Swedish gadget store Coolstuff wants to expand further in Europe

Coolstuff is ready to expand further abroad. The Swedish online retailer that sells all kinds of crazy gadgets is already selling cross-border to customers in Norway, Denmark, Finland and Germany, but more countries are rising on the horizon. The next step for Coolstuff could be the Netherlands, its founders say.

Ready for competition on an international scale
Coolstuff.com was founded ten years ago and “to celebrate” it’s preparing a global launch, while it also wants to invest more in its own product line. This is revealed in an interview with 8till5, a website of Swedish newspaper Sydsvenskan. Before the holiday season starts this year, the international website should be up and running. “We think we have reached a point where we can compete on an international scale”, co-founder Christian Omandar says. The idea is to have a website written in the local language and with dedicated customer service for every country they run a Coolstuff online store.

In addition to the international roll-out, Coolstuff also wants an even greater focus on its own brands. They’ve already tried to create some custom kitchen gadgets under the brand Kitch Pro, as well as some electronics stuff under the brand Vooni. But now it wants to grow its product line even more. “We want to move more and more towards our own products”, co-founder Kajsa Knapp says. For them, it’s also a way to prepare for major global e-retailers like Amazon entering the Nordic market. One day this will happen and it will lead to price pressure. “Which is why we are focusing on building our own brands”, says Omander.

About Coolstuff
Coolstuff is located in Malmö and its office and warehouse space spans over 5,000 square meter. There are 25 full-time employees, but this number is about to increase. “We need staff. We need language talents for our customer service and marketing, we need people responsible for specific countries and the respective websites. For instance, we are currently looking for a person to handle the Norwegian website, and we also need staff for search engine optimization and purchasing.” Although the English speaking Coolstuff.com and thus expansion across Europe is in the works, the company is planning to keep its headquarters in Mälmo.

Coolstuff’s sales have increased every year and the company has made a profit all years, except for 2012 when they made a small loss. Last fiscal year they generated a turnover of 10.95 million euros and this year they expect to generate over 12.5 million euros.