Globalisation occurring worldwide encourages private businesses to move into the digital space and opens up development opportunities in the international market. While this mostly affects private legal entities, the public sector is not lagging behind. A perfect example is the Lithuanian Mint, UAB Lietuvos monetų kalykla managed by the Bank of Lithuania, whose copyrighted works today can be purchased online not only by customers in Lithuania but also worldwide. The success story is shared by Linas Veikalas, the head of the Marketing and Commercial Department of UAB Lietuvos monetų kalykla, temporarily serving as the company’s acting CEO, and Uosis Sturys, the head of the marketing agency Sėkmingi, which works with the Lithuanian Mint.
Market conditions forced us to look for new ways
With the rapid decline in the demand for circulation coins and, consequently, the revenue from core activities, the Lithuanian Mint had to look for new business directions to maintain competitiveness in the market. A feasibility study conducted in 2020 showed that creating collectible coins was one of the potential development opportunities. “Since until then, the Lithuanian Mint only provided manufacturing services and had no experience in creating copyrighted works, we had to conduct a thorough study – we analysed and compared market participants, product trends, pricing, and distribution channels,” says L. Veikalas about the start of collectible coin minting.
One of the first steps in the new business direction was to obtain a license from a central bank to mint coins. Since the Lithuanian Mint aimed to create coins for the global market from the very beginning, an agreement was reached to collaborate with the New Zealand Mint – it provided a license for coin minting, and the Central Bank of Niue granted a denomination that distinguishes coins from ordinary medals.
“We released the first coins in 2021. We had a really good start – within a year, we created and released 21 unique collectible coins, with the most popular series being Fairy Tales, which still remains at the centre of numismatic attention. Also, there is quite a lot of interest in the Love Myths and Mythical Creatures series,” assures the head of the Marketing and Commercial Department of the Lithuanian Mint. According to him, successfully released coins are those whose sales exceed 50% of the total circulation within the first month of release. “Last year, we had 14 such coins. We can also be proud of several cases where the entire circulation of coins was sold during the pre-sale period!”
While the company had been involved in e-commerce before, it did not allocate many resources to professional digital marketing. “We used to limit ourselves to social media posts, but after noticing the potential of e-commerce, we set a goal to double e-sales in the first year and attract more foreign customers. First and foremost, we significantly expanded the assortment of our online store. We also needed to make a more serious investment in digital marketing,” says L. Veikalas. In 2020, before starting to work with the Sėkmingi agency, sales of the Lithuanian Mint amounted to almost 91 thousand euro, while in 2021, when the goal was set to double sales, they reached almost 455 thousand euro, a fixed increase of 400 %.
During the first half of 2022, sales of the Lithuanian Mint e-commerce increased by as much as 453 % compared to the previous year, and there is certainly no sign of stopping. “Currently, the expansion of e-commerce is one of the priorities in the company’s strategy, so we set high goals for it and allocate more resources,” explains L. Veikalas.
Digital marketing entrusted to the agency
“Choosing online sales as one of the main distribution channels for the Lithuanian Mint’s products, we realised that digital marketing tools would be needed to attract traffic, so we started looking for marketing specialists. When selecting them, we relied not on financial criteria but on recommendations. That’s how we became friends with the Sėkmingi agency. Their team listened to our expectations, developed a digital marketing strategy, and, based on analytical data, significantly increased both traffic and sales,” shares L. Veikalas.
According to the representative of the Lithuanian Mint, smooth cooperation was influenced not only by the professionalism of the partners but also by openness and flexibility. “Working in the manufacturing sector, especially when creating new, technologically complex coins, plans do not always match reality, so it is very important to be able to adapt to circumstances. We appreciate that Sėkmingi constantly provides good insights, creative ideas, and can effectively implement them, making good use of the marketing budget.”
Uosis Sturys, the head of the Sėkmingi marketing agency, says that when starting to work with a new customer, it is always important to delve into the specifics of their business, test audiences, and understand the user journey. “Working with a product like collectible coins is not very simple. However, during the first few months of working with the Lithuanian Mint, we thoroughly studied the Central European market, collected and analysed data, and tested certain things. It turned out that there are coins that are more suitable for gifts, while others attract collectors who believe they will sell them at a higher price in the secondary market later on. Since the purchasing power of the latter, or in other words, the customer lifetime value (CLV), is higher than that of gift seekers, we focused on numismatists both on the Google platform and on social media.”
Email marketing remains powerful
The agency’s director is pleased that the team managed to change the customer’s preconceptions about certain digital marketing tools. One of our proposals was to effectively use and expand the existing customer database by introducing the audience to new products through newsletters. This idea didn’t immediately appeal to our customer, but soon we changed his mind,” says U. Sturys. The CEO of the Lithuanian Mint echoes this sentiment: “Initially, we thought that newsletters were not an effective tool, but Sėkmingi quickly managed to dispel this myth. Our audience consists of loyal customers, so newsletters are a great way to inform them about new products or share behind-the-scenes insights into coin creation.”
Newsletters, according to the marketing specialist, are almost a cost-free marketing tool (you just need to pay the monthly platform fee) that can significantly contribute to e-sales. “Typically, newsletter communication pays off if you have more than 1000 subscribers. For example, when we started working with the Lithuanian Mint, it already had about 18 thousand subscribers, so it’s no surprise that our first newsletter, introducing the Blue Tale coin, generated sales of almost 8 thousand euros,” says U. Sturys. Moreover, this digital marketing tool allows automating some processes related to abandoned carts or similar product recommendations to the customer.
In the future, the Lithuanian Mint sees itself as a sustainable company with many loyal customers worldwide. “We want the name of the Lithuanian Mint be associated with impeccable quality, long-lasting and valuable products,” says the acting CEO of the Lithuanian Mint. One of the company’s goals is to achieve a turnover of 1 million euros from online sales and establish a strong presence in the German and Austrian markets, where the culture of collecting has deep traditions.