26 September 2022, 11:42
In March this year, Blinto, the Swedish auction portal for agricultural and construction machinery, entered the German market as Blinto GmbH. Patrik Eder, editor at LECTURA, spoke to Matthias Ressel, Country Manager DACH, about the concept and the strategic direction of the company.
PE: The last three years have been extremely difficult for many companies due to global financial crisis, component shortages, political conflicts and other restrictions. In March of this year, Blinto GmbH was launched in Germany. What was the motivation for this step? And what distinguishes Blinto?
MR: Driven by the exponential growth of our Swedish parent company founded in Växjö in 2018, this decision was independent of the factors mentioned. Ultimately, the central location and the size of the German market were decisive. We have an annual growth rate of 30 per cent and more in Sweden and are convinced that this concept will also be adopted in the D/A/CH region. That is a good reason to enter new markets.
PE: What do you see as the core competence of Blinto GmbH in Germany?
MR: First and foremost, the proximity to our customers through a nationwide field service certainly stands out. At the same time, we think "glocal". This means that we aim to operate internationally and still offer local proximity. In addition, our team has a broad knowledge - both in the field of machine trading and in the field of auctions. The third important point is that on the one hand we offer sellers a platform where they can benefit from the advantages of an auction without risk and on the other hand, we offer interesting machines to buyers. In this context, I would also like to mention our back office in Düsseldorf, where a service-oriented international team is the first point of contact for our customers.
MR: How does the selling and buying process work at Blinto? And who is a customer of Blinto?
MR: First of all, we have to make it clear that we are an online auction portal - buyers do not buy from us in the traditional way, but bid on the products listed at www.blinto.de. Our customers are, on the one hand, sellers, i.e. companies such as construction companies, farmers, dealers, rental companies or even manufacturers who want to sell their machines and, on the other hand, commercial bidders who are interested in used machines and are willing to bid for them in an online auction and purchase the product as the highest bidder. Here I would like to emphasise that Blinto has managed to win customers from all over Europe as buyers within a very short time. In doing so, we benefit from the profound experience of our Swedish colleagues.
The entire process is quite simple: our field staff inspects the product registered for sale by the customer on site. Our qualified employees are deployed for various regions in Germany. So the customer always has the same contact person in his region. The employee photographs the machine and records all relevant technical features. Together with our sales representative, the customer then sets a minimum price. The product is scheduled for one of the upcoming auctions and the interested buyer can bid for it.
PE: And what distinguishes you from other auction portals and sales platforms?
MR: With us - and I'm not just emphasising this as a phrase, this is particularly important to me - personal service is in the foreground. Blinto is not an anonymous online portal where machines are simply offered for auction. We are contact persons for our customers and that on both sides. For us, both sellers and buyers are companies with a name and not suppliers and bidders who are interchangeable. We value long-term business relationships and want to build trust. And I think we will succeed quite well with our transparency and our uncomplicated handling in the auction process.
PE: What are the biggest achievements you have had with Blinto so far?
MR: I am very pleased that I have been able to build up a highly professional team in a very short time. Another key factor of success is the technical aspect of our website, which has functioned smoothly in a short period of time - of course also thanks to support from Sweden. It has allowed us to run our auctions in an uncomplicated way right from the start. And last but not least, there are now more than a thousand registered bidders. If we consider that our first auction started on 20 July this year, then this is an enormous success in these few weeks that we can really be proud of.
PE: What are your goals for the upcoming business year?
MR: Our goal is to continue to consistently implement our growth strategy, even though this has certainly not become any easier due to the global challenges. We want to generate even more customers on both the seller and bidder side. And although the German Blinto GmbH is not simply a one-to-one copy of the Swedish parent company - we have a different market and different customers here - I am firmly convinced that we will continue to follow the Swedish concept of success.
PE: Mr Ressel, thank you very much for this interview.
Source: LECTURA Verlag GmbH