MUSIC PRESENTER LAUREEN: Welcome to the webinar How to start an online shop. The number of online shops has been on the rise for years... and it is even expected that soon there will be more online shops than physical shops. This is partially caused by the enormous amount of online spending, of course. My name is Laureen, and I'm your host for today. In the upcoming hour, we will walk you through how to prepare for starting your online shop... and successfully market it, which rules and regulations you must comply with... and which taxes you have to pay when selling in the Netherlands or abroad. Several experts will be on hand backstage to answer your questions... and you can submit those questions with the chat function. We will start this webinar with what is involved with starting an online shop... or as we say in the Netherlands a 'webshop'. I'm joined by the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce business advisor Johan Laffra. JOHAN: Hi. LAUREEN: -Hi, good to have you. LAUREEN: Entrepreneur and ginfling.nl owner Emma Hutchison. EMMA: Hi. LAUREEN: And the owner of capsulestudio.net Sebastian Pollesello. SEBASTIAN: Hi. LAUREEN: -Hi, good to have you. Thank you all for being here. Before we start discussing the topic, starting an online shop... let's take a look at a video on where to begin. MUSIC WOMAN: Want to start an online shop? Discover what steps to take. DOOR OPENS SEWING MACHINE WOMAN: Kim makes handbags from recycled fabrics as a hobby. COINS CLINKING WOMAN: But she's noticing that sales are going fast. She decides to start an online shop. Kim knows which products she wants to sell, and to whom. TYPING SOUNDS WOMAN: She has also thought of a good domain name. She gets started. TYPING WOMAN: First Kim registers her domain name. BELL RINGS WOMAN: She chooses the legal structure sole proprietorship... and registers with the Netherlands Chambers of Commerce, KVK for short. THUMP WOMAN: KVK reports her registration to the Tax and Customs Administration. TING WOMAN: If the Tax Administration designates Kim as an entrepreneur for VAT purposes... she receives her turnover tax number, and VAT identification number. CLICK WOMAN: Kim checks which taxes she has to pay, and how she can manage her business records... WOMAN: to meet the legal requirements on business.gov.nl. FILING CABINET CLOSES WOMAN: Kim builds her online shop. CLICKING WOMAN: She checks with ACM, the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets... which laws and regulations apply to online sales. CLICKING. BELL RINGS WOMAN: She prepares general terms and conditions... and ensures her website is properly secured against cybercrime. LASERS FIRING WOMAN: She gets started with marketing. BUBBLING WOMAN: She writes a social media plan and ensures her shop can easily be found on Google. TING WOMAN: She also applies for a quality mark, signalling to visitors that her shop is reliable. WHOOSH, BUBBLING WOMAN: Kim is ready to run her online business. WHOOSH WOMAN: Want to learn more? Find all you need on business.gov.nl. TYPING WOMAN: Government information for entrepreneurs. MUSIC ENDS LAUREEN: Johan, what can we learn from this video? JOHAN: As you can see in the video, starting your own online shop seems fairly easy. It's easy to set up and start doing. We made the video to show that, and to make sure that people know it's easy to start. But still, once you have your online shop, you will be considered an entrepreneur... and as an entrepreneur there are a lot of things to juggle in order to have everything covered. LAUREEN: Sounds good. Sounds informative. Emma, you're one of those entrepreneurs... who started a business in the Netherlands with Gin Fling. Let's have a look at what it is you do. MUSIC EMMA: My name is Emma. My company is Gin Fling. We're an online gin retailer in the Netherlands. We've recently expanded to some other drinks as well, but gin is our passion. We sell all the brands that everyone will know already... but our mission was to bring different and exciting gins to the Netherlands... which is the home of gin, or was the home of gin. We now source from many different countries through sourcing partners. We try to bring something a little bit different. We try and find limited editions. So things people can try and explore on their gin journey. So we registered in July of 2019 and by October we had the site up and running... and our first transaction on the second of October. I think we have more gins than most webshops in the Netherlands. We currently have over 650 different options of gin. We also like to provide more of a personal service. So every order that goes out will have a personal note... and we will try our best to accommodate people with trying to find a gin they'll really, really love. It came from being made redundant. My business partner Gary and I decided that we wanted to stay in the Netherlands as expats. The idea came from an old viewing of a TV programme on a gin company in the UK. And we thought: why not? You don't always get to switch off, but the reward is there. So when you see great reviews from customers, when you see repeat customers coming... just when you're talking to people in the industry and they recognise you, it's a really good feeling. Challenges for us come from the alcohol. We have different legislations... and we have to get in touch with government departments... and understand what the rules and regulations are... and keep on top of them because they do change. Gin Fling can have many faces. At the moment we are a webshop... and we want to move into things like tastings and events. And there's always the question whether there will be a shop or a bar somewhere down the line. My advice would be to make a decision whether you want to run with it straight away... or try and build up to it on a second income. MUSIC ENDS LAUREEN: Well, that looked good. It looks great. 650 kinds of gin, that's a lot. What made you decide to start a shop online in the Netherlands? Following the redundancy, like we said, we wanted to stay in the Netherlands. We had always said we wanted to start a business together doing something. It just so happened to become gin. It's now two-and-a-half years down the line, and we're doing well. Going strong. So, why in the Netherlands? And what was it like? The Netherlands because we both separately made our homes here. But the connection with the gin is really because gin was born in the Netherlands. We stole it in England for quite a few years. And we wanted to bring some of the excitement that the UK now has for gin... back to the Netherlands and also prove to people that gin is not just a summer drink. LAUREEN: Sounds good. But what was it like to start your company over here? EMMA: Very, very simple, in terms of all the registration... once we'd decided which municipality we were going to be dealing with. We had the choice between Amsterdam and Almere, because that's where we both live... and we went along to the local office, we registered the business very simply. All the information was available in English, so that was perfect for us. It was almost too easy. But our challenge and our difficulty is the alcohol side. Because we sell alcohol, there are some strict rules and regulations we have to abide by... that other online shops won't need to. Okay. So you've done your research first? LAUGHTER We did as much research as we could. There were things that surprised us afterwards. Learning that the EU is not totally open for sending alcohol... unless you have registrations in those countries, mainly to do with tax. But everything else has been quite straightforward. LAUREEN: I can imagine. Johan, hearing this as a business advisor for the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce... or KVK as we say, what in your opinion is the best preparation for starting an online business? It's just as Emma said: it's easy to start your business. The actual paperwork isn't