As originally asked by Jackie Bojor.

Emerging markets in Europe rely heavily on imported medical devices and equipment. But it is sometimes difficult to penetrate these markets and find reliable specialised-importer distributors or direct buyers.

On one hand it could be the multitude of offers received, the quality of products, the expectations of the local players. On the other hand it could be the language barrier, the cultural differences

What is your experience entering emerging European markets?

What help do you still need to make it a reality?

Look forward to your comments – thanks.

Jackie Bojor
FRD Center

Grégory Nolens
Bone and Ceramic 3D printing
‘could’ in place of ‘couleur’. Sorry
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Grégory Nolens
Bone and Ceramic 3D printing
Trade fairs couleur work, but also connect through regional and european Clusters and other Company groups.
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Jackie Bojor
Emerging Europe Market Entry and Development Consulting: Market Research, B2B, M&A, Sourcing in: Romania, Poland etc.
Do you have high expectations from your participation in regional trade fairs, such as Medica? Has this been helpful to your market expansion in Europe and, in particular, in Eastern Europe?

Jackie Bojor

Rami Salib
Associate Broker at Royal LePage Terrequity Realty
Hi Jackie,
Would you be kind to contact me on my email: [email protected]
I have some issues to discuss, thanks.

Khaled Hamza
Business Development – Key Accounts – New Bushiness – MENA – Gulf
Hello All,
I am in the medical device industry in an indirect way since over 10 years, from what I have seen from my customers (Medical device and Instruments) through the years is that the language issue is very important to penetrate new markets, its a whole setup of different things to penetrate a new country market, one of those things is the language issue. From what I have seen by working on translating my clients brochures – websites and on later stages after they secure a distributor we do the manuals. We have done this in over 40 languages for different clients to penetrate different markets.

Ahh, almost forgot, they also ask us to translate their business cards, when they prepare for exhibitions in target countries.

Jackie Bojor
Emerging Europe Market Entry and Development Consulting: Market Research, B2B, M&A, Sourcing in: Romania, Poland etc.
Thanks Kay and Mathieu – really interesting in-puts. In regards to entering Eastern European markets – where BTW imports of medical devices sometimes reach 90% of the total market according to Espicom – our clients tend to approach us for market entry support after they tried, without any luck for years, securing long term relationships with local importer-distributors or end buyers.

Or even, in some cases, getting any response from the targets…

So it looks like a last resource solution for some sectors, like for instance, orthopedic implants, trauma surgey or dental instruments…

What is your experience in trying to contact directly the local importer-distributors in the emerging markets in Europe?

Mathieu CHARLEUX
Associate Partner
I have experience yes entering Eastern European countries and I have worked exclusively with distributors. It has proven to be a successful approach but you need time to grasp the culture, get to know the people. In the end results were there and even if I left the company I was with back then, I have maintained some good relationships.

I guess some meddev companies target first the top 5 countries in Europe and have a tendency to go direct (when they can) and focus on developing a base of distributors. But what people tend to forget is that these countries (all the way to Russia) want the latest technologies and also have sometimes financial support from the EU. So things are moving fast in these countries.

Kay Bonavita
Vice President- North American Sales at HealthLink Europe & International
Using a Hybrid Sales Model in Europe is what has proven successful for our 60+ customers. They use a direct sales approach in the main stream markets such as Germany and select distributors in the smaller markets such as Turkey or Serbia. Using the hybrid model still allows start up companies the control of who their end users are and price of their device.
HealthLink Europe has a dedicated medical device warehouse and can also support your distributors. If you are interested in more information regarding importing in the EU, customs clearance, Processing Value added tax (VAT), etc. please let me know and I can provide more information. Best of luck.

Jackie Bojor
Emerging Europe Market Entry and Development Consulting: Market Research, B2B, M&A, Sourcing in: Romania, Poland etc.
Thanks, Elaine, for your comments. Rightly so! Do you have any particular experience with Eastern European markets?

Elaine C.
Delivering Multi-Channel Marketing at Novartis
Never assume that each market will be the same and don’t try to use a “one size fits all” strategy. Choose a distribution partner carefully and don’t offer exclusivity until they demonstrate they are worthy of it……make sure you provide lots of support to your chosen
partner, particularly in the early stages of entering a new market….finally don’t beat yourself up if you get it wrong first time with your choice of local partner. It can happen even with the most thorough selection processes!