They took their e-commerce abroad

Art. no. 216462867 24 Apr 2025

Q&A with Niclas at Ekokul.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to launch your e-commerce in another country? Ekokul started its business in 2008 and focuses, among other things, on toys that are sustainably produced. Six years after the start, they launched their online shop in Finland and the following year in Denmark. In today's blog post, we ask Ekokul's founder Niclas Lundgren how they did it, what experiences they've had and what tips they can share. Join us!

Before we get into the e-commerce itself, tell us a little about who you are!

- Ekokul was founded in 2008 and is a family business driven by the desire to change. We are constantly looking for products that can become the obvious choice over mass-produced products without the slightest thought. We believe in joy and attractiveness instead of finger-pointing and scaremongering. We want to be able to offer toys, baby products and more that meet the requirements that many consumers now take for granted for other products, such as food and children's clothing. We look for products that are, among other things, organic, sustainable, recyclable and fairly traded. So far, we have to be satisfied that we at least tick a couple of all our criteria, but we think that is at least a good start.

How did you get the idea for Ekokul?

- It was born in 2007. My wife Anna and I had been discussing different business ideas and had a dream of running our own business. When we realized that there was a gap in the market for organic and environmentally friendly toys and children's products, we started working on launching an online shop. We were relatively early and have been on an exciting journey where we have really seen from the inside how e-commerce has developed and how customer behavior and buying patterns have changed.

Ekokul has no physical store but conducts all its sales online. After six years of working on the Swedish market, it was time to launch the webshop abroad in 2014.

How did you decide to go beyond Sweden's borders and how did you go about it?

- Copenhagen is a stone's throw from Malmö where we have our office, so it was quite natural that we would launch our shop abroad. However, it was more of a coincidence that Finland and not Denmark became our first new country. This was because we found a good partner in Finland who could take care of translations and customer service. In 2015, we also launched Ekokul in Denmark.

What has it meant for your business to go international?

- Competition in e-commerce in Sweden has intensified over the past five years and there are more companies to share the cake. By investing internationally, we have been able to keep our turnover at a stable level and expand our business with a larger range.

What lessons have you learned?

- There is a big difference in customer behavior in the different countries. Our Swedish and Finnish customers are often more patient and understanding when something doesn't work as it should, such as a delivery delay. Danish customers, on the other hand, are much more demanding and rarely tolerate anything going wrong. Moreover, new markets bring new challenges. In addition to knowing your customers, it is crucial to know the essential laws and regulations that affect doing business in the new country.

What has been most difficult about expanding to other countries?

- Shipping prices are always a challenge and it is often the high shipping prices that make it difficult to set up in a new country. It can also be a challenge to keep up the pace of translations into the different languages. First we write the Swedish text for an article and then we have to wait for translation into Danish and Finnish, which means that there is always a certain backlog.

What do you think of the Abicart e-commerce platform?

- What is good is that you can easily add different languages and domains to your webshop and that all standardized texts are already translated. It was also easy to get started and the price is very competitive.

Niclas' five tips for those who are thinking of launching their webshop abroad:

Find a reliable, long-term partner in the country you want to set up in, who can take care of translations and customer service.
Think about shipping prices and delivery times. Can you make ends meet?
Don't underestimate the cost of translation work.
Try to get free promotion through collaborations and targeted emails to press and journalists.
If you're on a tight budget, try to work out a collaboration agreement based on a percentage of profits rather than a fixed hourly rate.

We thank Niclas for the chat and wish him good luck in the future!
If you want to know more about Ekokul, you can find their web shop here.