the biggest deal. But I always advise people to take some time for preparation right from the beginning. It's an actual thinking process, which is going to take some time. You need to look at what it is you'll be doing, you'll be looking at your unique selling point... you'll be trying to find where you fit in. That's important. On top of that, you're going to look at the markets, you're going to look at competition. You want to make sure there's enough room for you to be successful with your business. That's important. And for me, I'd always tell people to look at the financial part as well. Look at your investments maybe. It could be that you have an investment budget you need to make in order to start the business. But you'll also be looking at your own personal situation: How much money do you need to be able to live and do everything you want to do? So by calculating your revenue for your business... you can make some decisions accordingly. That's all going to be helpful in the preparation phase of your business. Write a business plan. I think that sums it up. It's not mandatory to do that, a lot of people don't, but in my experience... by taking the time and writing it down, things will get clear and it will help you be successful. Paying yourself a salary is also very important. JOHAN: I would say so, yes. -Besides having a healthy business. True. Yes, true. LAUREEN: -Good that you mention it. LAUREEN: I was wondering, for an online business you have the whole technical aspect as well. Are there things to keep in mind when building a website, for instance? If you're going to go with the online shop... the website itself is going to be one of the most important things that you'll work with. So make sure that it's 100% okay. Make sure it works, it has all the functionalities you need. Make sure you don't just do half a job. Make sure it works. You can outsource it. You can build it yourself, but you can also outsource it to other companies. Yes, it's going to cost you money, but if you have a working website... it will make things much more efficient... and it's probably going to save you time and therefore money as well. So yes, it's important. LAUREEN: So, less hassle? JOHAN: -Less hassle, yes. I can imagine. Emma, maybe for you, did you build your website yourself? Because gins are no websites, of course. LAUGHTER EMMA: We didn't built the initial set-up of our website. But from the handover of that, we do everything. We maintain all the lines, we change any details that need to be changed. We are actually on mark II of our website. It's interesting what you said about investing and that kind of thing. With some of our growth plans, our first host site wouldn't have allowed that. So we quickly moved on and now we're on our second. LAUREEN: Would that be a quick tip from you? Make sure that you get someone to build your website, and then you can maintain it yourself? That was easiest for us. Gary is also quite technically minded, which is good. He is the technical one out of the two of us. So it's also good for him, because he understands a lot of the functionality. Getting the bulk of the work done, but then concentrating on the details yourself... because no one's going to know the details like you do. LAUREEN: Exactly. Okay. Sebastian, I want to draw you into this conversation as well. But first, let's have a look at what you do with Capsule Studio. SEBASTIAN: Yes, absolutely. MUSIC ANNA: My name is Anna, and I'm the co-founder of Capsule Studio. I started the brand together with my husband two years ago. My name is Sebastian, I'm the second co-founder of Capsule Studio... an Amsterdam-based, online webshop for women's wear. We sell suits, but also casual clothes for women of all ages. SEBASTIAN: We sell these clothes online... but also in our showroom in Amsterdam and in different shops around the world. I have more of an interest in numbers, in partnerships... and we used her passion for the industry to develop the brand. Our clothing is made to impress. It's made to make women feel confident and powerful. ANNA: We work with many talented people, with freelancers, creators... also store owners, business owners. SEBASTIAN: From the idea behind the product, creating the product, delivering it to customers... selling partnerships, you're responsible, but you're also taking part in the whole value creation. We carefully select the partner factories, suppliers that we work with. We make sure that the people who produce our clothing work in decent conditions... they're are fairly paid and fairly treated. That's also a very important aspect of our brand. ANNA: It was March 2020 when we received our first collection. And since then, we have produced five collections already and there are more on the way. SEBASTIAN: We're really strong in the mid-range where the clothes are still affordable... but at the same time, fashionable, durable and made in Europe. The best thing about having your own business is, of course, flexibility. Every day, you can do different things. Sometimes you can just wake up with an idea and start executing it from scratch. For ideas in the corporate world it sometimes takes eight to ten people to say yes... before you can try something. When you run a business with your partner, sometimes you just look over the shoulder... and say: can we try this? And then you just do something crazy together, and that's amazing. That gives us great speed. We can innovate very quickly and we can also iterate quite quickly. Online shopping has definitely become an integral part of our day-to-day life. At the same time, a lot of people are looking for a bit of the offline experience with a personal touch. So for sure, in the future it'll be a balance between the digital experience and the offline experience. My advice for someone starting a webshop is to try fast, fail fast, try again and iterate. Get in front of customers as soon as possible... and then figure out the perfect website and the perfect pictures. LAUREEN: So Sebastian, I heard you say 'looking over the shoulder at your partner'. How is the dynamic? How does it work, starting a business with your partner? Great question. Capsule Studio started as more than a business. It was a project, something to do together. Instead of going skiing, we started a business. When we started Capsule Studio, we were still dating, and today we're married. So I think we did something right along the way. LAUGHTER It's really great. I think there is a downside to this too, which is that the business never sleeps. You're really in it 24/7 when you live and work with the team. So it makes it really intense, but that also means we're going ahead really, really fast. LAUREEN: What was it like for you to start a business in the Netherlands as a non-Dutch person? I can really echo Emma's experience of how easy it was. The whole process with the KVK was really, really seamless, quick. I think we paid 50 euros for the registration and the service from the KVK has also been amazing. We're in touch with them with WhatsApp even, asking questions about registration. Maybe we want to change the form of the company, they send us PDFs over WhatsApp. So it's really, really easy, and a great service, actually. I never gave the feedback to the KVK. Well, thank you, it's noted. LAUREEN: -That's what we're doing right now. Does it also count for your partner? Positive experiences as well? Easy to start up? I think I answer for the business, because I'm more on the paperwork side... while Anna is more on the creative side. If there were any issues with the government or taxes, that would be more me trying to solve them. LAUREEN: Nice. And Emma, how was it for Gary? More on the technical aspect? The website you mentioned? EMMA: I think that part is understanding what you want... and what you need and how quickly it can be delivered. But working with Gary is... We've known each other more than twenty years, so we