Marina Nikolova
The first e-shop exhibition in Greece is already a fact. Dealers tell GRReporter that during the last few years an increase in online sales is noticed and they are starting to develop online stores, in order to assist their clients.
Online we can already purchase furniture for our apartment, to choose a present “experience” for the loved one, to buy a book or to organize a trip from beginning to end – tickets, hotel, insurance and rent a car. Online store services become more and more personalized and every owner is trying to differentiate himself from the competition and make the e-store better.
Present at the exhibition are a wide range of firms, which develop their business in different sectors of the market. One of the biggest and most famous online stores is e-shop.gr, which deals in the technology sector and its stand is big and differentiates itself from the rest. It is located on the back of the hall and takes a big space. One of their promotions interests freelance experts – doctors, dentists, engineers, lawyers, notaries, accountants – who want to buy their electronic equipment from e-shop.gr. After answering to some criteria the store equips them for free with equipment valued between €3 000 and €20 000.
The online stores for gifting experiences offer interesting services – a person can order claques for a game, make his son’s dream come true by renting a Formula 1 car or just spend a romantic evening with the loved one is a spa. Actually the catch is that the owners of this store want you to believe that they can make even your craziest dream come true. They even want you to think carefully of who you want to surprise and what will leave them with their mouths open.
Online store owners do everything to try and pull you towards their store and inform you about their products and services. They want to tell you “Hey, we are real – you can find us in an office and call us up, trust us”. In order to attract more clients the store owners have created many different coupons with discounts and promotions.
The exhibition will take place in the subway hall on Syntagma stop between November 18 and 20 and the goal is to inform people about products and services online stores offer but most importantly to reveal great opportunities about low prices, which this market has.
Apostolos Moutevelis – owner of three online stores for technical equipment, wine and painting auction
In which sector does you e-shop work?
Our first online store opened selling Samsung products – from white goods to computer displays, laptops and net-books. Our other store sells three types of wines – Katoi, Strofilia and Averoff – 14 etiquettes all together. We also offer a big range of wine accessories – corkscrews, jugs, glasses and you can also find rich information about wine. The third website deals works of art auctions. We are actually collectors and we own works of art of famous and globally recognized Greek painters. Those are the three sectors we work in.
Why did you transfer your business online?
We have been working with new technologies since 1980 through a firm, which specializes in data entry. Our clients come from the public sector - the Greek Electrical Company. E-stores are the future of trade – low support expenses and prices are attractive for consumers… Trend shows that online clients are increasing. Two years ago they were under 10% and now we are between 15% and 18%.
Is there interest for works of art auctions? How do you choose what to offer?
We represent works of famous painters – Tsarouhis, Haszikiriakos-Gikas, Malamos. The works of art market is closed. We have bought those paintings about 10 years ago for our personal collections and now cooperating with two big galleries, we auction them. We opened our own gallery and now every Saturday people come and see the paintings because no one will spend €5 000 online without having seen the painting first. The painting behind me is by Zoumboulakis and it costs €4 000 and if an expert does not see it, no one will buy it. We are also cooperating with an works of art expert, who is certified to evaluate paintings. She has graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts and she also owns a gallery. All paintings that we sell come with a document, which shows where they were purchased from, which is the most important thing so that the new owner knows he/she is buying something authentic. We do not only have an online store. We also have a gallery and offices, where clients can visit and look around. There are other e-stores, which do not have an office…their office is someone’s home. The other products we offer – for example Samsung, have all guarantees from the Greek distributor of the company.
What do Greeks buy online?
Lately they buy many TVs, computer displays, laptops and external HDs.
Toy store representative
What does it mean to be an online store owner?
Patini.gr is a new online store. This means that we do not have an office but only the e-store, which works 24/7, 365 days per year. This also means that you need to be working fast and that the market which you are targeting is huge – not just a region but people from all Greece and abroad. With time we will translate the website in other languages as well. The competition is fierce because there are many other stores—on other words we need to have something different or something we are better in – either product, service or delivery wise. It is hard to do business online. The fact that you have an e-store does not mean you will be working undisturbed. Rules count and online trade is necessary because this is the future. Today people do not have time, so they shop online and their products are in front of their doors the following day.
The following day?
If you live within Attica region – yes but if you live on an island and it is winter – later. But our company is cooperating with couriers and we also have our own delivery staff so most times the order is delivered during the following day. All offered products in the e-shop are in storage, we have them.
How can people protect themselves from misleading advertisements? How can they be sure that a certain e-store really exists and if they pre-pay they will receive their goods and will not be deceived?
They need to review the website very well; to see how reliable it is. Which is this company? What products does it have? How is the payment done? Does it have Alpha Bank or Visa accounts? Are there any certifications or a telephone number? Is there an address, is this company really existing? This is like our signature. We can put it anywhere but we have to be careful. It is logical not to shop from a store that seems weird and its offices are on the Bahamas. People shopping online are much more secured than they think. It is very hard for someone to steal your data if you follow some simple steps – never send your credit card number through e-mail, you can give it only to an online store you have visited yourself and you have seen that they have a valid address and telephone number. You have to check your bank statement regularly and if you see something weird, you have to go to the bank within one month and say that you have not made this expense. In our website we practice something else too – we sent the present with a courier to the home of the client and we get paid on the spot.
Which are the first companies, which have opened an e-store in Greece? When did online trade start developing here?
Some big stores like Plaisio, e-hop.gr, and U Info Quest have been online for few years but I believe we have witnessed a revolution during the last two years. An online store has many priorities – it is cheaper, faster, it is open 24/7 and all this is so important that the market is heading this way. It is very expensive to own a store on Ermou street, so the future is definitely in online stores. This will not happen in the following 2-3-5 years but today.
RSS
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
