No pain, no gain: how to open an office in Berlin

Dinarys, an expert in ecommerce developer with headquarters in Dnipro, Ukraine, shared their experience about opening an office in Berlin and obstacles they faced in the new eCommerce market

Berlin is one of the Germany top IT services export markets. Apparently, this region is quite perspective in the ecommerce market. Over the past year, the number of Internet users in Germany has reached 90% of the country total population, which spent $82.93 billion on online purchases.

Dinarys team has visited annual eCommerce Berlin Expo 2017 conference to learn more about opportunities for retailers, manufacturers and software developers in the strongest economy in Europe.

In general, Germans are skeptical about new players, because inherently they try to minimize risks while securing high quality services. On top of that differences in legislation and the language barriers can become real obstacles for doing business.

Once a company has decided to enter German ecommerce market, the first step is to find reliable local partners.

How would a company from outside the EU approach entering German market?

“You should typically start with finding decent lawyers, partners and ideally learn some German,” said Marc Prochnow, Digital Marketing Consultant.

Once German office is officially registered more opportunities will appear, such as additional government funding and various support programs.

“There are numerous government programs that support startups because new companies typically provide more new jobs then is available with already established companies,” – said Matthias Bettag, Digital Motion.

Dinarys decided to become a partner with Händlerbund, German Association, specialized in legal services. The association provides legal services for retailers and online merchants such as company’s legal registration support, free legal representation, comprehensive advice within ecommerce vertical from the legal standpoint. Händlerbund provides legal compliance texts and other services, typically associated with starting and doing business.

Manufacturers are looking for new opportunities for the geographical spread of their business, preferring perspective markets, like Western Europe, including Germany. Dinarys, an expert ecommerce agency, has proven that with the necessary support it is possible to open an office in Berlin.