Lilu matures quickly
It is interesting and instructive to read already written export stories with the subsequent development of the “plot”, but it’s equally interesting how the company prepares to write its own or starts writing its first pages. The owner of the company Atelier Lilu and its head Valentina Vasilieva, who comprehensively and thoroughly deals with children’s furniture of several brands, just told about it.
According to Valentina, the foreign economic sphere of business activity is not a “dark forest” for her – she has already made many important discoveries in her, suffered a lot, “but I still have a long way to go to the guru”. Therefore, neither lecture colleagues, nor even the export is not important to advise. However, what is still said. On the plans of the company and the first steps towards foreign markets.
“Our company will be presented at the Ukrainian national stand of the French furniture exhibition MAISON & OBJET in September with the aim of establishing distribution in September,” Valentine said. – Of course, we are proud to have won a grant that will allow Atelier Lilu to demonstrate the international composition of visitors to this prestigious exhibition. We hope that not only among the French there will be those who will like what we produce for children.
It is obvious for any businessman of a commodity producer that it is possible to aim for export when your product is objectively worth it. Do not convince Valentin Vasilyev of this.
– When I talk about the need to prepare a product for entering foreign markets, I mean not only providing it with everything that should accompany it and provide it along the way – for example, the availability of catalogs, relevant certificates and the like. First of all, you need to develop a strategy, a concept for bringing a specific product to a specific market. It is very important for the manufacturer to specifically determine the country in which he would like to enter with his product. For this, it is necessary to investigate and study what taste priorities in a particular country, what are the requirements for the quality of the product in relation to the price, how important the brand name of the product is, naming. With all this in mind and an understanding of the regional characteristics of the markets (of the whole European and Scandinavian particular, Asian, Arab, American, Australian), a product of a specific market is being prepared.
It is impossible to seriously hope for success in the realization of export ambitions by creating an appropriate division in the company. Or at least at first you need to find a competent and fairly motivated manager who will deal exclusively with foreign economic operations, will constantly in search of foreign clients and communicate with them in various ways – and generally implement the company’s strategy in this matter.
The next set of questions is logistic. Without well-designed and organized logistics, successful exports will not be achieved either. As for the company “Atelier Lilu”, it, working mainly with European countries, found it advantageous to use customs warehouses in Poland, having its own hub. This simplifies further deliveries of customs cleared furniture across Europe. Aiming at the Israeli market, one has to think about bulk container transportation and the corresponding price adjustment.
Foreign economic activity, bringing a product to the market is, in general, an interesting matter for both the head of the company, and its marketing, and production — for the whole team, and at the same time, it is difficult, time consuming to achieve the first results, so it cannot be treated as a one-time action, do it somehow, by the way.
– Everything – from the head of the company to the worker of the shop – should be aware that the export goods are special in everything – not only in terms of quality, but also, say, in packaging, because he has to travel, perhaps thousands of kilometers, from one climate zone in another.
If you plan to build long-term partnerships with future distributors, you should take care of installation and maintenance services and guarantees for them and for the end users with your furniture products. Moreover, they are specific to children in “Atelier Lilu”.
– Although out of modesty you said that you are not a guru in the sphere of foreign economic activity, however, those who know a little about the history of your company, it is known that there is some experience. In particular, in terms of relations with a number of foreign partners. After all, you started as an entrepreneur in importing premium-class furniture for newborns from Italy, Germany, France. The first own furniture under the trademark “Atelier Lilu” produced in Belgium, then in Italy.

– You’re right. I will add to what they said, a couple more facts. Interest in our products (albeit in European private customers) began to appear three years ago, and we were actively engaged in B2C sales. That first experience cannot yet be called a fully professional foreign trade, but it is not worth not to take it into account. Subsequently, the second step was taken, and now we are at the next stage – building up the export B2B-relations of the company with foreign ones is no longer just clients, but partners. These are furniture stores, which act as intermediaries between us, manufacturers, and final buyers of our children’s furniture. We offer them a profitable discount program. Zakontaktuvaly we are with them on one effective Internet platform where furniture makers offer their products (in this sense, I can definitely advise and suggest something useful to my colleagues). The next step is to reach the third level – working with wholesale distribution, and the said French exhibition, we hope, will lead us to this level.

The heading “Success Stories” was founded in the framework of a grant project with the support of the Swiss Cooperation Office in Ukraine, the project name: “Increasing the level of cooperation and trust with joint participation in international and national government procurement” – TENDER TOGETHER.