«Ordering on Aliexpress? It’s obviously not as simple as that»

Osman Erdogan’s the man with all the answers. His job title? Trade Brand Management Lead. In other words, he’s the brains behind Digitec Galaxus AG’s own-brand products.

I didn’t need to try very hard to come up with questions for my interview with Osman. The Community had practically handed them to me on a silver platter. When preparing for our chat, I took the points made in the comments section when we launched our new cables and power supplies into consideration.

That being said, there might be other questions the interview didn’t address. That’s why Osman’s agreed to follow the comments underneath this article and address any points that our conversation didn’t cover. Unless, of course, they touch on company secrets. Even our transparency has its limits.

Osman, there are people in the Community wondering why we even need you at the company. I mean, all we do is buy chargers and cables from Aliexpress, then stick a Digitec logo on them, right? What do you even do all day?

Osman: (laughs) Well, it’s obviously not as simple as that. Mind you, customers can order anything from anywhere nowadays. I once ordered a chronograph from Wish for one dollar – I simply had to have it.

And?

The totaliser – in other words, the stopwatch hand – was just painted on the dial, so the only parts that moved were the minute and hour hands.

What a story! But how does that relate to the accusation that you and your team are simply ordering stuff from China, relabelling it and then selling it under the Digitec brand?

The thing we bring to the table is security for customers. Sure, you can order charging plugs directly from China too. And you can definitely get cables. However, the products we’ve had manufactured are certified – and they’re very good. We offer a two-year manufacturer warranty on Digitec products.

How does it all work? How do you go about finding these products?

First of all, we look for manufacturers who can make the product according to our requirements. We’ve outlined clear criteria and standards for this. Rather than working with intermediaries, we’re in direct contact with the manufacturers. That way, we see a list of certifications and, above all, tests conducted.

How do you find the right factories?

We go to a lot of trade fairs attended by sales reps who work for manufacturers. But it’s the Migros team in Asia who’re most familiar with the conditions on site and who visit the factories.

Have you ever been to one of those factories?

Yes. What surprised me was the number of people still needed to complete all the different steps of the manufacturing process. In Europe, the same number would be unthinkable with our salary rates.

What else did you notice?

I wasn’t there as an auditor or anything, but I wanted to get a general sense of the place. How clean and tidy was it? What were the air quality and lighting like? Were the sanitary facilities and safety measures up to scratch? We also examine social and employment law issues including overtime and protection against discrimination or arbitrary dismissal.

That sounds like a lot of effort…

That’s because it is. It takes time and experience to conduct these checks properly. If you don’t have those things, you’ll have the wool pulled over your eyes. There are actually bogus factories that meet all the necessary requirements. In reality, though, the only people who «work» there are decoys. Meanwhile, the actual work is being done under impossible conditions in a building further down the road.

Did you know all this when you started the own-brand product project?

We learn something new every day. It all started in 2019 with network cables. We came up with the idea after reviewing our product range. We’d found 22,000 different cables and wondered how customers could possibly choose between them in a meaningful way. What could they rely on? So, we were convinced that if we had cables manufactured ourselves, we could offer our customers added value.

Other brands tout this kind of added value already.

True, but we think the relationship between price and performance is the important thing. And our prices are quite clearly better. Electronics brands have larger distribution networks, intermediaries, marketing expenses and, ultimately, need to think about their margins. You pay for all this when you buy a branded product. We, on the other hand, can cut back on a lot of that. As we don’t advertise the products themselves, marketing costs aren’t reflected in the prices. Nor are there any middlemen involved.

So do we earn more money by selling Digitec-branded products than products from other brands?

Yes, we earn slightly more – the margin’s better. However, guaranteeing the products are always available is even more important to us. We have full control over the supply chain.

Are low purchase prices the key to making money?

No, the quantities we purchase from manufacturers are just too low for that. We’re throwing our weight behind initiatives in other areas in order to be successful. We’ve optimised packaging, transportation and warehousing – we do these things very efficiently.

