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Zornitsa Dobreva

1.    Hi Zornitsa, please can you tell us a little more about your role at Pentagon?

I work closely with many international marketplaces, as well as partners who help us make the whole international experience seamless.

I am also responsible for the Pentagon’s Merchant of Record solution, a solution which takes away the pains of international selling by managing everything from marketplace contracts to returns. This means I make sure that Pentagon are present in a large number of territories, by knowing the local market inside out and understanding all the capabilities to trade there.

2.  Now let’s talk about Privalia España: what are the specific features of this ecommerce platform?

Privalia España is a marketplace for heavily discounted products, and they are well known for their flash sales. This is a great platform for brands that want to clear large volumes of previous season’s stock.

Some key features of the platform include:

• There is no monthly subscription, fees are paid on a commission basis;
• Sellers having a direct B2B relationship with Privalia, since they are the merchant of record;
• Privalia offer payment and fraud monitoring;
• Individual orders are sent out in plain packaging and invoices don’t contain the seller’s brand logo;
• All sellers need to provide quick shipping (within 7 days, including the dispatch time) and a pick-up service for the returns.

3. You say that under the current model Privalia España is the Merchant of Record (MOR), we heard that there are going to be some changes. Do you have any further information on this?

Yes, that’s correct. Along with the current model, Privalia España is launching a new model starting from August 2017, so that merchants can sell directly to the final buyer. Under this new model, sellers can include their own invoice and logo and have B2C relationship with the sellers.

This model does not come as a surprise as it is a natural evolution from their initial flash site model, where they are the MOR, but offering other merchants’ products and the standard marketplace model will be introduced in August.

4. What advice would you give to sellers looking to generate online success on Privalia España?

Since Privalia is a flash sales site, merchants who are able to offer 40%+ discount are a fantastic fit, and I would strongly recommend Privalia as a platform for expansion. The company also have a very strong presence across local social media and all of their deals are heavily promoted, so merchants are able to sell large volumes of stock, quickly by taking advantage of Privalia’s excellent marketing capabilities.

The international sites are in Spanish and Italian, so merchants should ensure all products are translated into these two languages. The same applies to customer service; you need to provide Spanish and Italian customer service within 24 hours to sell successfully across the platform.

Quick delivery is also important, and free delivery is preferable. Privalia expect order confirmations to be sent out within 24 hours and delivery between 2-5 days.

There is one more thing – Privalia are asking for a minimum number of items on the platform which is 50, so make sure you have enough stock to put of the site.

5. What are the best products to sell on Privalia España?

Fashion is the biggest category on Privalia, with sports being a very important sub-category. Any baby, home and beauty products would also do well on the platform.

In terms of pricing, the ideal product would be of an average price (not a cheap one and not a high end one) with a discount of at least 40%. Some of the brands that are doing well on the platform include Nike, Lacoste, Mango, Calvin Klein, Converse and Samsonite.

6. Privalia currently operates in Spain, Italy, Mexico and Brazil, but it is planning to expand further into Latin America. What is the next opportunity for online sellers looking to sell into the LATAM region?

Even though Privalia have websites in all of these territories, only two of them, Spain and Italy, are open to international sellers. The rest are Privalia flash sales sites and are not open to other merchants. Up until recently, the only available site was the Spanish one, but about 6 months ago, the Italian site opened up to international sellers as well.

7. In 2015, Privalia claimed that 60% of sales came from mobile channels: do you see an opportunity here and what is your advice to sellers?

Oh yes, definitely. Mobile is very big for Privalia. They have about 20 million+ subscribers on their site, and more than 10 million downloads of their mobile application which is available across many different devices and operating systems.

As mentioned before, Privalia have put a lot of effort into both social media and mobile. They target young people who would be checking their devices regularly for the latest deal, so my advice would be to try and get the most out of it, by participating in the daily deals programme. To do so, sellers need to be able to offer very attractive discounts.

If you would like to find out more about selling on Privalia, you can get in touch with the Pentagon team by emailing: hello@wearepentagon.com or calling: +44 (0)20 8940 5392.