know each other quite well. We know our strengths and weaknesses... and we complement each other really well for the business. And as a non-Dutch speaker, or maybe your Dutch is perfect in the meantime. It might be, who knows? Any experiences with that? EMMA: I won't embarrass myself with my Dutch. What we have found is that starting the business was really good, everything was in English. We do have customers call us, and what I would say to people is: Don't be scared that you don't speak Dutch. Almost everyone who phones us speaks English. In a very endearing way, everyone will say: 'My English is not so good.' Trust me, it's better than my Dutch. LAUGHTER We've never had a situation where we couldn't resolve a conversation or request. We do that by, obviously, telephone, and if we receive an email in Dutch... then we'll use our friend Google Translate sometimes and we'll resolve it that way. LAUREEN: It works out fine? EMMA: -Yes. LAUGHTER LAUREEN: Good. I was wondering, Sebastian, you have an online clothing shop. But there must be loads of competition. How do you stand out? There is a lot of competition. However, you need to remember that not every clothing company is a direct competitor. We're really trying to find our niche in the mid-range... where we offer clothes that are of high quality, made in Europe... and at what we think is a reasonable price. So we really try set ourselves apart from both the mass market, which is cheap and accessible... but we also want to be cheaper and more accessible than the high-fashion brands. So we're trying to find our niche in the middle. What we found is that we don't have much direct competition in that niche. It's a small one, but we're quite happy to be there. LAUREEN: So your unique selling point would be? SEBASTIAN: Our unique selling points are really centred around sustainability... ethical, local production, and, of course, also a sense of fashion. When we compare our designs with those of some of our competitors we look at... we think we are a bit ahead of the curve in terms of designs. What helps is that we're still quite small... while bigger brands need to plan productions a year or even a year-and-a-half ahead. We often make changes and redesigns up until a couple of weeks before the actual productions. So we're quite fast to adapt to changes in trends. Nice, sounds good. I was wondering, does the sustainability part come from a moral... or is that just going on with the trend that we have at the moment? So, there's a couple of aspects. We see it as two different things: There's the sustainability aspect, and there is ethics in the fashion industry. The ethical part is really what we founded the business on. We decided we wanted to found a business with local production. We want to be able to visit all the factories ourselves, see the working conditions. We know the salaries of the people working in the factories that produce for us. That's something really important for us. The sustainability aspect is something that grew with the business. We didn't start saying: We want to make ethical and sustainable clothing. But we found that it really helps us define our niche to also be as sustainable as possible. Our cotton is certified, it's organic, it's sustainable... and we try to do everything we can to find good materials, to reduce the time on the road... to reduce the CO2 effects of transport... while at the same time not forgetting the ethical part. So the USPs are in there. Johan, you mentioned that they are very important. Emma, what are the USPs of Gin Fling? -I think for us it's our broad range. We are the destination for gin within the Netherlands. LAUREEN: The go-to? -Yes. There are other online sellers... that have lots of gins, but we will definitely have some that they won't have. We actually import to ourselves. Yes, we can resell them on, and maybe we will. But for us, it's not just about the products that we have. We understand that price is very important within the Netherlands. That's something that on a branded product is quite difficult to set yourself. You do need to really look at what the market is doing. But we look at creative ways of having really good value without just having very low prices. And for us as well, it's a very personal service that we like to offer. For every single order that goes out, Gary or I will write a card... and it's a genuine thank you for supporting our business. Sometimes we'll put a little tip on there. We see the repeat customers coming through, which is always really good. But we also have the ability for people to come and collect from our premises. It's always nice to have a conversation with a customer... see what they're mixing their drinks with. And also get recommendations from them of something they couldn't find. LAUREEN: So it's the true personal touch for you, even adding that personal card? EMMA: Yes, definitely. LAUREEN: Johan, we mentioned a few trends, personal touches, very important... sustainability is on trend. What are other trends that are going on in the market as we speak? There are a few. You can look at recommercing. That's happening a lot now. Also, there is voice commerce, which is a thing now. That's a trend. Customers becoming more and more critical of what they're expecting from your webshop. That is something that is a trend in this day and age. And, of course, there's multichannel. If you look at those, those can be considered trends. LAUREEN: Yes, so the trends go both ways. Both what's on trend for buying, but also how the customers behave in this aspect. You mentioned being increasingly critical of delivery times. Is that something you've experienced, Emma, maybe starting with you? EMMA: Yes, we have a delivery promise. Our promise is that we will hand it to the carrier on the same day. We can't have full responsibility for getting it to the customer's front door... because we don't physically make that delivery. We are reliant on a carrier. We will promise to do our part, and most of the time the carrier will do theirs. I think customers do like to receive things quickly, they also want to receive them affordably. That for us is a challenge, because our products are quite heavy. Our products have to be shipped in certain packages. And there are extra things that we need to pay for in the delivery service... such as age check verification. LAUREEN: So different rules and regulations for the shipping partners. Johan also mentioned multichannel. Is that something you apply as well, Sebastian? SEBASTIAN: Yes, of course. I think it's really important to be wherever your customers are. We started as an online-only shop. We thought online-only would work for a fashion company. What we quickly learned, was that you need to have a physical presence as well. So we decided to try partnering with different stores. Right now, we have stores in Amsterdam, Berlin. We have a store in California, in Antwerp. That gives customers the opportunity to try on the clothes themselves before buying them. We also have a showroom. We don't only sell on our website, but also through Instagram, through Facebook. So we have all that integrated in our webshop, which is still our primary channel. So really multiple channels then? -Absolutely. Johan, just a final question: What would your advice be for someone starting an online shop? There has been a huge transition from everything offline to online. So you're not going to be the only one there. Please take some time to look at, as Sebastian said, a niche, which is good. Have something that you're specialised in, the same goes for you with gin. Make sure you figure out what your specific place in the entire market is going to be. So that clients know what they'll be coming for, and what you can offer them. I think that's important. And, maybe on a side note: Also look at security issues. I think that's important too. Everything is done online, everyone has their shop online... but