When we search for Bellina.mk, a modern, colorful and playful e-shop with a very friendly tone appears. But what exactly is Bellina.MK and what is the idea behind the brand?

Kiril: Bellina. mk is an idea for a modern, contemporary and healthy lifestyle. To change the lifestyle for the better and to raise awareness of the environment, animals, the planet, and our contribution to a better tomorrow for all of us.

We have been around since the beginning of 2016 when we started as a humble online store for perfumes and natural and organic cosmetics. “Bellina” in Italian means beautiful, and graceful, and is also the name of a type of orchid, which is used in the production of perfumes and cosmetics.

From the very beginning, we are the two co-founders of the Bellina brand and idea, which is continuously growing and developing and currently has 24 employees. Bellina was and still is a family business, which we are particularly proud of, and we consider all colleagues, regardless of position and hierarchy in the company, to be part of our family.

The desire to bring a part of modern European values, a way of functioning, and a way of life to Skopje and Macedonia, as well as the desire to contribute to the raising of collective consciousness, was and still is the main motive for our daily progress.

The concept of our sales chain, our famous “Bellina Bio Shops”, is new in the Macedonian market. The offer of exclusively natural and organic products in one place, whose quality guarantee is confirmed by the most renowned European certifiers, is something that cannot be found anywhere else but here. We are usually used to seeing sections for organic food or natural cosmetics (if they exist at all) in small sections of the sales facilities of supermarkets, drugstores, pharmacies, etc., while no one but us has an offer, where the entire assortment, without exceptions, follows them those standards. We are particularly proud and pleased when visitors and consumers from Greece, Serbia, Germany, France, Denmark, and many other countries visit our premises and state with delight that the concept looks quite “European” and modern, something that is a real rarity in our spaces.

When we started in 2016, the shortage was drastically greater than it is today, although we believe that even today there is still a lot of room for progress in our market, both in terms of online sales and the culture and habits of online shopping, as well as the choice of organic products and a healthy lifestyle. Macedonian shopping habits have improved significantly, especially since 2020, but we are still far behind the European average and standards, so there is still a lot of work to be done in this field to raise consumer awareness.

Our business model is unique in our area, and we would say even wider because it is not often that you see a symbiosis of several activities within one company. We are not only importers and distributors of organic food, cosmetics, and supplements, but at the same time, we also have our own sales chain of specialized “bio” stores for organic products. We are official agents and importers for all products, without exception, that we distribute and sell, and we also have a very modern concept for online sales, marketing, and building “brand awareness” for us and our brands.

A large number of world brands for natural and organic cosmetics and food are visible on your e-store, and for some of them, you are exclusive representatives. How many brands are part of www.bellina.mk, how many products are available, and which unique products can only be found at your shops?

Stefan: We started working with Organique and Urtekram, brands from Poland and Denmark, which are both pioneers in their countries in the field of natural and organic cosmetics with decades of experience and tradition, and Urtekram is also the largest and best-known producer of organic food in all of Scandinavia.

We currently have over 4500 products from 86 brands, which can be grouped into three main categories – organic food, natural and organic cosmetics, and organic supplements. Our offer is constantly growing and increasing, both in quantity and quality. For almost all brands we are exclusive importers and distributors for Macedonia, while for more and more of them, thanks to our positive results, we even get regional contracts for Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Albania, and Kosovo. Manufacturers and brands are mainly from the EU, and we have the largest number of partners from France, Germany, and the Baltic countries.

It really has a number of unique products, which usually cannot be found anywhere else in our market. Almost every category has something unique, such as the organic and ecological tampons and pads from the Italian brand Organyc, which are also suitable for women in labor, unique of this type in our country. We currently have the only type of certified ecological baby diapers on our market – the Danish brand Bambo Nature, certified organic cosmetics with active ingredients from the Russian True Alchemy, then the French Novexpert and Eau Thermale Jonzac, which are the only dermatological and simultaneously certified organic products in Macedonia. Organic food has hundreds of products, which in our country can only be found in conventional non-organic form, and real organic supplements with a certificate is also a novelty on our market. Also, a very important aspect of our offer is that almost 80% of our product portfolio is vegan, all without exception “cruelty-free”, while a large part of the food also consists of gluten-free, lactose-free, no added sugar products, as well as completely without sugar in the composition. With this, we aim to satisfy the needs of all our consumers, regardless of the reason and background for their choice of products.

Define www.bellina.mk with five words through which you will describe the existence and operation, as well as the idea, philosophy, mission, and vision of Bellina.mk.

Kiril: Health is one of the priorities, if not the highest priority of all of us in life. But there are still a large number of people who do not take anything special to preserve and improve their own health condition, even though they want it. Our goal is to get people used to leading a lifestyle that will help them achieve that desire for good health.

