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wlw brandbook

The leading B2B marketplace

About us, our brand and what we will achieve together

Contents

01
Introduction & management summary
02
Our market position
03
Our mission
04
Our target group

05
Our brand philosophy
06
Our values
07
Our vision

There’s a lot of talk about brands and marketing. What good is all of this for?

Isn’t it enough to simply have a better product?

Introduction Executive Summary

Europe's most comprehensive B2B marketplace.

Sounds great. And it’s true.

Our position

When two people find each other along life’s path, it’s called love. In the business world, it’s called wlw.

Our mission

Our target group: the business sector.

The wlw brand. How we think and act.

Good business begins with good people, and we have 200 such people.

We are a medium-sized company. We think and act like most of our customers: like entrepreneurs. Here you can also find out about our other strengths.

We can call it the future, or the next logical step

Our vision

Our position

Europe’s most comprehensive B2B marketplace

Our mission

Bring together the best suppliers and buyers by making B2B products optimal visible and findable online.

Our vision

Make Europe’s B2B products accessible worldwide.

The leading B2B marketplace wlw.de wlw.at wlw.ch

brand.wlw.de

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The world is big, confusing and moves at lightning speed. Which is good, as it gives us our very purpose. We’ve been helping companies since 1932 find their way and the right information for their business activities – and so people can find them in the first place. We do this better than the rest.

Still, we have to struggle for attention and brand recognition just like our advertisers. A strong brand radiates like a lighthouse – and steers the prospective customer towards us.

wlw is a strong brand, and must therefore meet expectations, offer a clear range of products and services – not to mention have visions, goals and values that form a basis for how we think and act. This is so we remain competitive in the long term and capable of managing what the future has in store for us.

For this reason, each and every one of us should know who we are, where we want to go and how we can solve our customers’ problems better and easier – for the success of all involved.

For impatient readers, here is a very abbreviated summary.

We are a German internet company and hold a stronger position than ever before. No one else brings in 1.3 million buyers each month and allows them to access 540,000 manufacturers, dealers, service providers and suppliers as well as millions of products in the B2B sector. This is what makes us the leading B2B marketplace in the German-speaking world.

The first step

wlw becomes the B2B marketplace for Europe.

We take advantage of our solid initial position to set our sights on Europe. And we will continue to do exactly what we do best: bringing together the best suppliers and buyers by offering an online B2B platform that optimizes the visibility of products and makes them easier to find.

The second step

wlw brings Europe to the rest of the world.

The Internet connects the entire world ‒ a simple fact that forms the basis of our vision: to be the provider of access to European B2B products all over the world. From pencils to revolving cranes. From copper wire to microchips.

Our common mission can be summed up in a single sentence:

We want to become Europe’s most comprehensive B2B marketplace to offer European B2B products globally.

We still have a way to go before we have achieved this. We’re looking forward to it.

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The marketplace of the 21st century.

We are a marketplace where supply meets demand. Over 540,000 market stakeholders can present their products and services on our site around the clock to high-caliber visitors, for example, from the purchasing departments of larger companies, around 40 years old and holding managerial positions. This is one major example of how we’re the premier materials and product finding tool for Germany’s SMEs.

Two target groups, one goal: doing good business.

We distinguish between prospective customers, for whom we optimize the search and product comparison, and the suppliers who are positioning their products and services on the market. In the latter case, we are one of the many advertisers in their marketing mix, which also includes a homepage, trade fair appearances, brochures and other sales activities.

One of our strongest arguments in the competition to attract advertising dollars is the direct link to the purchasing decision, which we manage to achieve with 1.3 million buying decision-makers each month. What we offer: the ideal presence with a platform that directly facilitates business. Top advice from our sales team builds trust in our products, services and our brand.

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We focus on bringing buyers and suppliers together.

We want to truly understand people and their business activities. We’re equally available to the supplier and prospective customer. We put priority on the people whom we can better serve with our expertise.

We bring people together.

We see B2B as a relationship between people and do what it takes to help them connect. Cooperation and collaboration are what shape our activities, both internally and externally, enabling us to find plenty of good matches for our users.

We simply love to make things simple.

Our platform has to impress in terms of user-friendliness and its simple user interface. In other words, we don’t get bogged down in details. Our goal: to make things easy for our customers every time they come into contact with wlw.

We thrive on high-quality data.

Data is our strength, and its quality is our most essential asset. It is more persuasive than opinions.

“We’ve always done it that way” does not constitute a good argument for us.

We try out new things, are up with the times and are agile. For example, we respond quickly to problems and promptly implement solutions.

We think like Europeans and never forget our roots.

Our thinking isn’t German ‒ it’s European. This means that we look beyond national borders and see the big picture. Still, German SMEs are and will remain our most important and strongest partners.

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We excel in following through.

We give it our best for our users and for ourselves.

We make decisions quickly.
We take initiative and are not passive; we play a role in shaping our future and are leaders.

We always take responsibility for our own actions, take ownership of our actions and continuously examine and scrutinize our work.
After all, each of us is smart enough to make an active contribution and to reflect. We want to get involved instead of just working through the stack.

We foster a culture of openness.

We make issues transparent and discuss things openly. Studies say the “grapevine” is useful. We believe transparency is more productive. We want to speak with one another openly and eliminate taboos. This offers us the clear advantage of being able to act quickly.

We keep our word. Internally and externally, what we say should hold water – no rambling or empty words, and instead statements that mean something.

We communicate directly and constructively, actively ask for opinions and offer feedback. We communicate on an equal footing with one another and believe dialogue is the superior solution. We use feedback so that we can make progress together.

We act respectfully towards one another –

a statement we want to fully put into practice. We work together in a team that enjoys working together. Each individual understands the impact of their own work – we act cooperatively and considerately as we work. This also means that we are honest with ourselves and with others.