cybercrime is really something to take into consideration in this day and age. So if you have an online shop, make sure you read up on that as well... and make sure that your website is secure. Johan, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us... on this topic on how to launch an online shop. You'll join us later on. Emma, Sebastian, you'll be staying with us, and we'll discuss later on as well... the effective ways of marketing your online shop. So thank you. We will be joined via video conference by Jaap Schepers, owner of Afdeling Online. MUSIC LAUREEN: Setting up and building an online shop is one thing... but good promotion can make or break an online shop. You can have the best unique online shop with beautiful products... but if the consumer does not know where to find you, you will not sell anything. That's why we will now address the findability of your online shop. How do you attract customers to your website? How do you use online marketing wisely, and stay ahead of the competition? In the meantime, Jaap Schepers has joined us via video conference. Jaap is the owner of Afdeling Online. Good to have you, Jaap. Thank you very much. Hi. -Hi. So with your company, you help entrepreneurs develop and implement an online strategy. When should you start working on the promotion and findability of your online shop? Well, a very important question. You already do that from the beginning. Which means even before you start your own platform, you build your webshop. You start by looking at the competition, for example. You look at where your products are being sold by the competition. JAAP: Which keywords people are using. But also how your competition places their products on social media, for instance. From there you know how strong the competition is, you know where you start... but you also know what your unique advantages are, your USPs. Very important. So once you've done that, what would be the next step? Well, the next step, after building your webshop... is finding out which channels are important for the first sales of your webshop. Some channels are mostly focused on branding, putting emotion into your brand, etcetera. But the first step is getting as many sales as possible to put some flesh on your bones. Some channels are better for that than others. For example, Google Shopping, but also market channels like bol.com, or Amazon... are very useful for that. LAUREEN: Sounds good. So Emma, from an entrepreneur's side, how do you promote your website? Mainly on Google. It has been really important for us to do that. But also through the keywords, our organic growth is really good as well. EMMA: We're also looking at things that are offline to balance the experience. We've recently been doing some advertising in the metro stations of Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Supported by our brands. We've also done a local campaign in Almere for people to come and collect their products... which allows a bit more personal contact as well. LAUREEN: That's good, because personal contact is important. So, Jaap, why is that? It seems to be now more important than ever. Yeah, that's a really important topic, because when I started out with my company in 2004... starting a webshop, well, it was difficult from a technical perspective. But everybody who had a webshop was selling, as easy as that. Nowadays, it's easy to build a webshop. But there's a lot more competition and there's a lot going wrong. Like importing products from other countries, delays and deliveries, and it's all built on trust. JAAP: So an important way to diverse yourself from other webshops is having a personality... is showing who's behind the brand and building a lot of trust. With reviews, good photography, et cetera. That's really important nowadays, just like I said, because a lot of things are going wrong. LAUREEN: Yeah. So, Emma, Jaap is talking about that trust part. But that's also heavily dependent on the carrier. How do you choose which one to go with? EMMA: Absolutely. I think carriers will always give you something that's outside of your control. But we have chosen to go with the best-known carriers for the Netherlands. So PostNL is an obvious choice, and we use DPD. We thought it was very important to give customers a choice. So even on a neighbourhood level, they will have different experiences by their carrier. And also there's different services with the two. So for us it means we have a choice, they have a choice. But the decision's really, you know, as a customer would expect from us, we expect from them. So it is about price, it is about quality of service... and it is about when things go wrong and how do they help us. LAUREEN: So, we've established that trust, we have the right carrier, a stable platform. Jaap, what would be the next step? Well, after you've implemented all the channels... Of course, some are working better than others. Some channels are bringing you more orders than other channels. It's really important to track which channels have the best ROI. Which means the lowest costs against the highest margins in sales. For instance, if you're selling your products on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and Google... you can easily see which channel drives the most orders. Based on that, you should be optimising, which means putting more money... where the most orders are, and trying to lower your costs by optimising these channels. Changing your keywords, changing your biddings, et cetera. So you mentioned TikTok and some other social media channels as well. Sebastian, how do you distinguish yourself on those social media? SEBASTIAN: Yeah, good question. I think having a unique personal approach... is, much like Jaap was saying, something we try to do. We do between 40 and 50 per cent of our photography in-house. My business partner Anna does a lot of modelling for the brand as well. We do street photography, we do shoots in bars and restaurants. So we try to make a lot of personal content for Instagram, mostly. We recently started working on TikTok as well. We're still experimenting with that channel. It's new to us, to a lot of companies. So we're trying, and we're really trying all different channels that we can. We do email, social media, website of course, but also a lot of offline partnerships... events, in person with customers, with partners. So we really try to be present in every channel we can think of. And after that, we see which were successful, and again, like Jaap was saying... we invest more in the channels where we see more results from. LAUREEN: Nice, nice. And Emma, how do social media platforms work for you? EMMA: It's a little more difficult for us, because on some social media... we cannot sell our product, because it's alcohol. So we use it as awareness. We post every day. So we're always showing the customers there's something interesting... but it's never a selling platform for us. LAUREEN: So no mocktails on there. EMMA: -We can do mocktails. But people are more interested and we get far more likes with the alcohol. LAUREEN: Okay, okay. So, Jaap, once you've set up these channels... how do you keep monitoring them and see if they actually work? Well, for instance, you can use very good and free tools for that, like Google Analytics. There are a lot of ways to connect your shop to Google Analytics and see your transaction data... the users, your pay-per-clicks, like the visitors via your advertisements, et cetera. And from there, there's a very easy KPI, like ROI, which you can use to track and monitor... and see if your revenues are all right and your costs are okay. Okay, sounds good. So, Sebastian, I heard you mention in your previous answer... something about working with different channels, but also different... Not vendors, not really competitors, but adjacent companies. How does that work? I think that's something we've tried to leverage from the start... is to find synergies