Since 2011 OGOship has been the forerunner of online retail logistics and warehousing. The company handles the physical distribution of goods of online retail with as much transparency, ease of use and cost efficiency as possible.
Through the years, OGOship had established a strong presence in the Nordics. The company had signed up several high profile companies in the online retail domain, especially in Sweden and Finland.
Extending international activities
Mid 2020 OGOship decided that the timing was right to extend its international activities. It identified penetration of the German market as one of the company’s key priorities. Timo Toivonen (CEO at OGOship): “We considered three alternatives. First, we could find and hire local account managers by ourselves. Another option was to engage with a company that could take responsibility for recruiting local people. But then we came across Aexus, which offered an interesting third alternative. They came up with a concept that we had not considered before, since it was completely new to us: outsourcing our commercial activities in new territories to a professional, specialized company.”
OGOship carefully evaluated the various options. Toivonen: “We looked at the potential upside: how quickly should we expect to see a positive ROI with each of the choices? But we also weighed the costs and the risks that were associated with them. Not only the monetary, immediate risks, but also the investment we’d have to make in time. The risk of making the wrong hire. The costs for a recruitment agency, the administration and legal hassles of setting up a local office. We looked at all of these variables and more and decided that outsourcing was the right choice for us. We spoke to several sales agencies and market entry consultants and after an intensive but efficient process, Aexus was selected.”
Toivonen admits that OGOship felt a bit uncertain how the partnership would work out. “The model was entirely new to us. We were not sure how successful we’d be and of course there was a learning curve. But from the outset it was clear to us that we’d made the right choice. The model suits us very well. Aexus was able to swiftly identify the right team for the job. They quickly blended in. This was one of our main concerns: would we be able to integrate the Aexus business developers in the same way as we were able to fit in our own staff? Fortunately, this has been working very well. We see the same enthusiasm in the Aexus team.”
Transparent and comprehensive reports
For many companies that outsource their sales, receiving transparent and comprehensive reports from their sales partner is crucial. OGOship and Aexus implemented a method that allowed all reports, contacts and statuses to be visible at all times. Toivonen: “We have zero concern about this, since Aexus works directly in our CRM. This allows us to see what Aexus is working on and where the various leads are in the pipeline any time we like.”
Having gained the first experience in Germany, OGOship and Aexus are now rolling the model out into other markets. Toivonen: “We are now also active together in the UK and we are planning to expand into other regions in the near future. This takes a lot of pressure away from our Head of Sales, who is managing our international sales operations entirely by himself. The Aexus team has helped him a lot in starting up, managing and closing business in new, uncharted territories. As a result, we don’t have to increase our middle management. Especially with the know-how that Aexus has accumulated, we can rely on them for scaling our sales.”
How does Toivonen see the future of OGOship’s collaboration with Aexus? “For scale ups like OGOship, closing the first reference clients in new markets within a relatively short period of time is vitally important for the success of a company’s new market penetration endeavors. Aexus has been able to facilitate that. We have closed several reference clients, which has laid the foundation for future business. The model has proven itself and is highly scalable. And with all experience we gained together, we can be even more effective. We are looking forward to extending our collaboration with Aexus in the years to come.”