More Croatian innovation hits the world stage.
Amazon, the largest online store in the world, is interested in selling Croatian Kisha. It is a smart umbrella that has been developed by a start-up from Rijeka and is produced by the largest Croatian manufacturer of umbrellas, Hrvatski Kišobran from Zaprešić, reports Poslovni.hr on November 20, 2015.
Kisha has been featured in a number of Western media, such as Forbes, Wired, Daily Mail and Adweek, and the first batch of 1,000 umbrellas has been sold out in less than three months. But, Goran Čandrlić, co-founder and director of Kisha, says they will not rush to accept Amazon’s offer. “It is true that we have heard from Amazon and that they want to sell our smart umbrellas, but we did not immediately agree. We have started discussions with them”, Čandrlić says. He is proud that Amazon is interested in selling a high-tech product developed in Croatia, but says that such a decision cannot be a matter of emotion. It is necessary to think about production, distribution and support capacities, since otherwise the user experience could be negatively affected.
“Selling on Amazon depends on the opinion and comments of its users, and therefore it is extremely important that they are satisfied, because otherwise such a move could backfire”, Čandrlić says. Selling at Amazon is a global business and it is not enough just to produce something good, “but we should be able to deliver it to the user in a way that the user wants, at a time when he or she wants”.
“Every business make certain mistakes in production and distribution. If you want to have satisfied customers, not only do you have to reduce the number of these errors, but you also need to have ready a good response to such a situation”, he says and adds that they plan to spend the next six months working on preparations. “Does that mean that in six months we will be on Amazon, I cannot say for sure, but the key for us is a good user experience.”
In addition to Amazon, they have been contacted by Gilt and The Next Web, and they are currently negotiating with possible representatives for the markets in Romania, Canada and Japan. “We want to build a physical presence in the market and I am satisfied with the way things are moving forward. So far, we have been primarily focused on the development”, Čandrlić explains. New Kisha models can operate on a single charge for 8 to 12 months and are fully waterproof. “Ten days ago, we have started selling new designer models for women, and sales are great”, Čandrlić concluded.
