We are a Slovak e-shop focused on the sale of natural cosmetics and especially fully organic henna hair dyes. We are constantly striving to expand our offer with quality natural products so that our customers can buy everything they are looking for in one place. Fast transport and customer service are of the great importance of course and thanks to that we have a lot of positive reviews on the Internet.

Competing in the online environment using paid advertising is definitely a bit harder than a few years ago. Many e-shops are already advertising, and since Google launched shopping ads in Slovakia, every e-shop that has the financial means has steadily started advertising through shopping campaigns.

Natural products have become an ever-increasing trend. Therefore, more customers are looking for products with the label BIO, ECO, or Natural cosmetics, which we can include in the ECO segment of products.

In this interview the owner of the e-shop Tany.sk, Tatiana Tináková, will tell us more about what does it look like to advertise in the natural cosmetics and hygiene segment. We will discuss what was it like to start an online store full of natural cosmetics, what helped them the most at the very beginning, how they started advertising, and of course, why did they start using the CSS service Shopping in EU.

Greetings Mrs. Tináková. Let’s start the interview with the question about how did you get the idea to create the e-shop Tany.sk?

The idea of starting my own e-shop originated while I was still at the university. Same as everyone, I was thinking about what I would like to do after my studies. I was attracted by the idea of being my own boss and of course, the decision was made. The idea to create something of my own was in motion, so an online store slowly began to form.

When did the idea turn into reality and how did you know that this could be a success?

We started our business between the years 2016 – 2017. It was, of course, very slow at the start. Orders increased gradually and as we tried various advertising and marketing tools everything went smoother. This is when we began to realize that advertising makes sense and has great potential.

All beginnings are difficult. We all know that there is strong competition in the cosmetics segment. How did you differentiate yourself from your competitors?

Yes, the competition in this segment is really big, but we managed to find our place in the market, especially when selling hair cosmetics and natural hair colors – henna. We try to offer a variety of products that customers couldn’t find on other e-shops. We always try to provide interesting discounts and packages. Our top priority was always high quality of products and fast delivery.

Many people want to be their own boss and create their own online store. What would you say helped you the most in setting up yours?

Since I started the e-shop with a friend, who is an IT specialist, having an experienced person in the IT field and my experience in cosmetics helped us enormously. Having knowledge is great, but the most important thing to have is the courage to do it because it is not at all as easy as it may seem at first glance and it is necessary to devote a lot of time to the business. Also, don’t expect that you will end up a millionaire right away 🙂

I’d like to go over a few questions about advertising. Did you start dealing with online marketing from day one or did you gradually get to it?

Of course, we knew that we had to start with online marketing sooner or later. In the beginning, we started with product comparison sites, later we added ads via Google. Gradually, we tried to optimize our ads to make them as effective as possible. Of course, this was preceded by hours of material retrieval about how all of these systems work, and how to make the most of them.

When did you start advertising on Google and why did you decide to use Shopping campaigns as well?

We started advertising on Google about half a year after the e-shop was finished. We tried shopping campaigns as soon as they were available in Slovakia, but it took us a while to learn to work with and optimize them so that they don’t spend an unnecessarily large budget while staying effective. Smart shopping campaigns reached their full extent when we started using the CSS service from you. We noticed the CPC decrease after a few days and so far it stayed the same. You just have to remember to optimize them because otherwise, they can be a budget eater 🙂

Do you also use other channels for advertising, such as Facebook / Instagram or Price Comparison?

We try to be almost everywhere where it makes sense to us, so we are also on price comparators, Facebook and we are also going to Instagram. We know that we should have been on Instagram a long time ago, but due to time constraints, we have not yet decided to take this step.

How did you find out about the CSS program and why did you choose us as your CSS partner?

We heard about the CSS program when it started in Slovakia, and we also participated in the Masters’ Gate Academy training. At that time, we did not pay much attention to it, but gradually, as we wanted to launch smart shopping campaigns, we said to ourselves that we should find a reliable CSS partner. We have clearly chosen Shopping in EU because you have reasonable prices, astonishing customer service and you are a Slovak company, which is always important for us.

How satisfied are you with our communication and support so far?

As I mentioned in the previous answer, customer service was one of the key factors why we chose Shopping in EU. As we did not know exactly how the CSS program works, we needed to orient ourselves in the issue and we received great answers and advice from you, which helped us a lot in deciding whether the CSS program was suitable for us. Of course, communication in Slovak is also a great advantage.

I have one last question for you today. What would you recommend to someone, who is afraid to start an online business?

I would definitely recommend that they map the market and the competition well, whether there is room for a new e-shop at all because it is not at all easy to gain a foothold in strong competition. Also to check suppliers at what prices they can buy products and set a margin wisely. The most important thing is not to be afraid of new things. You should always follow the motto “it’s always better to try something new than to never do it and regret it later”.