You say you’re providing customers with security. Don’t I get that when I order something on Aliexpress?

No. I remember some criticism posted by a Community member who claimed they could order the desk charger for 15 dollars. I don’t mind telling you that’s way below our purchase price, so there’s no way it works. We’re pretty sure that the components used in that charger wouldn’t stand up to quality testing. I wouldn’t use it – especially not for long periods of time or unattended.

Maybe we should just order one and see for ourselves …

Good idea. Let’s do that, then take it apart.

While we’re on the topic of components, what sort of tests do Digitec-branded products need to pass?

It depends on the product. We check to see which certifications are important. With a network cable, for example, the priority is transmission performance. Laboratories and testing facilities carry these assessments out for us. We also test the fire resistance of the plastic. Usually, we receive pre-series products from the factory and have the tests carried out here in Switzerland. Production only starts once the product’s passed all of its tests. And that’s not all. We also take random samples from the assembly line and put the devices through all the tests again. We even had the test carried out by Swiss consumer organisation Ktip replicated for our batteries since ours weren’t included in the last test.

And what was the result?

All our batteries perform better than comparable branded products. The team is really proud of that. Although batteries have to meet very different requirements depending on their intended use, ours are good in every situation, be it for a remote control or a camera. To be honest, the results of batteries from major brands have really disappointed me.

What do other brands think of our own-brand product strategy? It means they’ll be facing even more competition on our shop.

We believe in our products. Maybe we’ll even get the top brands to lower their prices. If we can offer a service that’s better and cheaper, that’d be the logical outcome. It’d be good for the entire customer base.

What kind of response have our own-brand products received so far?

It’s been much better than we expected. I think customers are looking for the very thing we’re offering. Some of our cables and chargers have even sold out temporarily. We’re actually waiting to get more in stock.

Ha! Earlier on, you said the products were always available.

Yes, but some things are beyond our control. Cargo ships need to sail around Africa right now. In the Red Sea, they run too great a risk of falling victim to Houthi attacks.

What’s next for our own-brand products?

We’ll continue to move into new product areas. At the same time, we’ll keep an eye on our Community to see what insights they can give us on existing products. We’ll use this input to improve the own-brand products we already have.

So there’ll always be new generations?

Yes. I assume we’ll be offering charger upgrades once a year.

The own-brand portfolio is currently dominated by tech gadgets. What will you be adding next?

(Laughs) Even more tech gadgets. We’re sticking to the power and energy range and launching power banks next. We’re also working on USB hubs. These are practical for the latest notebooks, which have fewer and fewer ports.

The Community wants rechargeable batteries.

Rightly so. This is a product that we ourselves very much want. We’re working hard to find a good partner, but haven’t been successful yet. We’ll keep at it, though.

Will you ever add any non-tech products?

Yes, Galaxus products fall under our remit too. So far, we «only» have moving boxes. We do have good ideas for products, but they come with different challenges.

Thanks for the interview, Osman.

Wait! Could I just plug one more thing?

Sure, what is it?

Our top three own-brand products, or rather, the best-selling ones. Here they are:

Video cablesavailable

CHF19.–

digitec HDMI-HDMI 2.0

2 m, HDMI

1342

USB cablesavailable

Quantity discount

CHF10.50 per piece for 2 units

digitec USB-A - USB-C

1 m, USB 3.2 Gen 1

124

USB chargersavailable

CHF16.90

digitec Fast Charger

30 W

191

Video cablesavailable

CHF19.–

digitec HDMI-HDMI 2.0

2 m, HDMI

1342

Quantity discount

USB cablesavailable

CHF10.50 per piece for 2 units

digitec USB-A - USB-C

1 m, USB 3.2 Gen 1

124

USB chargersavailable

CHF16.90

digitec Fast Charger

30 W

191

Alright, now we’re done. Thank you.