Success Story: AMCO, Netherlands
AMCO is one of the success stories that we have come across on gsmExchange. In a recent conversation with its founder, Mr. Hakan, we wanted to know more about their history, and secret of their success — he was kind enough to share his thoughts with us.. Mr. Hakan founded the company back in 2001 — in the beginning, he started out in retail, and was just selling to the public from an outlet in Istanbul, called.. Istanbul Mobile.
Sometime, in 2003, the company began to explore the international market; as Mr Hakan puts it «In 2003, I saw an opportunity in exporting phones out of Turkey, the first market we went to was Hong Kong, where we started the office in 2005». Due to fluctuations in currency, and supply/demand differences, AMCO was also able to find opportunities elsewhere in the international market, and start dealing with other customers in the Middle East. «From the very beginning, we concentrated on building our reputation; we built our name based on fairness to our customers, and being reliable and true to our word».
As long time users of gsmExchange.com AMCO was able to use this reputation to their advantage, «We were very active on gsmExchange, where we met many excellent contacts, who later on became good customers of ours. In turn these customers, having had positive experiences with us, left us positive feedbacks which in turn solidified our reputation within the industry.. this was instrumental in growing our company within this industry».
«From the very beginning, we concentrated on building our reputation; we built our name based on fairness to our customers, and being reliable and true to our word».
AMCO’s dedication to the long term has meant that more and more customers were coming to them, and in order to face the demand, and better service the market, Mr Hakan, decided to open an office in Dubai in 2006. As many traders know, Dubai is an ideal platform for international trade, due to the concentration of international players there, as well as ease of access to Europe, Middle East and the Far East.
Soon however, in 2006 Mr Hakan continued his onward expansion, and decided that he needed a European office from he could reach out and service his European customers. «I found that the Netherlands was an ideal location for AMCO in Europe, it is centrally located, provides quick and easy access to all of my markets in Europe — even Eastern Europe is well served from here. I also appreciate the pro-business and „can do“ attitude of the Dutch!»
Today, AMCO is a truly global company, achieving an annual turnover of 55 Million US$ in 2008 and continuing to grow in 2009; very recently AMCO opened more offices: in Greece, Romania, Austria,Bulgaria, The Baltic States.They are about to open very shortly major branch offices in Italy and Germany.These new offices will also serve as very important logistics centres.
«what attracted us to advertising on gsmExchange.com is the immediate response we got from the very beginning. gsmExhange.com was able to produce numerous inquiries every day»
In order to sustain their growth; launch their accessories product range, as well as expand their mobile phone trading activities, Mr. Hakan recognizes the need to do some marketing, but he had some concerns from the outset; «the only marketing I am interested in is the type that gives us an immediate and measurable return on investment, I need to make sure that any money I spend, will give us access to new markets, and customers. And, I want to be able to measure the effect of this investment.» AMCO tried an advertising campaign with gsmExchange back in February 2009, and has continued this campaign ever since. «what attracted us to advertising on gsmExchange.com is the immediate response we got from the very beginning. gsmExhange.com was able to produce numerous inquiries every day in the first month of advertising for AMCO.The advertising campaign significantly increased our exposure during CeBIT in Hannover,Germany 2009 and created even bigger interest towards our stand at the trade fair. «I have to say that the quality of inquiries was also very good; they were all established players in the industry». «AMCO has a name that we are proud of, AMCO are open for business and this is what our advertising says and you are hearing about us. Working with gsmExchange has introduced us to new buyers in new markets and helped us to remain close to our very good clients. I would recommend gsmExchange advertising to all of my good friends in the business.»