with other companies around us. Whether that's jewellery brands or bakeries... or even a flower shop close to us that we collaborated with. So we do different things. We do events together, we do giveaways. For Christmas we usually do a big giveaway of a box... that can contain a sweater from us and a gift card for a cake, some jewellery or candles. And we find that this really amplifies our reach, because we might have 4,000 followers... and all these other smaller brands or companies... have between a few thousand and tens of thousands of followers. That really gives us a reach to their follower base as well, which again, amplifies the spend... on these giveaways or collaborations. So we really think that that's useful: Finding other companies that can work together. Not someone you compete with. So maybe not an alcohol brand... but someone selling cocktail glasses would be an example for you. I like the thinking along going on here. Yeah, nice. So we're setting up those connections already. So once those social media are in play, and you're attracting the right customers... Jaap, how do you keep track of that? And how do you keep attracting those customers via those channels? Well, it's all about experimenting. Just like I was saying earlier: First you start out with the channels which are very important for the first sales. But after that, you need to start working on your branding. You have the first sales, but then you need to create the personality of your brand. That means that channels other than Google or Google Marketplace are much more important. Think of Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Building personalities build brands for the longer term. That creates recurring revenue, depending on your product. I think that's very important as well. LAUREEN: So different strategies for different social media maybe? Yeah, different strategies... Well, not only for social media. Just like I said, you need to divide the channels... in sales-intended and brand-intended channels. And you need to look at your target groups. LAUREEN: So... JAAP: Sorry? LAUREEN: I'm curious, which ones would you recommend? The best one I would recommend, is starting to look at your target groups. See which ages they are, what their hobbies are, and segment them into different groups. For every single group there's another channel... which is more important, another social media channel. Like, for instance, Facebook is more for, well, the elderly people. Let's say 35 and up. If you look at YouTube, it's mostly male, for instance. Other channels like TikTok are more for the younger groups. Although they have the disadvantage... that advertising for younger target groups is much more difficult. In general, looking at the target groups is very important. So what would your advice be to, maybe, continue optimising marketplaces, online marketplaces? Well, the difficulty with marketplaces is, you get revenue out of them... but you're not really building a brand. That's the most difficult thing about marketplaces. You're only driving boxes and sales, but not building the brand... because you're promoting, for instance, Amazon and bol.com. So I think they're a really important way to sell the products... but you need to combine it with other channels to build your brand. LAUREEN: So you need to be out there and partially use online marketplaces... but you need to be out there yourself as well, on the preferred channels for your brand. The preferred channels for the preferred occasions, for the preferred target groups. Sounds like we need some advice with that, because that sounds like a lot of work. Well, it is a lot of work. There's some repetition in my story, but, just like I said... you first need to look at the target groups and see how they're segmented. What their criteria are... and look at which channels are the best to reach them. After you've done so, you're using Google Analytics to see if it's working... and if your ROI is okay. And according to that, you do more with them, you optimise them... by putting more ads on them or lowering or raising the ad spends, for instance, and the biddings. LAUREEN: So, Jaap, last question. What would your golden tip be for those launching a webshop? Well, the golden tip is divided in two parts: Building a personality brand for the longer term, that's really important... because the competition is really fierce. And the other one is optimising: From the early start, see where your revenue is coming from... and try to adapt that into your strategy and emphasise it. Most important. Sounds good. Thank you so much for joining us via video conference. Thank you for your time. Emma and Sebastian will stay with us to discuss our next topic: the rules for running an online shop... where we will be once again joined by Johan Laffra. MUSIC LAUREEN: So, you've built your online shop, started the logistics processes... and promote your business using the appropriate channels. But are you doing everything within the rules and regulations? Johan Laffra has joined us once again to tell us all about which rules apply for online shops. LAUREEN: Johan, which rules and regulations apply for online businesses? JOHAN: There are a lot of rules and regulations that apply. I think two important ones, to kick off with those... are that your website needs to be easily accessible to clients. That's really important. And also to show contact information. JOHAN: To show ownership of the business, who's the person behind the business. And make sure you write down the Chamber of Commerce number... the VAT number, the registered business address, so people know where you're actually located. And make sure, if you use a contact form, that it's not the only one you use... but also mention an email address or a phone number... just to be in the clear on who people are doing business with. LAUREEN: So two forms of contact. What other things are important to clearly state on your website? Look at product, for instance. If people buy a product make sure you tell them what they're getting. So mention specs, maybe fabrics... The gin, what's in it. Make sure that it's all mentioned on the site. Make sure there are no hidden costs or additional costs. It can happen that the amount changes when people have something in their shopping cart... or once they finalise the order. That's really a no-go area. Make sure you say something on delivery. Of course that's never going to be a 100% guarantee, but just be reasonable... and realistic when it comes to a shipping period. Part of that, of course, is also showing the amount of stock you still have. That's important as well. I think those are really important to look at. So we said delivery, we said product and... And... LAUREEN: Eh, price? Pricing, we mentioned that as well. So I think those are important. LAUREEN: Emma, what are the delivery terms of Gin Fling? EMMA: Okay, so the promise we make, is if you order before 4 p.m. Monday to Friday... we will make sure it's with the carrier that day. In most cases, the two carriers that we use will deliver the next day. But we can't guarantee it, and we will never say to a customer we can guarantee it. We do everything we can, and then it's over to them. There are times of the year though where it's busy. So, seasonal holidays. EMMA: And sometimes it might take two more days. Is there like a specific 'gin holiday'? -I wish. Every day is a gin holiday. LAUREEN: Good. So it terms of alcohol there must be different rules and regulations. Yeah. So from the 1st of July 2021... there are new rules where we have to prove age verification. That's something we do before we take the order, in terms of a question to the customer. And also every delivery that goes out must be age-checked... to the person that made the order when they receive it. This is totally understandable and we totally support it. Customers are finding a challenge now... because they're used to having