Dan Cruceru (Taticool): We reached over EUR 60,000 turnover this year and sales soared after showroom launch

Former journalist at Prima TV and Acasa TV, Dan Cruceru entered the online business industry in November 2015, by launching taticool.ro. Business Review talked to Cruceru about this project.

Romanita Oprea

Where did the business idea come from?

Once I became a father, my preoccupation grew very much in the parenting area, as well as the children products’ area. At a parenting level, it now exists Taticool.eu, one of the most viewed parenting blogs in Romania and, regarding the children products, there is Taticool Shop, a distribution line of premium products for children. Right now we have three brands in our portfolio, as an exclusive distributor in Romania: Mutsy – one of the best children buggies in the world, Bloom – a brand that creates real works of art for children furniture and Baby Brezza – the creators of some innovative gadgets in the children food area. In Europa, by default in Romania, have a miracle gadget – Formula Pro, a powdered milk espresso machine that prepares the perfect babies’ formula and that offer the parent, an already very tired one, an extra comfort. We’ve considered that all of those brands should be present under a bigger umbrella – Taticool, a name that is very attractive for the parents in our country. It’s a type of title that many fathers wish to receive.

How big was the investment?

Read more about

One United Properties’ shareholders approve payment of a dividend of €15.2 million

read more

I am investing every day: time, resources, money (in video equipment, collaborators, dedicated servers etc). My intention is to create a very professional environment. Therefore, for the shop the amount of money invested reached at the beginning of 2016 EUR 40.000, money that was invested in opening the a showroom that would offer the potential client a friendly and premium atmosphere and, at the same time, for marketing and significant merchandize stocks, as every distributor should have if he wants to cover the whole country. Since then, I am investing constantly in those areas, from one month to another, depending on the events we are participating at or the marketing actions we decide to undertake.

Do you sell more online, in the store or at fairs?

I am lucky enough to sell good lately, the revenue exploding after the opening of the show-room and following a strong marketing online campaign. The people that come into the showroom see the products and they buy them online or directly from the store or wait for the fairs’ promotions of the ones with special occasions such as the Black Friday. We also sell through Emag or on our website and other physic stores we are collaborating with. I accentuate that we are also doing distribution, not only retail.

What is your turnover so far?

Taticool Shop is a company that was created in November 2015, is active until March 2016 as an SMEs and has quickly exceeded the EUR 60.000 margin.

What was the most difficult moment so far?

There have been some difficult moments since ending some of the exclusivity contracts with the brands that I am importing, at the receiving of the VAT code (due to the complicated Romanian legislation), while finding the right show-room and implementing and turning into reality the marketing ideas. The hardest thing seemed to me finding the courage to risk.

Where do you see this business going in 5 years’ time?

Taticool is a national brand that offers the potential clients trust, parents advices as well as imported quality products. What I want is to see the shop become a strong distributor on the national and international market (Republic of Molova, Hungary, Bulgaria), with at least 10 international brands in its portfolio and the same number of dedicated shops meant to offer the client the attention that he/she deserves when asking for a premium product.

What is your best sold product so far?

Lately, the selling of buggies works exceptionally, the IGO model- constantly in top 3 of the best sold products. But our best seller remains the Formula Pro by Baby Brezza espresso machine.