Komplett.no wants to become ‘Amazon of the Nordics’ with marketplace

Komplett.no, the biggest online retailer in Norway, will launch its own marketplace where other retailers can sell their products. The company is slowly transforming from being an online shop to an ecommerce marketplace and is aiming to become the Amazon of the Nordics.

Delivery management software company Consignor interviewed Ole Vinje, the CEO of Komplett. The company was founded in 1996 and is now active in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. The company owns and runs 18 online stores, but is now taking steps in order to become the ‘Amazon of the Nordics’. Later this year Komplett will be launched as an online marketplace, so others online shops can sell their products through this platform.

‘The Nordics need something like Amazon’

According to Vinje, the Nordics need an online marketplace like Amazon, but with a strong and regional ecommerce actor who knows the market and the Nordic consumers. “Komplett does this. We will open our platform to external partners or vendors in the marketplace, and give them access to our brand and our customers. This provides our customers with an even wider range of exciting products”, he explains.

Many smaller shops want to be acquired by Komplett

Komplett currently sells a broad range of products, from computer equipment and insurances to cars and beauty products. On the marketplace other products could be sold as well, but they will still be chosen based on their relevance to the customers. “This is crucial for future acquisitions and collaborations with online shops whereby the products live up to a certain standard in relation to what we will lend our name and platform to”, Vinje says. He explains the company gets more than 50 requests a year from smaller online retailers who want to be acquired by the Norwegian retail group.

“We sent 6 million products spread over 2 million parcels to Norway, Sweden and Denmark from our distribution center in Sandefjord in 2015. When Komplett launches as a marketplace in 2017, we will in phase one only offer drop shipment from our external partners, this means all deliveries are sent directly from the external online shops at the marketplace. In phase two, we will also offer storage services to external partners via the distribution center in Sandefjord”, the CEO says about its logistics strategy.

Elkjøp also wants to become the Amazon of the Nordics

Komplett’s plans to become the Amazon of the Nordics aren’t new. The company made that announcement more than a year ago. But they aren’t the only one with this ambition. Last summer, electronics giant Elkjøp wrote they also plan to become the Amazon of the Nordics, something that doesn’t bother Vinje directly. “Competition is good for the consumers and helps to keep us on our toes. Whoever is best at customer experience and to deliver on expectations, becomes the leading marketplace.”