Israel Romero / Tuesday, January 12, 2021 / Categories: Blog Why is Europe the most important market for Spanish gourmet products? Europe, our most important market At MadeinSpain.store we're very clear: Europe is the ideal market for our high-quality Spanish gastronomic products. I'll give you just one statistic: 85% of the people who visited us as tourists in 2019 came from Europe. Opportunity we must not miss Very favorable geographic and technological environment Almost 84 million people came to visit us in 2019. It seems like a dream, and it really happened… less than two years ago. Now, those figures seem unthinkable for 2021, 2022 or whenever they can be achieved again. Maybe it will take longer than the political upstarts tell us — those who know nothing but have an opinion on everything because we give them the opportunity to do so. If we break down the data of the tourists who came to Spain in 2019, these are verifiable figures because they are the official ones from the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism of the Government of Spain, we can observe that 85% (yes, yes — 85) of the people came from Europe. That means no less than 70 million tourists were in Spain and that with their ID card or passport, without a visa (except in some cases like Russia, which we have included as Europe since it is considered as such in this kind of classification). Opportunity we must not miss Now in the “new reality,” those figures are a pure chimera to achieve again in the short term, therefore Spanish gourmet product producers must forget the Horeca channel as the savior of our accounts and our stock. It will be one more channel, but not the only one. And are we going to give up a minimum market of 70 million who came to Spain in 2019, and who are right next door? To make decisions, data is essential, and the ones we provide are decisive and incontestable. And we tell you this from MadeinSpain.store, which is only 7 months old, and our main customers already are non-residents in Spain. They adore our country and, of course, our cuisine. And when they discover new products, knowing that their quality is top-notch, they are not afraid to try them. It is a pleasure to see that in Italy, France or Germany they enjoy the products we offer, and that we meet their quality requirements. Very favorable geographic and technological environment Changes or course corrections are always difficult to make. Even more so when we have found it fairly easy to market our products in the domestic market. Only the brave and visionary internationalized and now reap the fruits of their effort. But the current scenario goes beyond internationalization. The brand must be known by the final consumer, so that its products are demanded precisely for the value of the brand. And for that there is only one solution: work on brand value by creating attractive content to seduce the market. Before, tourists not coming to visit us could have been a catastrophe for the Spanish gastronomic market, but now that is not the case. We can reach this potential consumer thanks to the Internet; there are no barriers like in the past. Running communication campaigns targeting them and making ourselves visible is essential today. Therefore, our website should be at least in another language, English (and well translated, done by a professional), to open ourselves to the non-Spanish-speaking market. We must be aware that there are people who could buy our products in those countries but simply do not know us, so they do not; and on our part, we can change that trend. And it is not an immediate job — it needs a routine, an essential consistency so that the message reaches the potential customer correctly. Moreover, the consumer, and this is very important, values quality above all; that even means they may accept a surcharge for shipping. This is one of the resistances that is diminishing thanks to shipping prices becoming cheaper every day and certainly, when a purchase of this type is made and the customer has more information about the products, their purchase is larger in quantity. Therefore, the shipping cost is not seen as a problem, especially when the final price of the product is set in Spain, so distribution markups also do not exist. This is without doubt one of the strengths of selling online to Europe, although agreements with stores in those countries can also be considered for distribution. But that step can and should come from online brand recognition. In that way, we will know we are doing things right because our brand is being recognized in the new markets where we operate. In short, Europe is our natural market and we must move closer to it as soon as possible, convinced, of course, that it is our real market. The numbers support it; now it is time to make the big effort to believe and work to be recognized. At MadeinSpain.store we believe it, we enjoy it and we can help you achieve it, Spanish producers. If we do not communicate how good we are, and the great products we have, no one will look for us for that, sales will become a mere matter of luck and lack of control, exposed to circumstances like the pandemic. And as long as we can get ahead of it, we will be more attractive than the competition. Top-quality Galician products Gastronomy: a passion that can change the course of your life Print 3 Rate this article: No rating Please login or register to post comments.