What is CDON?

 

Founded in 1999 and based in Sweden, CDON is one of the largest online marketplaces in Scandinavia. Offering a wide array of products to customers and scalable marketing, sales, technology and logistics services to sellers, CDON is popular with vendors and consumers alike.

 

 

CDON in numbers

The marketplace is host to over 1,500 selected vendors and brands serving over 2 million customers. CDON has an annual GMV of 1,826 million SEK (around 166.7 million euros), a 9% decrease from the previous year. Net sales have also decreased by 7% to 435 million SEK (39.7 million euros).

 

In a letter to shareholders, CDON’s CEO explained the losses with the restructuring of the company as well as technical challenges including a platform migration.

 

CDON is currently available in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland, offering ca. 8 million products in categories like electronics, home equipment, beauty products, video games and kitchen appliances, also in pre-owned versions. Products from brands like Samsung, Asus, Lenovo, Dyson and Bosch are available on CDON. The marketplace has around 1.8 million monthly visitors.

 

 

Screenshot of cdon.se displaying CDON’s homepage

 

 

CDON’s business model

CDON’s aim is to “simplify digital shopping for e-traders and customers.” This means that CDON doesn’t own or sell any products; it simply provides a platform for third party sellers to do so.

 

Find out all about third party sellers.

 

Unfortunately, working with third party sellers means that CDON has less control over the products appearing on the platform. This may lead to the presence of IP infringing listings like counterfeits and grey market products that can harm your brand and your customers alike.

 

CDON tries to prevent this by requiring its sellers to provide certain information during registration. Sellers have to submit their business name and number, VAT number, postal address as well as the name of a contact person, product categories, website address and contact information.

 

As online brand protection experts, we recognise the efforts of CDON to keep fraudsters off the platform. For example, prospective sellers have to scan various documents that prove the validity of the information submitted (e.g. proof of ownership, ID card). CDON doesn’t accept free email accounts like hotmail or yahoo for seller registration, only certified company addresses. In addition, shipping from outside of the EU is not allowed, and all products must have the applicable EAN codes and CE markings while also complying with all safety requirements.

 

CDON takes 5-14 business days to verify the information submitted. Once that’s done and your account is approved, you can start selling on the platform.

 

CDON charges a monthly subscription (29 euros) and a fixed commission fee (between 4-12%) applied to each sale.

 

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CDON as your brand’s gateway to Scandinavia

Since CDON is available in four Nordic countries, it may make sense for your brand to enter these markets simultaneously. CDON provides brands and sellers with practical advice on how to do that, including which forms to submit to which authorities, and how to display prices in various currencies.

 

It’s important to note that Norway is not a member of the European Union. Therefore, cross-border sales to and from Norway may trigger extra customs procedures and fees, which is something you should definitely inform your customers about to avoid disappointment and negative reviews.

 

 

Illustration of a customs officer inspecting shipment documents

 

 

Online brand protection on CDON

As mentioned earlier, the fact that CDON works with third party sellers makes it easier for counterfeit, grey market, and other IP infringing listings to enter the platform. Don’t worry though; globaleyez is here to take care of that problem.

 

Our scalable online brand protection services and solutions can be fully tailored to your brand’s exact needs, addressing your specific challenges as efficiently as possible.

 

If you decide to give the Scandinavian market and CDON a try, you need to conduct thorough market research to prepare your entry. Our marketplace sales tracking service is perfect for this. We provide you with a comprehensive report about best selling products and top performing sellers in your product category, ensuring that you have a complete picture of your target market before your actual entry.

 

But even if you decide that CDON is not for you, your products may very well be already present on it, courtesy of fraudsters and grey market sellers. We developed our marketplace monitoring service with this exact scenario in mind.

 

With keyword-based searches, we quickly detect potentially infringing listings on CDON and over 150 other marketplaces worldwide that contain your product name or brand name, including any misspelled versions. Versatile filtering options ensure that authorised listings are quickly discarded, allowing us to focus on IP infringing offers.

 

Since fraudsters often post ads with pictures stolen from your brand, our image monitoring service is a great add-on to catch them. Beside your original pictures, we also detect copies that fraudsters created in the hope of passing under the radar.

 

Sometimes we need more information about a seller, or the product’s nature (e.g. is it counterfeit or grey market.) A test purchase is the best solution to this problem, as it provides us with invaluable data regarding both issues.

 

Finally, we offer to enforce your rights and ensure the removal of any infringing content, including product listings, pictures, ads and even domains from the internet.

 

 

Conclusion

CDON is a leading Scandinavian online marketplace that’s a perfect starting point for any brand wishing to enter the Nordic market. But despite CDON’s above-average efforts to filter our fraudulent offers, some counterfeit and grey market product listings may still find their way to the platform. Luckily, globaleyez can solve that issue for you.

 

Contact us if you’re worried about the safety of your IP rights on CDON, or any other corner of the internet!