Visable defies the crisis and records record revenue again

Visable, the parent company of the B2B platforms Europages and wlw, continues to grow: In terms of figures, the Corona year brought the company sales of around CHF 61 million with high profitability. This is an increase of six percent. New customer business achieved an increase of 23 percent. Access figures have been rising steadily on both platforms since March 2020 and are on average almost 20 percentage points up on the previous year. Peter F. Schmid, CEO of Visable, sees the reason for this in the changed procurement processes that SMEs have been forced to adopt as a result of lockdowns and trade fair cancellations. "The developments of recent months have shown more clearly than ever that SMEs can only look to a successful future if they act digitally. The proof of this is our steadily rising access figures to Europages and wlw," he concludes about 2020.

wlw and Europages most frequently used B2B platforms in Europe

With more than 75,000 queries daily via the country domains wlw.ch, wlw.de and wlw.at, as well as Europages, with around 190,000 searches per day, Visable's B2B platforms were the most frequently used in Europe. But it was not only the access and revenue figures that grew in 2020. Visable created around 50 new jobs last year, bringing the number of employees to 410 at the Baar, Hamburg, Berlin, Münster and Paris sites.

Europages received search queries from 221 countries in 2020, most of them from France, Italy and Germany. Beyond Europe, buyers from North Africa, the USA, Asia and South America in particular searched via the platform. One query even came from the remote Christmas Islands. At wlw, search queries from the DACH region dominate. However, the USA and China are also in the top 10. wlw also received inquiries from a total of over 200 countries.

Major relaunch with investments in technology and brand identity for wlw

In September, "Wer liefert was" officially became wlw. A revised corporate design including a new logo and claim has since ensured even greater recognition value. The heart of the new wlw provides a special user experience: the artificial intelligence-based full text search replaced the category search and achieves even more relevant and accurate search results, according to reports. Another milestone: the wlw Connect search service became an equal search option alongside the classic search. The wlw Connect service completely relieves buyers of the search work. They only have to formulate their requirements and then receive qualified search results.

2021 holds further challenges for SMEs and opportunities for Visable

The new year will also demand a lot from the global economy. In many European countries, many areas of economic life continue to stand still. Already, numerous trade fairs have been canceled. "Every SME faces the question: How and where can new customers be reached and found? In this context, the importance of digital platforms and alternatives of trade shows will continue to grow significantly. Visable supports companies with its two own platforms and services to get through the new year as successfully as possible," explains Visable CEO Peter F. Schmid. He is thoroughly optimistic about 2021. "This year, we are again aiming for double-digit percentage growth and will continue to invest in our technologies. To do so, we will also expand our expertise with new talent and experts, helping SMEs gain more visibility on the global web and making procurement as easy and efficient as possible for buyers."

Source and further information