In 2021, Taon Hydraulik decided to start sales in the North German market. The plan was to quietly build up sales over the first two or three years.
Taon Hydraulik expected the German market to require time and patience. Owner and director, Jesper Gram, had a prejudice about a rigid German market, where formalities, standards and overwhelming documentation belonged to the order process.
Small orders have become larger requests
However, the reality has turned out to be different. After launching a German website and trading portal with components, and starting a little marketing, it has actually gone surprisingly fast for Taon Hydraulik.
"Some orders slowly started to appear for some small things. But there also began to be some requests for projects and bigger things, says Jesper Gram.
Among other things, Taon Hydraulik would like to get hold of smaller machine manufacturers, and so far it has proven to be a good segment that is easy to do business with for the Danish company.
"I kind of imagined that they were going to look at standards and so on, but they're actually a lot more flexible than we expected. We just need to deliver a certain solution to their machine, and then they are actually open to buying something more from us, says Jesper Gram.
Potential to become a big market
Taon Hydraulik already has good experience with exports to Norway and Sweden, and with the good start-up in Germany, Jesper Gram expects that the large German market can quickly take on a prominent role.
"Today we have about 50/50 exports to Scandinavia, but I think Germany will be on a par with both Norway and Sweden. Det er jo et noget større marked. Jeg tror da forholdsvis hurtigt, at de er oppe på højde med Norge, som er vores største eksportmarked, siger han.
After all, it is a somewhat larger market. I think they will be on a par with Norway, which is our largest export market," he says.
Another surprise for Jesper Gram has been that the inquiries come from all over Germany.
"I actually expected it to be down to Hamburg, but now it's from Munich and all sorts of places in Germany that they're bidding. It actually surprises me that they are so open to it. But when they buy larger solutions, it doesn't really matter if it has to be shipped down to southern Germany, he says.