Page 45 - Cross-Border Magazine Nr.3

B2B CASE ZAMRO

READY FOR

DISRUPTION

Text: Janine Nöthlichs // Photos: Léon van Bon

Zamro is an ambitious and dynamic e-commerce company that was founded in February 2016. It
has great ambitions for cross-border growth and focuses on the rapidly changing behaviour of the
technical B2B buyer. With an assortment of over 550,000 industrial components, Zamro wishes
to become a one-stop shop primarily directed at smaller and medium-sized business clients. Ease

of use, perfectly understanding the customer and complete transparency are key ingredients for
Zamro to disrupt its sector. But how can a young start-up become lean enough to scale up quickly
and conquer Europe? We visited the headquarters in Amsterdam.

amro emerged from the ERIKS Group, an indus- large, traditional suppliers or to go to the wholesale-store in
trial supplier and market leader serving large clients. their local town. Or turn to the original manufacturer of the
ZERIKS is a multi-product specialist, operating a total machine knowing that they will have to pay a premium price
cost of ownership model, which was hard to replicate as a for the spare part. “In both options, there are plenty of obsta-
business model for smaller customers. In order to tap this cles for the customer,” explains Kerssens, “Selecting a product
group of companies, the idea was born to launch a web- is not easy, ordering the product costs too much effort, it is
shop for technical supplies and tools for SMEs. Zamro was very complicated and often requires registration. Prices are
founded on the 11st of February 2016, and the website went not transparent, there are never two people who pay the same
live in October. for one product. If you don’t have a professional buyer, this is
quite complex for a small business.”
B2B market lags behind The market is relatively big. According to Kerssens, only
Digital disruption in the B2B world, says Marketing Director in Europe the volume already amounts to €125bn, €50bn
Paul Kerssens, is lagging 10 years behind the B2C market. of which is generated by SMEs. Nevertheless, there is no
Especially in the MRO (maintenance, repair and operations) digital pure player active in this market yet. Also, the market
sector, B2B customers often have the choice of buying from is very fragmented: the larger parties in the market have

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