their delivery go to a neighbour when they were not home. And, unfortunately, now this can't be done. So they will have to arrange another delivery or pick it up from the local parcel shop. LAUREEN: So no 16-year-old opening the door for you. EMMA: Absolutely not, no. So, Johan, we also talk about a cooling-off period that's always necessary. LAUREEN: A period of a few days, weeks, to change your mind. That's what we talk about when talking about a cooling-off period. Could you tell us a bit more? JOHAN: Yeah, it's in the way you just mentioned. If you buy something from an online shop... there automatically is a cooling-off period from the moment you receive the goods... which is normally up to 14 days. So within that 14-day time frame... you'll have the possibility to send the product back to the online shop. LAUREEN: Are there general rules for refunding it if you send it back? If you're going to send it back, you'll probably be reimbursed for the money you spent. So you're going to get your money back, also within a two-week time frame. Sometimes you get your money back... and sometimes they say you need to spend the money within the shop again. LAUREEN: So the shop itself can think of ways to refund. It has to do with your general terms and conditions. LAUREEN: So it would be good for the customers as well to have some insight in that. That's why you told us all about the visibility, of course. Save us some hassle. Sebastian, have you ever experienced complaints or something within that cooling-off period? Yeah, I think that's quite natural when selling clothes online. Sometimes the fit is not good, sometimes the size is wrong. Or maybe some people think the colour looks different in real life than it did in the picture. As long as the customer tells us within two weeks that they want to return... we, of course, allow that and refund. SEBASTIAN: If there's any small issues with the order, we can also... allow the customer to fix them themselves and we can pay for the tailor to fix small things. Of course, we always want to make it right and have a happy customer in the end. SEBASTIAN: So we always offer an exchange, but if not, we of course take the refunds as well. LAUREEN: So personal contact would be very important in that case. So you have that on your website. SEBASTIAN: Yes, of course. Our return conditions are on a separate page. Separate from our general terms and conditions which are very long. So we keep a separate page just with the return information. Because it's really important to customers. But to us as well. Every opportunity to speak with a customer... is an opportunity to change their mind, offer something else, or say: 'Would you like to try some other product?' These are all opportunities to engage, to talk with the customers and give them a great experience. LAUREEN: And also for reviews. That's a thing nowadays as well. You need to keep in mind your reviews. Emma, how do you handle your reviews? Do you invest in them or do you spend some extra time? We use a platform within the Netherlands, which is trusted by a lot of Dutch consumers. So we signed up with WebwinkelKeur. That allows us to gain the reviews on our website and our products as well. But actually someone can leave a product review at any time on our website. EMMA: We print everything, whether it's good or bad. And the great thing is, you get to learn from them. EMMA: So maybe, as Sebastian said... if the product isn't represented in the way exactly as it should be expected... For us it might be the box design changed and we didn't update the picture. Understanding that from reviews means you can immediately change what you're showing... and make sure everything's correct. LAUREEN: I can imagine you can't taste the gin first, say you don't like it and send it back. Yeah, we will obviously accept any returns of an unopened bottle. Normally what we find... is that the customer themselves actually ordered something that they didn't mean to order. So we'll have a conversation about it. And sometimes we have to deal with a return because we made a mistake. And maybe we sent the wrong product. It happens, we're human. LAUREEN: Exactly. So you said you put on your website all the reviews. Johan, are there rules and regulations for reviews as well? JOHAN: You need to be honest up front when it comes to review policy. Make sure you tell your customers what to expect when they leave a review. JOHAN: One already mentioned, is: If you have good reviews and bad reviews... you should really work on them equally, not just go with the good ones and leave the bad ones aside. I think that's important. And what you hear more and more is the actual fake review. Stay away from those. I think that would be my biggest tip. Don't put your own fake reviews online telling everyone you're the best. Make sure that it's genuine. I think that's important. And one small addition: You can do the reviews yourself or use a platform, but you can also outsource your review system. If you outsource, which is totally fine, just be on top of it to make sure... that you monitor what happens there, at the external party. That's important. So you mean, if the reviews are coming in, if they are the same way transferred to your site... or are they on your website, those kind of things. JOHAN: -Those kind of things. So, Sebastian, you mentioned you have general rules and regulations on your website. Emma, do you have them as well? -Yes, we do. Everything that we have, is easy to find in our footer. There's also different contact parts at different points as well. So if you're in customer service, there's a customer service... there's a general info and then we have delivery separate, the same as Sebastian. So that's all because of the rules and regulations, they have to be visible there... as you mentioned in the beginning, Johan. Who checks this? JOHAN: One entity is going to be on top of your webshop. That's the Authority for Consumers and Markets. That's the entity where you can find all those rules and regulations that you need to uphold. So check them as well. And if they come to check and something's not in order, they're also allowed to fine. So check the rules, obey the rules... and make sure that you avoid any fines of any sort. LAUREEN: So you also have these check marks, I was going to say, quality marks online as well. How do you apply for those, how does that work? Maybe from the entrepreneurs? Do you have a quality mark? SEBASTIAN: On our own webshop we don't have one, but, for example, a lot of materials we use might have. For example, the cotton is GOTS certified. There are different qualifications for factories, for materials. So we have those for certain parts of our production... and we use that in our marketing as well. If we use some really good materials, we will let our customers know, of course. LAUREEN: So there's a quality check in there. And Emma? EMMA: The same, we don't have anything specific on our website... but we feel that by using the review system that we do... that is trusted by consumers in the Netherlands... that they'll see the reviews, understand that it is a formal business... and, therefore, trust that we are doing things correctly. Sounds good. So, Johan, some final words of advice about rules and regulations? JOHAN: Make sure you read up on them. I think that's important. And, again, a lot of information can be found at the Authority for Consumers and Markets. JOHAN: There's also a lot of information on business.gov.nl, a very good starting point. But I would really say, keep on reading and stay alert when it comes to rules and regulations. You really don't want to mess that up. LAUREEN: Sounds good. Thank you so much for your thoughts on this topic so far. Next up, the taxes you have to pay and the rules for import and export. We are joined by Sandra Wood later on, the International Business Adviser at KVK... the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce. MUSIC