EP #209 - Pascal Meyer: Success Outside The Box

Timestamps:

6:02 - The psychology of flash sales

10:30 - People lie in surveys

11:51 - Selling teslas and Picassos

25:43 - Picking the right idea

43:33 - What the german part can learn from the Romandy

About Pascal Meyer:

Pascal Meyer is the solo founder and CEO of Qoqa, a flash sale e-commerce platform in Switzerland created in 2005. He previously worked for AMPCO Metal and Buchheim Communications.

At the time of Qoqa's founding, e-commerce was quite new to Switzerland and brands were extremely hesitant about it, so the first Qoqa customers were so-called "internet geeks", who, having some knowledge on the subject, were afraid of getting their credit card details stolen by e-commerce websites or things like that. The first product Qoqa ever sold was an mp3 player, which at the time was at the cutting edge of technology. Nowadays it is through its forums, email and social media interactions that Qoqa receives feedback on what sort of products to make available next.

In March 2020, during lockdown, Qoqa stepped up to the challenge by creating a platform where small brick and mortar shops and farmers could advertise their products, so that Swiss customers wouldn't just buy necessities from large companies with internet media reach. This platform, which is still up and running, is called Direqt.

Memorable Quotes:

"Better to try and fail than do nothing at all."

Resources Mentioned:

Delivering Happiness, by Tony Hsieh

It Doesn't Have To Be Crazy At Work, by Jason Fried

If you would like to listen to more episodes on e-commerce, check out our conversations with Alan Frei.

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