What companies can assist in the development of e-commerce?

Agency or in-house team?

Before we move on to a list of agencies that can help with boost your e-commerce development, let’s take a moment to address this important dilemma that business owners and managers often have to face. When the need for further development arises, such as building an online shop’s SEO or assistance in entering a foreign marketplace, this question is usually the first to pop up. As a rule, there is no one-size-fits-all answer, but market trends show that, thanks to their expertise, agencies are increasingly becoming that optimal solution. What is the reason behind this?

There are two key advantages.

1. The agency’s extensive knowledge and experience as well as a track record of methods proven over many projects

Even the most experienced specialists have typically worked for only a handful of companies. On the other hand, specialised agencies are able to offer a ready-made, proven process that is often based on years of cooperation with companies from a similar industry. In addition, they offer knowledge, which is accumulated from a number of people who have worked on a variety of projects and know how to seamlessly implement the same methods in a new environment.

2. Lower cost

The cost of employing an experienced person will almost always be higher compared to an agency’s monthly invoice, not to mention the skyrocketing cost of recruitment and the increasingly competitive employment market. Moreover, let’s not forget the additional costs associated with employee onboarding and retention.

The areas in which external companies are able to support e-commerce businesses

As mentioned, we have divided the list of companies according to categories:

1. Launching and maintaining online sales on marketplace platforms – companies specialising in selling on platforms such as Amazon, eBay, Allegro, Kaufland.de, Zalando, Cdiscount, etc. They help implement and optimise the offering on marketplaces.
2. Fulfillment – agencies that help with the completion and dispatch of customer orders. Such companies often offer storage space or act as intermediaries in the process of finding optimal solutions in many countries. The services of such companies can prove extremely beneficial when venturing into foreign markets.
3. Customer service – companies that help with customer service, including foreign sales and with the support of native speakers.
4. Translation – same as above, companies providing assistance in translating, for example, product and category descriptions when branching out into foreign markets.
5. SEO – companies offering all sorts of SEO-related services, which are essential for online shops aiming to base their sales on organic traffic.
6. Legal support – companies offering legal services specialising in e-commerce.
7. Tax support – companies offering services related to VAT registration and settlement in foreign markets (the so-called VAT compliance service).
8. Accounting – companies providing accounting services for e-commerce, including for online sales across multiple marketplaces.
9. Customer experience – companies specialising in analysing user behaviour and creating user-friendly and effective shopping experiences.

We would like to emphasise that in this article we will primarily focus on companies offering dedicated services for e-commerce. We have also written a separate blog article on tools offering e-commerce support services, most of which are based on the SaaS (Software as a Service) model.

So without further ado, let us turn to specific examples of companies falling under each of these categories.

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Launching and running sales on marketplace platforms

Nethansa

Nethansa specialises in selling on Amazon and Kaufland.de platforms. While the first one doesn’t need to be introduced to anyone, it is worth saying that Kaufland.de is a very popular marketplace abroad, with plans of opening platforms in the Czech and Slovak markets in 2023.

The company not only offers support in eight European markets, but also solutions such as:

• automatic price management (dynamic pricing)
• planning the inventory orders
• acquiring buy boxes with the support of artificial intelligence
• customised Amazon knowledge base
• 24-hour customer service on all platforms
• monitoring the sales account
• and much more

Selium Marketplace Agency

The Selium Agency offers a comprehensive sales service for multiple marketplaces and almost all major sales platforms, including eBay, Amazon, Aliexpress, Empik or Shopee. Selium not only handles sales leads, but also in-house team training and carring out audits on these platforms. In addition, they offer to run paid campaigns, such as the PPC model.

ProfitCrew

ProfitCrew offers comprehensive management of accounts on Amazon, Kaufland.de, eBay or French Cdiscount, along with running PPC campaigns, customer service in 7 languages, as well as conducting audits and training for the client’s internal teams. The company can both help optimise and maintain existing accounts as well as create new accounts and launch sales from scratch.

Grow Agency

The Grow.pl‘s motto “Many markets. One partner.”, perfectly summarises the service offered by this company. In line with this slogan, Grow offers comprehensive support throughout the entire process – from implementation to ongoing sales support on practically all major marketplaces – eBay, Amazon, Allegro, Kaufland.de, Zalando and many more.

Commerce Bay

Although we decided to place Commerce Bay in this category, the company could just as well fit into several others, as it offers a range of services – from customer service and translations in 10 languages to logistics management and marketing. Commerce Bay facilitates both the development of your own online shop as well as sales via marketplaces, including Amazon, eBay, Kaufland or Cdiscount.

Fulfillment

Omnipack

Omnipack offers speedy system integrations and comprehensive logistics services dedicated to e-commerce companies. The company has warehouses in Poland and dispatches products throughout Europe, including same-day and next-day delivery service for Europe’s largest e-commerce market, Germany. In fact, Omnipack has a track record of up to 99.2% of perfectly delivered orders.

LinkerCloud

LinkerCloud’s model is slightly different than Omnipack’s as the company is a kind of hub that connects e-commerce companies with trusted logistics partners across Europe. The service provides easy access to warehouses in a number of countries and therefore allows for a significant acceleration in delivery times and thus a competitive advantage when expanding into new markets. LinkerCloud additionally handles returns and complaints.

EUROCOMMERCE

EUROCOMMERCE specialises in express deliveries across Germany and the Czech Republic. The company relies on a highly customised approach to cooperation. They also offer delivery of bulky items – without pallets or handling and at a specific, earlier arranged time.

Frisbo

The Romanian-based company provides a dedicated platform that connects e-commerce companies with fulfillment networks across Europe and provides next-day delivery in up to 24 countries. Based on the client’s situation, Frisbo tailors the most process-optimised and cost-effective shipping offer.