At the same time, an important aspect is raising the collective consciousness, not only of our consumers and clients but also of the entire population. Awareness of ecology, awareness, and consideration for animals and the living environment, our respect for the planet, and the pursuit of a better tomorrow for all of us.

Transparency is one of our most important strengths. No hidden messages, no false promises, simple and transparent. We always try to be as transparent as possible about the origin of our products, their composition, their method of production, and everything else that we would like our consumers to know.

Our idea is to become a brand, which will be synonymous with quality, trust, and a modern lifestyle. And not only in Macedonia, but also beyond.

Responsibility towards all our consumers, all our colleagues, and employees, towards all our partners, both domestic and foreign, is the main reason for the success story we have been building over the years.

What is your first milestone, what are you most proud of in your work so far, and what are your future goals and plans for Bellina.mk?

Stefan: Entering the Serbian market and our first successful contract with a large and important partner outside of Macedonia. This was a real reason for euphoria and joy, a great recognition of years of painstaking and hard work and commitment, as well as confirmation that we are on the right path!

We constantly strive and advocate for the improvement of our way of working, we always believe that there can be better and we actively work towards the improvement of all our processes. However, if we have to single out one moment, which has significantly improved our functioning, it would be the successful implementation of the ERP system. Through it, complete and detailed records of all our trade processes are kept, from the import itself, until the sale to the end consumer, and it has significantly improved and increased our capacities, to professionally respond to the challenges and tasks arising from the extensive range of products and brands.

Today we are proud to say that we are also present in the first EU market for us – Slovenia, something that was not at all easy and simple to achieve, and we are in the final stage of negotiations for entering the markets in Croatia, BiH, and Bulgaria. However, our ambitions go beyond the Balkans, beyond our region, towards other developed European markets. The future will show how far we will reach, but our desire and ambitions are great and we firmly believe in ourselves.

We would not be able to talk about rapid development, and accelerated dynamics of progress if we did not have an appropriate personnel policy. This is one of the essential elements of every company, so we also follow the needs for expansion of our team very carefully, so that despite our rapid growth, there are no differences in the quality of services and professionalism, for which we are recognized as among our customers, as well as with the collaborators.

The constant offer of novelties is part of our DNA and something we are recognized by our consumers. We have a whole team, which is constantly working on analyzing new products, brands, categories, etc., and we regularly visit the most renowned and largest world fairs for organic products, all in order to bring the latest trends to the domestic market in a timely manner.

Kiril, Stefan, we are grateful for your answers and look forward to your success. 🚀

In 2018, E-Horeca.mk officially started operations and received its first e-order. What is E-Horeca and what preceded it before starting work? Was the desire to improve existing solutions one of the factors for starting the business?

Pavel: E-Horeca is the latest project of Slayton Komerc DOOEL, a company that has been present in the Macedonian market for more than 30 years. The idea for E-Horeca came from observing and analyzing the Macedonian market, where there was no choice of coffee and coffee capsules at all. Part of it is because until recently Macedonia was a closed market, so trends and prices were formed by supermarkets, malls, etc. And the companies used all that well. Currently, the situation is much different and more favorable. E-Horeca, through its channels, managed to provide its customers with more than 500 types of coffee and coffee capsules at reasonable prices, which were not present in our market before.

Undoubtedly yes. E-Horeca offers a huge selection of premium coffee brands that can be delivered to your home with one click. Offering the enjoyment of quality coffee from the comfort of everyone’s home and the office was an important factor in starting and expanding this business.

How has the development of E-Horeca been from day #1 to today and what was your first milestone that changed the trajectory? We would also like to know what is your primary focus, what are the core values of the brand and how did you change the “game” in the market?

Pavel:The place where the whole business started is Macedonia. With intensive work and great dedication, we managed to break into the Kosovo market, and later on the Albanian market. After laying the foundations in these three markets, we decided it was time for something more challenging, so we moved to the Greek market and also moved our headquarters to Greece.

The success of a given business lies in adapting the appropriate business model according to what is required by a given market. Of course, business models have changed during our operations and expansion towards new and different markets. All four markets are different, but also partially similar. The need for constant research and improvement of the business model in order for it to succeed in a specific market is of great importance.

The main goal when expanding the business to other markets is learning the novelties that they offer. If novelties are discovered and perceived from all markets where the business is present – success is certain. E-Horeca is constantly learning about the novelties offered by each particular market and it advances by applying those novelties that it thinks would give a good result.

Our primary focus is the novelties of the world market as well as the creation of unique offers for our customers that will always be at the most favorable prices. We aim to be creative with our portfolio and satisfy the tastes of all our customers. Our core values ​​and drivers in our work are innovation, persistence, and integrity, and we have become “game changers” with more than 500 coffee products, with exclusive, newest, and most current coffees, and at the same time with the best offer and price on the market.

