Your product is ready for Europe. What you need is a buyer, not another market report.
Herrotrade is your European market entry partner — the team that takes Korean manufacturers from first enquiry to a signed European customer. The people behind it have already done it.
The flight is 8,000 km. Finding the right person takes longer.
You make the trip — 8,000 km from Seoul. You're looking for a customer, a supplier, someone in R&D who can say yes. But when you arrive, the right person isn't easy to find. The front desk sends you to a sales contact who promises to pass your details on. Weeks later, nothing. You're back in Seoul, and the search starts over.
Nobody answers.
You write to the company. Nothing comes back. Or a sales desk promises to pass it on — and the person who can say yes never sees your name.
Technical details get lost.
The meeting is fast, in English, full of technical detail. One missed point, and the deal quietly dies.
Then you fly home.
The meeting went well. Then you are back in Seoul, eight hours ahead, and everything slows to email. The buyer picks the supplier who is close. Distance costs you the deal.
An introduction is not a customer.
Trade fairs, matchmaking events and contact lists open doors — and that is valuable.
What happens after the door opens is what turns a meeting into an order.
That is where our work begins.
Three things Europe taught us.
Not from reports — from lobbies, meeting rooms and test houses.
The right person doesn't publish their number.
The decision-maker — in purchasing, in R&D, in the supply chain — is found by asking in person, not by searching online. Directories lead to the front desk. The front desk leads back to Seoul. We keep asking until we're facing the person who can actually say yes.
Europe is twenty-plus markets wearing one name.
A buyer in Germany, a distributor in Spain and a Tier-1 supplier in France buy differently, in different languages, under different norms. Finding European buyers means entering countries one at a time — not a continent. We start where your product has the strongest case, and build from there.
A yes takes more visits than one.
In Europe, being sent away is part of the path. What changes the outcome is coming back — knowing your product as well as you do, and knowing the competition better than the buyer does. That is the work between the introduction and the order, and it is the work we stay for.
We sit beside you like we're part of your company. We find the real decision-maker — the person who can actually say yes. More than a contact list — investigators until the door opens, partners in the room until the order is signed.
A consultant in Seoul gives you advice. A partner in Europe gets you the order.
We're not describing Europe from a distance. We're your European partner, based where your buyer is — and we have the Korea side covered through our partner in Seoul, so nothing gets lost in translation on either side.
We're on the ground in Europe.
When there's a buyer to meet or a product to walk through a European test house, we're already there.
We go beyond advice.
A report is a starting point, not a result. We stay until you have a real European customer.
We've done it before.
A Korean product with no way into Europe. We got it in. Five years on, it is still selling.
Our goal isn't to stay forever. It's to build you a European business that runs without us.
You don't fly out chasing meetings. You don't sit in lobbies. You don't guess who to call. We do that part — you build the product.
We close the 8,000 km between your product and your buyer.
One better product. €1 million inside Europe's car industry.
We took a Korean product the European car industry didn't know it needed, got it approved, found the right buyers, and stayed in the room until it was selling.
Built for Korean manufacturers ready for Europe.
Herrotrade works best with companies that already sell well at home and are serious about European market entry.
You already make something that sells at home.
You're a manufacturer first, any sector.
You'd rather have one real European customer this year than a folder full of strategy decks.
Common questions.
Who will actually work on our project?
The people you meet in the first call are the people who do the work. No junior team. No account manager in between. The person in your first meeting is the person in your last one.
We already attend trade missions and matchmaking events. Why would we need you?
Keep them — introductions are valuable. They open doors. Our work begins after the door opens: verifying the real decision-maker, preparing the case in their language, and staying in the room until the order is signed.
We already have a list of European companies we want to approach.
Good — send it to us. In our experience, some names on a list are far stronger than others, and the difference is hard to see from Korea. Before anyone books a flight, we check each one: who actually buys, who has the volume, who is already locked into a competitor. You start with the ones worth the flight.
Our product is niche. Does this work outside automotive?
Our deepest track record is automotive. The method is the same in any technical B2B sector: find the decision-maker, verify the need in person, stay until the decision. If we look at your product and don't believe we can place it in Europe, we will tell you in the first call.
How long does European market entry take?
It depends what you make. Simple products can move fast. Technical products — car parts, industrial equipment — cannot. Testing with engineers takes the time it takes. If someone promises you a signed order in three months, they have not done this work. We would rather tell you the truth than what sounds good.
Do you handle CE marking and product certification?
Yes. CE marking, ECE R10, REACH, RoHS — whatever your product needs. We work with the test labs and notified bodies here in Europe, so paperwork is never the reason you are late.
Do we need to set up a company in Europe first?
No. Many manufacturers set up a European company before they have a single customer. Get the customer first. Then decide what you need. You do not build the office before you have the order.
How do you work, and what does it cost?
It depends on your product and your goals, so we do not have a price list. Start with a conversation. Tell us what you make, and we will tell you honestly whether Europe is worth it — and how we would work together if it is.
We're not a Korean company. Can you still help us?
Our focus is Korean manufacturers, but the way we work — finding the right European buyers, handling certification, and staying on the ground until you're selling — applies to other Asian manufacturers entering Europe too. If that's you, get in touch and we'll tell you honestly whether we're the right fit.