E-commerce entrepreneur Kemal Tas managed to turn his LED lighting business into a multi-million dollar business. In addition to his job in finance, he founded Ledstores in 2013 with which he turned almost thirteen million euros in sales last year. Now he gives himself five years to conquer the European market with Ledstores and become one of the top three online luminaire businesses in fourteen countries. What is the crossborder direction of this promising company and inspiring CEO?
When we compliment Kemal on his crossborder growth, modesty prevails in his response. He is also down-to-earth about his place in the CrossBorder Top 30. "We are growing fast, but I was never that focused on that. I was just busy working very hard." He is increasingly trying to reflect on Ledstores' huge success, but not for too long because, according to Kemal, there is still much to do; "I have enormous ambition and am demanding. I ask a lot of myself, but also of the people around me. I know I'm not there yet."
Million dollar company
In 2013, Kemal founded Ledstores. In addition to his full-time job as a data warehouse developer at Fortis, he spent his free time building his dream: his baby Ledstores. "I was always tremendously entrepreneurial. From an early age I was trading clothes, navigation systems from China or small software packages." When he bought his house, he literally saw the light during his renovation. "I saw an opportunity there. I knew e-commerce was on the rise and there was a lot of demand for Led bulbs, from my perspective." That was enough to start Ledstores, 
but the security of a permanent job Kemal didn't dare give up right away. He got a four-day contract at ING. "Great, I thought. Then I'll have an extra day to work on my own business." By now the company already employed six people who kept things reasonably running. Within three years, Kemal had created a multi-million dollar company alongside a steady job. So when he decided wholeheartedly to choose Ledstores, things went like clockwork.
Crossborder rollout
When full focus came to Ledstores for Kemal, cross border rollout also began to itch. In addition to the Netherlands and Belgium, he conquered Germany, France, England, Denmark, Austria, Italy and Spain. Kemal has always had close contact with the suppliers in China, and when he wanted crossborder he decided to use that network to research. "I asked them what was the biggest market for them in Europe. Apparently Germany was a very big and important market for them. I thought: if I can play this game well there too, maybe I can double my market." And so it happened.
Germany
Germany got the focus as the very first country, but playing the same "game" as he had done in the Netherlands didn't quite work out. Whereas in the Netherlands it is difficult to keep consumers loyal to you, they are not loyal and brand loyal, the trust of the German is everything you should be angling for as an e-commerce entrepreneur. According to Kemal, that's exactly where you have to invest in a relationship. That sometimes takes a while, that's part of the game. "Service and quality are incredibly important to the German. Personal contact like calling and always a regular contact person. Once you have them in, they are incredibly loyal, but to conquer the German market you sometimes need a long breath." And with that, the German consumer is a difficult man or woman to get on a date with, Kemal jokes. "For example, they first look at how you handle returns or service, they test you out a bit, but it's totally worth it in the end. The bigger orders come from Germany and they generally spend more money."
Strategy
70 to 80 percent of sales currently come through the Web shop and e-mail marketing. Ledstores does not do influencer marketing, but puts a lot of budget into search engine marketing. "For us, it is crucial to be highly visible in all search engines," he says. Marketplaces are currently on the back burner. "Sometimes at busy periods we just couldn't handle the extra sales from Amazon. Amazon is very strict and if you can't deliver what you promise due to external factors, it can cost you your head." Kemal is aware of the opportunities that marketplaces like Amazon can offer in Germany. Therefore, not being active is an ongoing tension. "At the moment it's busy enough without it, but sure I sometimes doubt whether I shouldn't be there too." Business lighting is barely active on Amazon, but lighting for the B2C market is, and the fact that its competitors do sell on Germany's most popular marketplace makes it tense. "It's just important that I keep an eye on the landscape at all times," he said.
Natives
For the coming period, the focus is on Scandinavia. Kemal is hiring natives for each market. Getting Finland live is first on the schedule. "In the beginning, I worked with translators and automatic language agencies, but by just translating, the tone of voice was missing." By hiring people who understand the mission, vision and culture of the company and its products, Kemal believes he can best convey it in any country. As a result, there are already 10 different nationalities within Ledstores.
Opinion
Achieving what Kemal managed to achieve with Ledstores across the border is an inspiration to many entrepreneurs. Not waiting too long to jump in is the advice Kemal wants to give them. "Often I speak to entrepreneurs who arrive with a lengthy consultant researching the market they want to conquer. That process takes far too long. Sure you have to immerse yourself in the market, but we are short on competitive analysis, pricing, what is the economic situation and then start almost immediately." According to Kemal, you don't have to do everything big at once. "If there are only 50 products on the site, you can also start. As long as your whole site is in order and all the certificates are correct. Again, that trust. The site really has to be fully localized. The Germans are very critical and disciplined. A spelling mistake or missing information can cause loss of face and you have to avoid that at all costs." According to Kemal, it is important to also take your losses sometimes, only then can you grow into a major crossborder player. "In England, it didn't work. The other currency provided too much of a challenge and Amazon was immense there and with us at the time not good enough in the picture. Then you shouldn't be too sad if it doesn't work out."
Dream for the future
So within five years, Kemal wants to conquer the entire European market and be in the top three online fixtures business in 14 countries. The main question after stating that desire is: how will he do it? "It's a challenging ambition, but I do believe in it. In the Netherlands and Germany, we are in the top three. In the rest of the European countries, we still have a way to go, but I also want to achieve this. By recruiting natives through our network, who also have experience in e-commerce, I hope to do that. With corona, we have the wind with us and we can capitalize on that. In addition to those natives, we work a lot with marketing agencies. Sometimes you also have to dare to outsource and dare to invest".
