[Prague, CZECH REPUBLIC] On-line auction server Vatera.com has started
its activities in the Czech Republic as the fifth European country after
Greece, Poland, Hungary and Turkey. It intends to succeed with C2C
business, unusual so far for local Internet users.
Vatera.com is Greek enterprise founded and headed by Mr. Panagiotis
Gomopoulos. It has been started as a sister company of the biggest Latin
American auction server DeRemate.com with the help of venture capital
from the U.S. investment fund eQuest Partners. Its primary goal is to
establish business in several countries of Eastern Europe with the
following intention to expand furthermore in the region.
In the Czech Republic, Vatera.com banks on the wide selection of the
articles sold, from the collectibles, books, CDs and consumer
electronics to the valuable art items. Services as air and entry tickets
are on sale as well. “Internet auctions are becoming more and more
popular nowadays both in America and in Europe. Auctions enable users to
buy and sell products and services directly from their home or office.
The effort of Vatera.com is aimed to establish safe site, where good
entertainment is available as well as products and services. We want to
be reliable and credible server matching the needs of our customers both
internationally and locally,” said Mr. Gomopoulos, serving as CEO for
Vatera.com.
Perhaps so; but establishing not only reliable and trustworthy but also
profitable auction server in the Czech Republic may be task too big for
ambitious Greek entrepreneur. The only important Czech auction server,
Aukce.cz, is struggling for living; local experts say it is not making
any money at all. And local branch of German Offerto.de, quite
successful in its home country, closed its Czech operation without
warning in the autumn of 2000 after several months of marketing
experiments. Czech people proved to be surprisingly conservative; for
the time being, they prefer their old pawnshops.