LAUREEN: Taxes are usually not the most fun topic to talk about, but they are important. So how do VAT and income tax work for online shops... and what are the rules for import and export? In addition, Sandra Wood from KVK has joined us to discuss these topics. Thank you for being here. SANDRA: Thanks for having me. -Maybe it's good to start with the beginning. Johan, I'm going to start with you. If you start an online shop in the Dutch market, which taxes do you have to deal with? If you start your own business in the Netherlands, it's always the same taxes. The VAT, it's income tax, and in certain cases it's also an excise duty, which has to do with alcohol. Probably something Emma can tell you all about. But those are the most important. As a business, at the end of the year, you need to do your income tax which is for everyone. The tax office will charge a certain percentage you need to pay in taxes. That's what happens. And on top of that, there's the VAT tax, done four times a year. LAUREEN: How does it work? So four times a year, what is it? Once you make the registration, you get two tax numbers. The VAT number that you'll be using towards your clients and an ID number... that you can use to declare your own line of VAT taxes. So every three months you log in... and declare to the tax office the amount of VAT you received from clients... minus the amount of VAT you paid for purchases on behalf of your business. So once you make that calculation, you'll know what to enter... and what you need to declare to the tax office. It's as simple as that. LAUREEN: There are different rates, different percentages for the Dutch VAT. LAUREEN: Which ones are there? -There are three. For most businesses it's the 21%. The general tariff when it comes to VAT is 21%. So you can find out on the tax office website. That could be handy. All the exceptions to the rule are mentioned there. If you have an activity... Maybe you're in food or drinks, or maybe in certain sectors... you might be eligible for the lower VAT tariff, which is 9%. If you go abroad, it could be 0% in VAT. But those are exceptions, they're mentioned on the tax office website. If you're not an exception, automatically you need to charge clients with the 21% in VAT. LAUREEN: So there's some bookkeeping rules involved there. Sebastian, as an entrepreneur, how do you keep track of your Dutch sales? SEBASTIAN: It's a great question. When we started out, we were really small. We had a small budget. So we thought, let's do this ourselves. So we tried to keep track of everything in Excel. Like mentioned here, you need to file your taxes four times per year. And, of course we missed the deadline, so we got a little fine of 50 euros from the Tax Authority. We thought, this isn't worth it, let's outsource this. So we found a good bookkeeper... who's doing all the taxes and filings for us, also does our personal income tax... so really has the whole picture of all VAT and tax questions for us. So that would be an advice from your part? SEBASTIAN: -I would strongly recommend it. It's a small amount to spend per month. You can deduct it from your taxes anyway. I would really recommend anyone starting out to have a tax adviser from the start... to make sure everything's filed correctly. Even if your revenue is small in the beginning, it's still worth it to have a good record... of everything you're spending and to make sure your taxes go out correctly. LAUREEN: Okay, well thank you. So, Johan, and Sebastian added on, those are the Dutch taxes, the Dutch VAT system. So, Sandra, if we take a look abroad... I'm going to ask you some hypothetical combinations of factors. So there are different, let's start in general first, different rates for foreign sales. LAUREEN: What rates do you use abroad? It depends on whether you deliver goods to a private individual or a company. That's a bit different. Whether you file the Dutch VAT, or you file the foreign VAT or zero. LAUREEN: Okay, so that... Let's start off then. Then we take private individuals. So you sell, as a Dutch company, to private individuals abroad. We also call that 'remote sales', maybe good to keep in mind. LAUREEN: But within the EU, also very important, and your annual turnover... is less than 10,000 euros. Do you have to file a declaration abroad? In this case, of less than 10,000 euros, you can choose to file a tax return... with the Dutch VAT, or you can choose to do it abroad, to the foreign VAT. Mostly, it's better to do the VAT in the Netherlands. It's less complicated. LAUREEN: Less complicated. Easier accessible, maybe. So that's if it's less than 10,000 euros. What if it's over 10,000 euros to a private individual in the total turnover? If it's more than 10,000 euros, you have to ask for the tax return... in the foreign country, the other country. You can do it for every country individually. SANDRA: Or you can do it with the international One Stop Shop, also called OSS or O-S-S. You can choose. Then you can do that in one go. For example, you have individuals in Germany, Belgium. You can do your tax return through the OSS in one time, for both countries. LAUREEN: That sounds good. SANDRA: It's good, but still a little complicated. Still a little complicated. So what should we take into account if you were to use that OSS for your foreign sales? You have to register first at 'Mijn Belastingdienst', and then the part VAT. With the registration you can try to do it yourself, the tax return. SANDRA: But my advice would be to let it be done by a specialist. An accountant or bookkeeper. Because it can be complicated. And once you miss something or do something wrong... it can have a lot of consequences. A small fine would be nothing. Especially because it's done abroad... there might be other difficulties as well. SANDRA: Exactly. And the OSS system is new. On July 1st of this year it started. So there are little things you're not used to working with. LAUREEN: Exactly. -So there are specialists. Not all accountants already know how it works, but a lot of them have had the training... and they know how to do it. LAUREEN: Okay, good. So good to keep in mind. But of course you have various sources of income when you do international sales as well. Various ways of getting that money into your account. Emma, I'm wondering... for international sales, which platforms do you use or how do you have your money arranged? EMMA: We have small international sales, but they are growing... and we have plans to make them grow further. So we're using a payment provider platform... that collects all the money on our behalf. It also gives the customer flexibility into what payment method to use. That could be a debit card, a credit card, it could be iDEAL or an equivalent internationally. EMMA: Or it can be PayPal. So there's different ways that they can pay. The payment provider reconciles all that. And when the payment clearance is done, then we receive our money. LAUREEN: And you know, because of your invoices, if it's a sale abroad with a credit card... or if it's in the Netherlands or within the EU. EMMA: Yes. LAUREEN: Nice. Okay, finishing up that private buying part... if we were to look at the entrepreneurs, if you sell to other entrepreneurs within the EU... how does it work? Selling, as a Dutch company, to other entrepreneurs within the EU. SANDRA: Basically you can charge the 0% VAT rate. But then you need to do some things first. To check whether the VAT number of your buyer is correct, if it's a company. Because it's not always a company when they say it is, so you have to check the VAT number. You can check this in the system of the European Union. It's called the VIES system. It's a database where all VAT numbers of companies in the EU... are based. LAUREEN: Collected. You can check it there. If you have a red answer, it's not in there. Or some other thing is wrong. SANDRA: Maybe the VAT number doesn't match the company