# /case-studies/trm  —  TRM (Thoroughbred Remedies) · Equine supplements
# https://o1.eu/case-studies/trm
# Operator One — Merchant of Record for European marketplaces.

## Summary
An Irish equine supplement maker, sold in 70-plus countries but absent from Germany's marketplace shelf, opened the market direct with O1 as Merchant of Record.

## Result
2.2x — Peak trading against the operation's opening months

## At a glance
- 1 country: Germany · reached direct, with no German entity of its own
- 1 marketplace: Amazon · an official TRM storefront, not a reseller's page
- 2.2x at peak: Peak trading against the operation's opening months
- Brand control: TRM owns the stock and sets its own pricing strategy

## Markets live
Germany

## Marketplaces live on
Amazon

## Challenge
TRM manufactures equine supplements at its own GMP+ accredited plant in Co. Kildare and sells into more than 70 countries. Germany it reached only indirectly: products on specialist shelves, described and priced by other people, with no seller of its own on the marketplace where German horse owners search. Opening the market direct meant a German VAT position, producer and packaging registrations, feed-supplement labelling, localised listings and German-speaking service. A whole apparatus for one country.

## What changed under Operator One
- O1 became the legal seller of record for Germany, taking the VAT position and the compliance liability. TRM incorporated nothing and registered nothing in the market.
- German VAT registration and filings were handled end to end, so a single market did not require the brand to build a tax function around it.
- Producer and packaging registrations were completed and feed-supplement labelling checked before launch, rather than after a listing was pulled.
- A focused range was built into official German listings under the brand's own name: translated copy, category placement and imagery, instead of a reseller's version of the product.
- Advertising, buy-box and pricing control run day to day, alongside German-language customer service and returns handling.
- Throughout, TRM kept ownership of its inventory and set its own pricing strategy.

## Outcome
An official German storefront under TRM's own name, in a market the brand had only reached through other people. At its peak the operation has run about 2.2x its opening months, from a standing start of nothing.

## Who this applies to
The pattern fits any manufacturer with good products and an indirect route to market. The demand is already in the country. The tax position, the producer registrations and the local listing work sit outside what the business was built to do. Merchant of Record clears all of it without a new entity.

## Story
Sold in 70 countries. Not in Germany. TRM has made nutritional supplements and healthcare products for horses at its own plant in Co. Kildare for more than three decades. Powders, pastes, syrups, oils and topicals, across hoof care, leg care, calmers, electrolytes, digestion, airways and mobility. More than 55 formulations, made in a GMP+ accredited equine feed plant, backed by riders at the top of show jumping and eventing. The brand reached German stables the way most manufacturers do: through other people. Its products sat on specialist shelves, described in somebody else's words and priced by somebody else. On the marketplace where German horse owners actually search, TRM had no seller of its own. Why solving it alone was the wrong job Germany is not a shipping decision. Selling there direct means a German VAT position and filings, producer and packaging registrations, and labelling that satisfies feed-supplement rules before a single listing goes live. Then German copy, German imagery, advertising, German-speaking customer service and a returns route that works. That is an operating apparatus for one country, and TRM's people are manufacturers. What the operation did O1 took the role of Merchant of Record for Germany: the legal seller, the VAT position, the compliance liability. TRM incorporated nothing. Producer and packaging registrations were completed and labelling checked against feed-supplement rules, ahead of launch rather than after a takedown. A focused range was built into proper German listings under the brand's own name: translated copy, category placement and imagery. Advertising, buy box and pricing control are run day to day, alongside German-language customer service and returns. What TRM keeps Ownership of the inventory. Its own pricing strategy. Its name on every listing, and its product story told the way the brand tells it. Merchant of Record moves the legal and operational load without moving the brand. Reach, control, growth Reach: one country, Germany, and one marketplace, Amazon, opened direct for a brand that had only ever got there through third parties. Control: official listings, brand-set pricing, compliance cleared and held. Growth: at its peak the operation has run about 2.2x its opening months, from a standing start of nothing. Where this travels Any manufacturer with good products and an indirect route to market has the same gap. Demand exists in the country. The tax position, the producer registrations and the local listing work sit outside what the business was built to do. That is the part to hand over.