Apart from the Macedonian market, E-Horeca is also present in the Greek, Albanian, and Kosovo markets. What were the challenges during regional expansion, is there a difference between the habits of e-buyers, which detail of regional e-commerce would you like to apply to our market, and what from Macedonian e-commerce would you suggest to regional e-traders to apply?

Pavel: Regional expansion began first with Kosovo and Albania where the challenge was faced. We are still working hard with our delivery partners to ensure that products are delivered as quickly as possible and to be reliable for our customers. When it was previously delivered, the delivery system in Greece is really perfected to the highest level in that the buyer receives a personalized tracking code when the order is created, and the products are delivered within 24-48 hours, regardless of which part from the country it is located.

Delivery is one of the most important factors in e-commerce operations and the combined delivery method is the true value of our company’s professionalism. E-Horeca is known for the fact that products in our portfolio are self-imported, so there are other inevitable challenges present in a business combination, which as the import of its goods. On the Greek market, coffee is considered an excise good, which makes the import itself not at all simpler compared to the import of coffee in Macedonia. But in contrast, the purchasing power and awareness of electronic commerce are at a higher level, and thus the competitiveness.

Sublimate your e-commerce experience and convey it as an essential lesson that future e-tailers should know.

Pavel: With the evolution of technology itself, e-commerce is also evolving. E-commerce has already grown into an intertwined chain of opportunities and challenges that, if explored and learned, lead to sure success. Follow the trends and learn every day, the world is full of opportunities.

Pavel, we are grateful for the answers and look forward to your success 🚀

The story of Fashion Group begins in 1994 as a project driven by the desire to bring world fashion to Macedonia. Today, 28 years later, Fashion Group is the largest fashion group in the country that counts 40 world-renowned fashion brands for which you have the rights of exclusivity, franchise, and master franchise. Since 2017, the entire Fashion Group portfolio is available online at fashiongroup.com.mk, a platform that has grown into one of the most visited websites for online sales in the country. Tell us about the beginnings of your web store, and its development to date, but also about the development and use of the FashionGroup mobile application that is available for iOS and Android.

If we draw a parallel between our beginnings and the current operation, we can notice indisputable progress, both in the offer that we market and the way of operation, as well as in the habits and needs of the users. We can freely share that from the creation of the first site until today, the change in trends in technology, the wishes, and needs of users, was a challenge that constantly led us to direct our work, in order to adapt to the changes, but also to we create in our market.

As you mentioned, the Fashion Group site was created in 2017. Still, already in 2019, we were looking for a more sophisticated solution and we made migration and cooperation with a new IT company. In 2020 we created www.okaidi.com.mk, while this November 2022, we created a site for products from previous seasons www.fashiongroupoutlet.mk, thus we continue to work on constant progress and creation of a web space that will create the best user experience.

Due to the number and specificity of the sold products through the three sites, and of course, for each of the products, users would like to have more information in order to make the right choice, we try to provide as much detail as possible for each fashion piece that is in our offer. The displayed data is obtained from our ERP system and updated in predefined time frames.

Fashion group products are also available through mobile applications for Android and iOS devices. The number of app downloads is over 10,000 for Android and slightly more for iOS. We could share that during internal analyses, the majority of buyers still decide that the first choice for accessing and purchasing Fashion Group is the mobile version of the site, of course, our goal in the next period is to focus on further progress of the application and implementing the necessary changes that we defined in our research.

We must share that in order to display all products properly, as well as to provide a real fashion experience, Fashion Group has an extremely dedicated team that is constantly expanding, currently, the online team counts 8 young and motivated professionals. Of course, the processing of online orders would not be possible without the involvement of the colleagues employed in the stores, who support the realization of each project.

Fashiongroup.com.mk and the FashionGroup mobile application offer thousands of products from different brands that can be ordered online. It is probably a big challenge to simultaneously ship products from the physical stores of different brands. We would like you to reveal more details about this. How many products and brands are available on the platform, what are the challenges you face in online ordering of products from different brands, what is the delivery method, and for how many days can e-shoppers receive the products ordered online?

The current offer of the website www.fashiongroup.com.mk, as you mentioned in the previous question, offers 40 world-famous fashion brands.. Every season we try to introduce novelties and follow trends and fulfill the wishes of our users by expecting novelties, not only in terms of new brands for our market but also new product groups that were not previously prepared in our offer. In addition to recognizable pieces of clothing, shoes, and fashion accessories, since last year cosmetics from the Italian brand, Kiko Milano have been available on our website. If we look at the number of products presented at the seasonal level, for the last season fall-winter ’22 we would see more than 14,000 different products.

Besides the different products that are offered, of particular importance to us, is the satisfaction of buyers, therefore we treat each of our customers with special attention. In order to get shoppers to head to our website, we often run online-only promotions or send coupons that are only posted to registered users. Of course, we have reward programs and loyalty days for regular customers, when these users can take advantage of the benefits.

