With eBay’s 24 million monthly unique visitors in Germany alone, the partnership seemed like a match made in heaven—but what happens when the big launch leads to nothing?
At the beginning of 2014, Autobutler and eBay entered a promising partnership in Germany. The media in Germany and Denmark went crazy before the launch and the expectations for the big launch were sky-high.
Autobutler was launched in Germany and then, nothing happened. Weeks went by, and still, nothing happened. Ultimately, with millions of euros lost, Autobutler decided to terminate the collaboration with eBay before it was too late. To get back on their feet, Autobutler closed down in the UK and Germany, and scaled-down in Sweden and Denmark.
One size doesn’t fit them all. What did they learn? That just because something is working in one market, there is no guarantee for it to work in other seemingly similar markets—in Germany, Autobutler performed 16 times worse than in Denmark with the exact same product.
The insight. Remember that external partners may have a very different perception of value from yours—it’s a matter of heart vs. brain. And finally, believe in what you do. If you believe in what you do, you can make other people believe in it too, as Peter puts it: “There are numerous examples of people who have made a lot of people believe in their stupid ideas because they truly believed in themselves.”