Customer Service

Salesupply

Salesupply offers both fulfillment services (including returns across dispatch countries) and professional customer service support thanks to its team of native speakers. So it is safe to say thanks to their services, you can replace two, large e-commerce departments, while significantly facilitating the development of sales in additional markets. Salesupply guarantees next day delivery to 60% of European countries.

Expandeco

Expandeco specialises in translations, comprehensive customer service across all channels in addition to handling returns. In addition to Western markets, the company also provides services in Central and Eastern European countries such as Romania, Hungary, Croatia and Bulgaria. In addition, Expandeco conducts market and competition research in the countries that clients are considering as potential target markets.

Translations

Skrivanek

Skrivanek is a group operating in 17 countries, connecting companies with translators in dozens of languages. The company has a team that specialises in a wide range of industries, allowing you to receive high-quality translations accompanied by industry jargon.

Leszczenko Joanna

Ms Joanna Leshchenko is a German and Russian sworn translator with extensive business experience, including the FMCG and e-commerce industries.

E-multicontent

E-multicontent offers translation and copywriting support with a focus on SEO. The agency specialises in creating content specifically for the e-commerce industry, i.e. product and category descriptions, as well as blog texts. In addition, they offer creating dedicated content marketing strategies.

SEO

ICEA

ICEA offers a wide range of services, including SEO, SEM, UX/UI, but also content marketing and translations, allowing the company to also provide positioning services in foreign markets. As a partner, ICEA performs an extensive website audit and competitor benchmarking prior to adapting the strategy to the client’s needs and capabilities.

Verseo

Verseo is an SEO agency that is a licensed Google partner and therefore provides advanced support in both paid Google Ads campaigns and organic positioning. The team also has extensive expertise in paid campaigns on Allegro and Facebook and helps with implementing the Hubspot CRM.

Semgence

Semgence has extensive experience in providing SEO and SEM services to online shops. On top of the dedicated support in this area, the agency also offers training for in-house marketing teams.

Legal support

GiA Trust

GiA Trust is a partner for Polish companies wishing to develop their sales on the German market. The company provides advisory services and assists in the process of establishing and registering a company in Germany.

Ecosistant

The Ecosistant agency assists companies to comply with all legal and process requirements related to waste disposal, including electro-waste, and recycling across Europe.

Lexalis

Lexalis offers legal assistance to companies pursuing cross-border e-commerce. The law firm maintains partnerships with law firms in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania and other countries. The scope of services includes:

• drawing up shop terms and conditions, information clauses, etc.
• consultancy services related to the sale and advertising of items regulated by law, such as tobacco, alcohol or pharmaceuticals
• drafting, reviewing and negotiating contracts with business partners

DTA Logistics

Customs agency, DTA Logistics, helps e-commerce companies operating internationally in the field of logistics, as well as customs and freight forwarding services. The company’s network includes over 40 points throughout Europe and well beyond. Thanks to meticulously developed and validated processes, DTA Logistics allows customs clearance and other logistics procedures to be significantly shortened.

Support in EU-tax related matters

Taxology

As partners of e-commerce companies, we offer comprehensive support in the following areas:

• VAT registration and settlement in 16 European countries, including under the VAT OSS procedure
• tax audits
• organisation of warehouse processes when selling under the FBA model

Thanks to process automation and our dedicated Taxology application, we reduce the time that e-commerce companies need to settle VAT, down to just a few minutes per month.

Accounting

KP Consulting

KP Consulting’s accounting office is focused on companies operating, among others, in the IT sector, new technologies and, in particular, e-commerce. The company helps businesses both in their initial stages of development as well as larger ones with established cross-boarder sales. In addition to bookkeeping, KP Consulting also provides assistance with HR and payroll services.

ATB Consulting

ATB Consulting offers a wide range of accounting, legal and consulting services to e-commerce companies that operate across a number of countries, including the UK and US. On top of providing specialised support, the company also conducts trainings regarding the procedures involved during the expansion into foreign markets.

SOVA Księgowość

SOVA Księgowość is an office that offers accounting services regardless of the company’s legal status. In addition to accounting, SOVA also has a separate IP Box registration service that allows companies to benefit from a preferential 5% income tax rate.

Customer Exprience

Zaufane

Zaufane helps e-commerce sites to gain reviews and build a positive brand image both on Google but also within the client’s online shop. The company offers the same service in a number of countries, allowing you to accelerate your sales in foreign markets.

Edrone

Edrone is a company that could fall into many of the preceding categories, as it provides solutions for both multi-channel customer acquisition and customer service, and even speech-based sales. In short – if something in e-commerce sales and service can be optimised, accelerated or automated, Edrone is probably the one capable of helping us.

Remaining areas

Dealavo

Dealavo is both a consulting company and a platform aimed at brands and online shops. Its primary objective is to monitor competition, track product availability and automatically adjust prices (dynamic pricing). The platform facilitates the tracking of marketplaces and comparison sites both in Poland and Europe.

Cloud Services

There are plenty of software houses on the market, but only few are as specialised towards e-commerce as Cloud Services. The company provides dedicated solutions for online shops to cut costs in a number of areas and increase sales, amongst others, thanks to the exclusive affiliate programme, Blue Partner.

What kind of partner does your e-commerce need?

This question, unfortunately, must remain unanswered, because in each case is different and it’s important to consider the following factors:

• the shop’s development stage
• the company’s organisational culture
• the number of markets, we operate on
• the capabilities of our in-house team
• the situation on the market
• company’s costs

Each time, it is worth taking a hard look at the company’s current challenges and identify which ones are most in need of external support and should be addressed as soon as possible. And if foreign expansion poses such a challenge, we will be happy to assist your company in terms of services related to VAT registration and settlement.

We encourage you to take advantage of our free consultation.