name, for example. If it's green, you can use the VAT number. Then you have to state the number on your invoice... with the remark 'reverse VAT' to, and then you mention the VAT number. SANDRA: So the tax office in the Netherlands also know that you refer... the VAT to the other country. LAUREEN: So that's something to keep in mind, to have that on your form, on your invoice. Okay. So, what if you... What about the rules if you import your goods from abroad? LAUREEN: Will you have to deal with customs, for example. How does that work? SANDRA: Import from abroad... You use the term 'import'... if you're going to import from outside the EU into the Union. So if you have import within the European Union, we don't use the term 'import'... but we use 'intra-community transaction', also ICT. If you say you're going to import abroad, then you mean a country outside of the EU. In that case, you could be having to deal with import duties. SANDRA: It depends on whether the country you import from... has a free trade agreement with the European Union. If they do and the goods suit the conditions to have the free trade agreement... then you pay 0% VAT... zero import duty. And just the VAT as is the rate in the Netherlands. If they don't have a free trade agreement... then you have to pay the import duty. The import duty you pay over the custom value. The custom value is the value of the goods, added to the insurance... and, most of the time, the transport costs. Then you pay the import duty... add it up, and then you pay the VAT. So if you make a calculation... do it the right way, because if you do it the wrong way, you're going to miss some. Good to keep in mind. And there's this phenomenon called 'dropshipping'. SANDRA: Oh, yes. Very popular. -What is it? Well, it's... If you go... You've ordered something on a webshop in the Netherlands, for example... but the owner of the online shop places the order, for example... with the manufacturer in China, and asks him to send the goods directly to... the purchaser, the individual it's sent to. In that case you don't know the shipment goes from China to your house. You think that the online shop will send it to you. That's called dropshipping. So the manufacturer in China sends an invoice to the online shop to pay... and they deliver it to you. What the difficulty is with that... is that it's sounds easy for the online shop, because they don't have anything in stock. SANDRA: But they can't be sure that the product suits the product safety. Because in the European Union we have strict rules for product safety. So it's a tricky way to do business. I always warn them. Check first what kind of products you're going to import through dropshipping. If it's toys, small machines, or electric consumer products, be careful. SANDRA: Because they need a CE marking, special safety regulations... for the European Union. If you miss that, and something goes wrong... A few weeks ago there was a telephone charger, something went wrong... and it caught on fire. If you can say: 'I bought it at that online shop and that happened...' they're liable. You're liable for the safety of that product. So they can sue you. LAUREEN: The online shop is accountable... SANDRA: Yes, because the customer doesn't know he purchased the goods in China. He orders it at an online shop in the Netherlands. The rule in the EU says... that if you're going to import a product outside the EU into the Union... there's product liability. They see you as the manufacturer. So if I want to sue you, I won't sue the manufacturer in China, but the online shop. SANDRA: And you have to be aware if you like dropshipping. It can work for some products. If there are products where the product safety... It's not really dangerous or anything. LAUREEN: It also opens the door for counterfeits. SANDRA: It does. And it's difficult to check. Sometimes you can see it, most of the time through the price... but it's not always like that. So you have to check it first. So there's a lot of things that come in hand when you're watching international sales. Yes. It's difficult, but it can be done. But you have to check first... if it's a trustworthy partner you work with abroad. You don't check that by doing business online with them. You have to get that trust from them. Build a relationship. If there's something wrong with the product, you can check it with them. The example we had with China... Most of the time the product says there's a CE on it. So you say: 'Okay, I think the product is right.' But CE in China also stands for China Export. Because you need a licence to export products outside of China. They put a CE mark on it, saying it's a China Export product. But it's something different from the CE mark for product safety in the European Union. SANDRA: So beware of that. -Good to keep in mind. Emma, you do international sales as well. You import as well. Or maybe within the EU... so not calling it import, in that case. So how does that work? A lot of our supply comes directly from the Netherlands. But we do bring in from other European countries. But we also have brought in from outside of the EU. And we're fully aware that we are the importers into the EU and it comes with a responsibility. So for us, yeah, we have to keep on top of the rules. And alcohol, again, we have the pleasure of paying alcohol tax... as well as the standard import taxes and obviously any, you know... VATs that are due. LAUREEN: Yeah. Good to keep in mind. Maybe some final questions to wrap things up? Sebastian, I was wondering, what would you do differently? Would you do anything differently if you were to set up your online shop today? Yeah, if we would start all over again, I think there's a few things we'd do differently. We would invest a lot more and go a lot bigger from the start. Of course, when you start out you can be scared and think: 'What if it fails?' But to succeed you really need to go all in, I think, from the start. And the second one is, I think we're quite good at it... but to be even more customer-obsessed and to always put the customer first and to think... how can we make the absolute best experience for every single customer. That's the way to get them to come back. To grow your business is to always put the customer first. LAUREEN: Customer-obsessed. Nice expression. And Emma, for you? EMMA: I think for us it would be easy to say that we'd change the product... because it would be easier. But we are really enthusiastic about gin. So for us, that is what we want to do. As Sebastian says: You know, maybe you might not think it's going to work out. We're two years down the line. We wish we had a bigger warehouse. That is because we've been successful. There's always something to learn. One thing I wouldn't change is the partnership with Gary. Because we balance each other really well. -I can imagine. Well, thank you all for being here today, for explaining us all about it. Let's recap. From coming up with a gap in the market to cater to... to new regulations. Over the past hour hopefully we've updated you... on how to start that online shop and what it involves. And hopefully this answers a lot of your questions. The developments in the online shop market... follow each other at a rapid pace. From critical customers to new VAT regulations... distinguishing yourself in the crowded market of online shops is very important. So is transparent communication about delivery time, return policy. And we just wanted to thank you for your time. We have a question for you. Because an online evaluation form will appear after this broadcast. If you would be so kind to complete that for us, that would be a great help. You will also receive an email with links to the videos and other useful information. So you can read and see it all again. If you're inspired to start an online shop after watching this and want more information... go to business.gov.nl. Thank you so much for watching. MUSIC