Manager for the Benelux, Martine Hardeveld Kleuver, explains how they have
overcome this hurdle.

istrust of quality “It’s a combination of reasons that has made us so popular.
“We want consumers to always consider They buy from us to save money and are glad to be helping
Mrefurbished as an option,” says Hardeveld Kleuver the environment at the same time, or they are specifically
enthusiastically. “That it becomes mainstream. This requires interested in a refurbished mobile phone for environmental
that phones are available, affordable and of good quality. reasons, and the affordable price is a nice bonus.”
The latter is often a problem in the market. When our CEO
first got started, he did all of the refurbishing himself and A reliable partner for a reliable image
delivered the phones on his bike. But as we grew, it became But this did not fully overcome the obstacle. How do you
clear that consumers were being held back by a mistrust boost consumer confidence? By choosing a ‘local hero’,
in the quality of the phones. That’s understandable since it turns out. “Customers in the Benelux wanted PostNL,
you have lots of people doing the same thing with different customer service wanted PostNL, and I also wanted PostNL,”
standards. For example, there are companies that buy phones laughs Hardeveld Kleuver. “The moment we started offering
and then resell them without even looking at them. Others this as a delivery option, we immediately saw that consumers
check their phones but then immediately send them off. were more inclined to go through with their order. People
Then you have us. We guarantee that the phones are of good do not have a lot of confidence in refurbished electronics,
quality, and this is ensured by our own factories.” so having such a reliable company as PostNL as the sender
is extremely important. This gave our image a real boost.
Perfect condition inside and out Customers figure that if PostNL works together with us,
This is only part of what makes Swappie unique. They have we must be reliable. So, this reinforces their confidence
two factories, one in Finland and one in Estonia, where they in us. Our collaboration with PostNL is also positive and
personally train the experts who are responsible for solving constructive. They take a very personal approach and their
any problems with the phones purchased. “From a small accountmanager Martien te Riele is extremely motivated
scratch on the outside to new soldering on the motherboard,” to actively solve any problems that arise. Together, we try
explains Hardeveld Kleuver. “We have a checklist of 52 to find ways to make things better, and we are treated as an
points, adhere to the rule that we do not buy phones with important partner, including organising joint meetings. This
a battery life of less than 80%, but if that is something surprised me because we may send expensive parcels, but
that people really want, it is also a possibility. There are not a huge number of them. If we were to stop tomorrow,
three different conditions, but they are really only about PostNL would not notice the difference, yet they dedicate
appearance. Technically, all of the phones are completely considerable effort to our business. It’s a two-way street, and
reliable. We categorise them from ‘fair’ to ‘excellent’; they are that makes it all the more enjoyable – it’s done wonders for
40% cheaper on average and better for the environment.” And our company.” ••
the latter is particularly important to the younger generation.

17