We make every effort to process every created order and deliver it to the end customer as soon as possible, due to the fact that we have automated most of the processes from the background work. However, the ordered products are delivered from the physical stores, and in the process of carrying out the orders work colleagues confirm and pack the orders in the stores and colleagues who process and follow them. Colleagues responsible for processing orders, and performing constant monitoring and follow-up of shipments in order to deliver all shipments within 3 to 5 working days at the latest. Most often, shipments are delivered the next day, but the previously mentioned deadline is a defined maximum frame we want to adhere to.

We all have a moment of our work that we are proud of and that has motivated us to work even better and even more focused. Which moment in Fashion Group’s online operation so far would you single out as a highlight?

Of course, the increase in sales and the summarized numbers after a successfully implemented campaign motivate us to work on every future project with even greater enthusiasm, but what motivates us are the comments from our users. Every remark and criticism, regardless of whether it has a positive or negative connotation, carefully consider and take as a roadmap for future work.

A highlight for us is every positive comment from a user, when colleagues from customer support share with the rest of the team, nice words that we received via e-mail or in a phone conversation, for us they are a real reward and motivation to create projects that will always put the user first.

Being part of the e-comm community is exciting, and more and more people are choosing to get involved. What would you recommend to future e-sellers? Do you have a “success formula” that you would like to share?

The real “formula for success” for us is simple, it includes following the latest fashion trends, changes in e-commerce, and really listening to the needs of customers because only in this way success is guaranteed. Of course, for the realization of any success, it is necessary to have the right team, which will complement each other and, regardless of the work position, will have space in a friendly atmosphere to share their views on each ongoing project.

Iva and Alexandra, thank you for the answers and look forward to your success. 🚀

In a relatively short time, you managed to become a recognizable brand on the Macedonian market. How and when did the story of Gley.tv begin and what is the reason for its success so far?

Gley is the first Macedonian national SVoD platform that offers the best domestic and regional series and movies in one place, as well as European and worldwide hits. An inevitable part of our platform is the children’s content, which is completely translated or dubbed into Macedonian and Albanian.

The idea of ​​Gley was born at a time when, as a necessity of the evolution of the way of watching content among viewers, leaving the linear way (television) and using various streaming platforms (YouTube). Similar platforms like Gley already exist in the world and regionally, but in our market we are the first to massively bring online streaming with the monthly subscription model to the masses.

The shortage in our market was related to 2 “moments”. The first one is the lack of a platform of this type that will primarily focus on local content, while the second one is children’s content. Unfortunately, most of the content that children “consume” is not in their native language, which is why we are faced with generations that do not speak their native language properly because they are constantly exposed to the English language.

We are trying to provide a solution for these two shortages in the market, which will present a variety of programs in one place, fully translated into Macedonian and Albanian, children’s content in their mother tongue through synchronization, and of course all of this can be watched online without ads.

The platform is available worldwide. With enabled access through a web browser on a computer, special applications for iOS and Android mobile phones and tablets, and smart TV. The content available in different regions varies, taking into account broadcast rights, but we are constantly working to make as much of it as possible available to as wide an audience as possible.

The functionality of the platform is taken care of daily by 10 employees and numerous external collaborators, each a specialist in their field of work.

A novelty that you brought to the Macedonian market is a subscription-based payment model that has existed on the world market for a long time. How many total subscribers have used this payment method so far, how well is it accepted here and is it difficult to implement?

The subscription payment model for services worldwide is already well known and elaborated. And in our market, users are familiar with it. For the most part, we had no problem with the implementation and communication about the payment method. What we faced is that we may have underestimated the percentage of the population that is familiar with online payments, as well as the confidence to leave their payment card data. That’s why we decided to dedicate a little more to educating our subscribers about the security of online payments. Fortunately, as a partner in this we found the Macedonian E-commerce Association.

If you had to pick one win that sets Gley.tv apart from the rest, what would it be?

I could not single out one team victory. I believe that despite the successes we have, we are still “at war”. I can only say that I am proud of the team that unreservedly and faithfully works to achieve the goals of Gley, which is bringing content in a modern and simple way to the widest audience, as well as our participation in strengthening and developing domestic production.

How does it feel to be part of the e-comm world? How much is Gley.tv affected by the development of technologies, the dynamics of trends and changing consumer habits, and how do you imagine e-commerce in the future?

Gley as a digital platform is inseparable from the world of e-commerce and considering that it is a technological innovation, adapting to consumer habits is our priority. Of course the goal of any technology company is to create consumer habits, not just follow them. We believe that we are part of the drivers for the development of e-commerce in the country, which, although it is gaining momentum from year to year, still has room for its improvement.