This is one of the success-story of hex the e-commerce cross-border. In ten years, Sarenza is not only become the French leader for the online sale of shoes, but also a size in Europe. What are the revenues from such expansion ? The responses of its leader Stéphane Treppoz.

What shoes have to feet the leaders of Sarenza? Quite certainly, shoes sprint. Since they took over in 2007, the e-commerce site specializing in clothing, foot , founded two years earlier, Hélène Boulet-Supau and Stéphane Treppoz have not lost a moment.

at the time, “everyone told us that customers would never buy ever of shoes on the Internet,” recalls the second. Seven million customers and 22 million pairs sold later, the company has become one of the jewels of the sale online. In France, and especially in Europe, with 50% of the sales turnover realized out of the borders, in thirty countries of the old continent.

The international expansion was marked from the outset in the economic model of shoe. “We started by opening a site dedicated to the United Kingdom in 2009, says Stéphane Treppoz. Have followed Germany and Italy in 2010, then the netherlands and Spain in 2011…. To date we have 12 dedicated sites in Europe, the latest openings being in Norway and Finland in the beginning of the year, more a site .had, in the English language, to deliver the rest of the continent.”

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A quality of service level from the top

of Course, selling online only (no physical shop at Sarenza) allows you to launch into the export business with more flexibility and less risk, says the leader: “In terms of investment in e-commerce is less greedy. You don’t have to take charge of the rents which can be considerable. Your investment can be progressive, and most importantly, you can control more fine, depending on the responsiveness of the markets to your offer.”

Warehouse Sarenza to Réau.

Sarenza

But if start is more easy to impose on foreign markets remains complex, and requires strong argument for differentiation. The strategy of Sarenza? Focus on the customer. From the outset, in France, “we have placed customer satisfaction at the heart of the business, with the free delivery and the right to change your mind in 100 days with a refund in 48 hours.” Then, the company has applied the same policy in each new country where it stretched, aligning its standards of quality on the most demanding of the nordic countries.

Boots with fur in Finland, sandals in Italy

But while displaying the same service for all, you also need to adapt to the habits of the different stakeholders, national – in terms of payment, delivery, etc, “Each country has its habits and it is sometimes a puzzle, recognizes Stéphane Treppoz. Some are more ‘mobile’ than others, the Spanish use more easily in our application, the Belgians prefer to order from their desktop… The Italians settle the majority of the amount of their order to the delivery. The Germans, on invoice. Some countries prefer to deliver at home, other withdrawal in the relay points.”

This is also true for marketing. The ideal time to sell shoes varies: “For example, mother’s day does not occur on the same date according to the countries, the balances either. In the netherlands, St. Nicholas day is an event more important than Christmas. In march, we always wear boots with fur in Finland, while it begins to feel like sandals in Italy… The weather and the local events are both criteria to take into account to adapt its offer.” Not to miss these subtleties, the company has at its paris headquarters of the teams of natives of different countries.

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A new warehouse to deliver the whole of Europe

Finally, recalls Stéphane Treppoz, all these efforts would be in vain without a logistics impeccable. “We can deliver all over Europe from our warehouse hyper-modern located in Réau in Seine-et-Marne [and inaugurated in 2016]. The progress made in logistics have helped to revolutionize the sales by internet. We can now fully compete with our foreign competitors, and offer the same quality of service to all countries.” To respect borders when it comes to patterns of consumption and marketing, the clear when it comes to quality of service and logistics: and if Sarenza had found the winning formula of e-commerce cross-border?