“In order to successfully export your products, you need to build your own brand. Without this, it’s impossible to earn satisfactory margins on global markets. For this reason, Polish businesses need to be supported here. When I founded Selena back in 1992, our Tytan brand had been in existence for a year. Today, we sell our products to over a hundred countries and our experience makes it clear: the Polish brand is well -perceived and welcome in almost all countries around the globe,” Krzysztof Domarecki, the founder and main shareholder of Selena Group, said during the panel on Polish exports at the European Economic Congress in Katowice.
Krzysztof Domarecki: Start by building your own brand
To be able to export goods on your own and put them on economically appropriate markets, you need to satisfy four conditions. Firstly, you should have your own production facilities and your own R&D team. And you need to create economic value for the end customer yourself. Secondly, you need to do this under your own brand right from the start. You won’t earn satisfactory margins on global markets without building your own brand. When I founded Selena back in 1992, our Tytan brand had been in existence for a year. In the 1990s, many of my colleagues started distributing Western brands, but I decided to go down a different path. Time has shown that this was the right decision. Another condition is to develop foreign sales operations, which is five to ten times more expensive than sales development at home. That said, in order to develop exports, you need to gain a portion of the domestic market first. The fourth bit is proper financial and risk management. Developing exports on your own, especially on many markets, particularly outside of Europe, is a very risky business. That’s why this is suitable for companies that have already achieved a certain scale.
Krzysztof Domarecki noted.
Export to areas reachable within three hours’ flight time
Go regional first. And by that I mean Europe. Eastern, Western and Southern Europe, depending on the product, service and capabilities of your company. And only after you have reached a certain scale in Europe, you may consider entering non-European markets. For example, Selena has been producing mounting foam with Koreans for 20 years as part of a joint venture. The product is based on our Polish technology, but production takes place in Korea. Our Korean partners quickly became leaders of the domestic market and significantly expanded their sales. Where do they sell the products? In their region: namely in Southeast Asia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, eastern Russia, Japan, and even China. In this case, Korea is the center for the regional distribution. So if you want to start exporting, go to areas reachable within three hours’ flight time. In Europe, this might be within five hours’ flight time, as you may want to fly to the Middle East, where business is also good.
Krzysztof Domarecki said.
The Three Seas project is a great opportunity for exports, and more
Let's remember that the countries of Western Europe have a huge advantage in Africa that goes back to their colonial history – contacts and ties between the elites of individual African countries and former empires are maintained at every level to this day. But if we want to go big with exports, we may do this on the back of our fantastic, growing Three Seas project in Poland [an international economic and political initiative bringing together 12 EU states located near the Baltic, Black and Adriatic seas – note from the editor], which is currently in the political phase. I believe that this is a great opportunity for a massive cooperation between Poland and the Three Seas countries – not only in terms of exports, but also imports and services. It’s closer and safer. We have a cultural understanding of each other, and together we can do great business and great politics
Krzysztof Domarecki stressed.