# /case-studies/industrial-supply-brand  —  An industrial supply brand · Household & DIY
# https://o1.eu/case-studies/industrial-supply-brand
# Operator One — Merchant of Record for European marketplaces.

## Summary
A B2B hardgoods wholesaler now sells direct to consumers in two countries across three marketplaces, with peak trading at roughly 15.8x its opening months and listings in its own name.

## Result
15.8x — Peak trading against the operation's opening months

## At a glance
- 2 countries: Germany and France, opened without a local sales team
- 3 marketplaces: Amazon, Cdiscount and Kaufland, run from one catalogue
- Own listings: Official listings, brand-set pricing, buy box managed
- 15.8x at peak: Against the operation's own opening months, from zero

## Markets live
Germany, France

## Marketplaces live on
Amazon, Cdiscount, Kaufland

## Challenge
A deep wholesale catalogue, thousands of everyday household and DIY lines, its own private-label ranges and a sourcing office in Asia. What the business did not have was a route to the shopper. Every unit reached a consumer through somebody else's listing, and in Germany and France there was no direct presence at all. Building one alone meant a seller entity, VAT in each market, producer registrations across a dozen categories and localised listings. That is a compliance project, not a sales one.

## What changed under Operator One
- O1 became the seller of record in each market and carries the entity, the VAT position and the consumer-facing obligations. The brand keeps ownership of its inventory and continues to set its own pricing strategy.
- VAT registrations, fiscal representation and filings are handled for German and French sales, so cross-border selling never turns into an internal project.
- Product compliance and producer registrations are cleared category by category across electrical, packaging and battery obligations, so no single rule can take a whole country offline.
- A focused range was drawn from the wider catalogue and built as official listings, written, imaged and localised for German and French shoppers rather than left to somebody else's version.
- Advertising, pricing control, buy box, customer service and returns are run in-market on Amazon, Cdiscount and Kaufland from a single operation.

## Outcome
Two countries and three marketplaces from a standing start. Official listings, brand-owned inventory, brand-set pricing and compliance that holds under the whole range. At its peak the operation was trading at roughly 15.8 times its opening months.

## Who this applies to
Any importer or wholesaler with a deep own-label catalogue and no consumer channel faces the same wall: not the product, but the entity, the VAT position and the compliance that sit between a catalogue and a shopper in another country. That layer can be rented rather than built, and the range stays the brand's own.

## Story
A catalogue with no route to the shopper Thousands of everyday household and DIY lines. Its own private-label ranges, stock on the floor, a sourcing office in Asia. Hand tools, garden, cleaning, car and bicycle parts, lighting, camping. The range was never the problem. The last step was. Every unit reached a consumer through somebody else's shelf or somebody else's listing. In Germany and France, two of the largest consumer markets in Europe, the brand had no direct presence at all. Why doing it alone was the wrong project Selling direct in another country is not a sales task. It is a seller entity, a VAT position and filings in each market, producer and packaging registrations across a dozen categories, listings written and imaged in the local language, and a returns process a shopper will actually accept. Every hour spent on that is an hour not spent on the range, the sourcing and the retail customers who already pay the bills. What we run Merchant of Record. O1 carries the entity, the VAT position and the consumer-facing obligations in each market. VAT registrations, fiscal representation and filings for German and French sales. Product compliance and producer registrations, cleared category by category, so no single rule can take a country offline. A focused range drawn from the wider catalogue and built as official listings, localised for German and French shoppers. Advertising, pricing control, buy box, customer service and returns, run in-market. Reach Two countries: Germany and France. Three marketplaces: Amazon, Cdiscount and Kaufland. None of it required a local sales team, a foreign office or a second warehouse, and the brand never had to build a consumer operation of its own. Control The listings are the brand's own, not a reseller's interpretation of them. The brand keeps ownership of its inventory and sets its own pricing strategy. Compliance sits under the whole range instead of being patched product by product. Growth From a standing start in these markets, the operation reached a peak of roughly 15.8 times its opening months, inside two years of trading. That is growth from zero, which is the honest way to describe a channel that did not exist before. Who this fits Importers and wholesalers with a deep own-label catalogue and no consumer channel. If the product already sells through other people's shelves, the missing piece is rarely the product. It is the entity, the compliance and the operation standing between a catalogue and a shopper in another country. That layer can be rented.