Country Manager Belgium

As the number one auction platform for collectors, Catawiki is the fastest growing tech company in Europe. Whether it’s a rare whisky you’re after, an exclusive motorbike or an archaeological artefact, Catawiki is the place to go. To accelerate the expansion of the offering, they are now attracting a Country Managers for the Belgian market.

About Catawiki

Every week, about thirty thousand fascinating objects are auctioned off at the Catawiki platform, ranging from matchbooks to Emma Watson’s jeans. The online auction house presents lots in over 70 categories including art, furniture, classic cars, jewelry, watches, boats and antiques. The auctions are curated by experts to make sure all offerings on Catawiki are reliable. Interesting detail about the business model: both the buyer and seller pay a commission.

“We are in the unique position of being able to fill the gap between eBay and the more traditional auction houses.” – René Schoenmakers, Founder & CEO Catawiki

Catawiki started eight years ago as a crowsourced catalogue – a wiki – of comic books. The platform soon spread to other categories, and the auction-functionality was added to in 2011. This turned out to be an important means of monetization, which made further growth possible. Having expanded from 60 employees in 2015 to over 450 employees in 2016, Catawiki is Europe’s fastest growing tech company. Each month, over 12 million people from around the world visit website. Headquartered in the Netherlands (Assen and Amsterdam), Catawiki also has international offices in France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain.

International expansion

As a result of it’s kickoff as a catalogue, Catawiki started out as a singular platform connecting international audiences. That ambition has never changed. Nowadays, all online content is translated into 14 languages so that essentially, all auctions are offered globally. Further international expansion is very high on the strategic agenda, especially in terms of the supply side. Based on fact-based market analyses, three markets have been identified as major growth opportunities: Belgium, the Nordics and Germany / Austria / Switzerland. To realize these opportunities, Frederik de Beer (Head of Supply & International Expansion) is hiring a Country Manager for each of these markets.

About the vacancy: Country Manager Belgium

The Country Manager Belgium is accountable for the long-term growth of the region, the accomplishment of quarterly targets as well as developing and coaching talents.

The Belgian market is already familiar with Catawiki, as this market is currently managed by the Country Manager Benelux. As the platform is growing in terms of content as well as geographically, the Dutch and the Belgian markets will each need their own commercial organization. The Country Manager will establish a new office, most likely in Brussels. From here, the existing network of Belgian auctioneers will be managed and expanded. In terms of expansion, the focus will be on developing the most profitable categories by identifying and on-boarding key sellers on the platform. The Country Manager will run this process based on a factual market scan.

The Country Manager Belgium will manage an Inside Sales and Field Sales teams directly. They will also manage and facilitate a team of local auctioneers indirectly. This includes recruiting new professionals (based on business opportunities) and maximizing the effectiveness of the existing network. They will work closely with the global marketing team, the buyer and seller experience teams, auctioneers, customer service and other country teams to share knowledge and best practices. Since the Country Manager Belgium is involved in acquisition of new major sellers and improving and expanding the relationship with sellers who are already on board, a strong background in online marketplaces and supply management is a must.