Galaxus expands to Austria: launch with half a million products
The online department store Galaxus is now also available in Austria. The company with Swiss roots wants to break into the top 5 of Austrian online retailers with a large range of products at fair prices and a focus on community and honesty.
Galaxus.at launches with half a million products, from laser printers and vacuum cleaners to bondage accessories. The range includes the product categories "IT + Multimedia", "Office + Stationery", "Household", "Toys", "Do it + Garden", "Beauty + Health" and "Erotic". Other categories are to follow. Galaxus ships the orders from its German warehouse location in Krefeld and via direct suppliers. Deliveries are made within two days to any address in Austria."All of Europe needs Galaxus," says Florian Teuteberg, CEO and co-founder of Digitec Galaxus. The expansion to Austria is an obvious choice, if only because of the linguistic and cultural proximity. In addition, Galaxus still sees a lot of potential for online retail in the neighboring Alpine republic. And the experience in Germany, where galaxus.de has already acquired 500,000 customers since 2018, is also extremely positive.
No consideration for controversy
Galaxus wants to place a special focus on community and honesty. The online retailer has a 27-strong editorial team that explains the product range according to journalistic criteria with specialist articles, test reports and features, expresses a clear opinion and inspires online shoppers in their product search. "Our editors are independent and report without regard to controversy, even if this sometimes causes spats with our category management," says Florian. The Galaxus community, which evaluates and comments on products and editorial articles across countries, is correspondingly committed. "We offer a lively platform where our customers can exchange views on consumer topics before and after the purchase," says Teuteberg.
Galaxus also wants to be transparent when it comes to sustainability, CO2 emissions and price development. For example, the online department store displays the carbon footprint of all its products, along with a wide range of other information. The model takes into account the entire value chain - from the extraction of raw materials and production to delivery to the customer. Anyone who wants to store climate-neutrally can compensate for the emissions by making a voluntary contribution at the checkout. In Germany and Switzerland, this is now done for around one in ten purchases.
Galaxus also provides its customers with filters that help them search for products with quality seals such as "Fairtrade" or "FSC". "With the help of this filter option, our customers can shop even more consciously," says Teuteberg. Digitec Galaxus itself is committed to good working conditions, fair wages and climate protection.
Galaxus also shows how the prices of all products have developed in the past. "This makes us the most honest online retailer in the DACH region," says Florian.
The goal: Top 5
"We want to win over enthusiastic online shoppers in Austria for our concept and build up a loyal customer base via the community," says Florian. "We will start with a lot of humility. Because we can learn a lot from our neighbors - the world champions among hosts - when it comes to service." Galaxus' goals are ambitious: "We want to break into the top 5 in Austrian online retail." In Switzerland, Digitec Galaxus generated sales of 1.83 billion Swiss francs last year. In Austria, that would make the company the clear number one. "We remain true to our Swiss virtues in our new country markets: we are innovative and focus on quality that doesn't have to be expensive," says Teuteberg
