2025: Stress, sweat & rock and roll

As the headline suggests, this was by far the most challenging year in business for me.

We have achieved incredible things. We have reached a turnover of almost €20 million. This ranks us not only within the Czech Republic and Slovakia, but also within Europe among the leading providers of e-commerce services. That's the "rock and roll" I mentioned.

Yes, I got some gray hairs, and in some places it was cardio, but a different kind of cardio. But as we like to say internally, if it were easy, everyone would be doing it.

I know that for many colleagues, 2025 was one of the most challenging years. The level we have reached together is a challenge. High expectations, pressure for independence, performance, growth, profitability, synergies, cooperation, innovations, products, and responsibility to ourselves and investors take their toll.

This is my first New Year's THANK YOU to all my colleagues who are bravely facing this whirlwind of challenges. Without you, we would not be talking about the most successful year in the history of our companies today. We operate in a highly competitive industry, and yet we are able to grow.

One strong year is good. Two or three years are excellent. But when a company has been raising the bar for more than ten years, it is no coincidence – it is continuity and proof of resilience!

Acquisition of Pošta bez hranic

The merger of the companies after the acquisition started very well. I think we were all on the same wavelength. Later, day-to-day operations and new problems that we had not had to deal with before came into play.

The changes and projects were more challenging than we had anticipated. We sometimes disagreed on details, sometimes on fundamental issues. This is a new experience for me, but I see it as a necessary and ultimately positive part of merging and creating something new and much bigger.

To be completely honest, we still have a lot of work ahead of us. The most important thing is that our growth, functioning business model, and positive results in 2025 show us that we are heading in the right direction.

We set ourselves extremely ambitious goals. We did not manage to achieve all of them. I am learning to cope with that. It is not easy.

To put it in perspective. In terms of profitability and sales volume, we did very well this year in terms of our official plan. In addition, I have created another plan in my head—a certain vision of the company, the people, and our presence in the market. To be honest, we are not there yet, which frustrates me a little. However, it is not something that holds me back, on the contrary.

Imagine a curious little child who loves math but can't solve a difficult problem. They go through different stages.

At first, they are excited about the new challenge and happy with the first promising solution, which soon turns out to be a dead end. After a while, they find another one, and their enthusiasm is rekindled, but this solution is not correct either.

They keep trying. They even wonder if this problem is beyond their abilities. It annoys them, but in a healthy, sporting way. Despite constant fluctuations, he is driven by his love of mathematics and an unshakeable belief that he will solve the problem one day. And if the problem is beyond his capabilities, he wants to understand it so that he can solve similar situations more effectively and quickly in the future.

Yes, you guessed right, I am that curious boy who longs for knowledge and successful solutions. I have already successfully solved a few difficult problems, but some challenging ones are still waiting for me.

A joint corporate culture cannot be created by motivational slogans on the walls. Nor can anyone from outside write it into a manual for you. It is formed over years in corridors, informal meetings, events, business trips, and people coming and going. It is shaped when we experience hard falls, mutual disagreements, but of course also when we enjoy successes and victories. It grows stronger when we trust each other, listen to each other, and forgive each other. We go through all of this.

I told this to my colleagues, and I will tell you too, because it can serve as a model for other companies. For me, it is essential that we are united by a common good intention. A kind of positive affinity for our company and for what we are all part of. It is important to maintain faith in why we are doing what we are doing and where we are headed. If we have faith, we can face the difficult challenges that lie ahead. Please let us not forget this, especially when making difficult decisions that can sometimes divide us.

But enough philosophizing. I believe that we will accelerate mutual synergies even more significantly when we connect client accounts into a single platform. Right now, sales are being driven forward mainly by our excellent but busy salespeople.

One of the things we expect from a shared client account is the automation of our business, better use of synergies, more targeted communication of our services and products to e-shops, and improved conversion.

A look at SK-CZ e-commerce in 2026

How would it be if I didn't talk about others, right? If you want, check out my blog from last year for some interesting insights.

Some of my predictions came true, while others were a little off the mark. How do I see the CZ/SK scene at the moment?

I feel that when we have talked about problems, growth, or potential so far, we (especially us Slovaks) have always talked about Czech-Slovak e-commerce as a single market. As if we weren't two separate countries. Naturally, the proximity of markets, languages, customs, almost non-existent barriers to entry, and a fundamentally similar business environment have contributed to this.

However, 2025 was a turning point. The Czech Republic is booming, while Slovakia is stagnating. I dare to say that it will take us years in Slovakia to recover from what is happening here and start keeping pace with Czech e-commerce again.

Unfortunately, a combination of negative factors manifested itself in a short period of time (increased base tax rate of 23%, transaction tax, increased tax burden), instability in the business environment, a dramatic decline in investment, lower purchasing power of the population, strong foreign competition, and more.

I'm sorry to say this, but for the first time in about 15 years of working in e-commerce, we in Slovakia are starting to miss the boat.

I think that 2026 will also be a year of single-digit percentage growth for e-commerce. I estimate the Czech market at 8-9% and the Slovak market at 3-4%. I'm just guessing here, we'll see at the end of the year, and I'm taking bets from anyone who has a different opinion.

I feel that the greatest asset of an e-commerce entrepreneur in the coming years will be the ability to adapt quickly to constant change. This speed has always been present in e-commerce, but with the arrival of AI and Trump, I feel that what normally wouldn't happen in a decade has happened in a single year.

A few numbers from the books

• We achieved a turnover of €19 million, which represents approximately 12% YoY growth
• We transported 3.63 million shipments as part of cross-border logistics and our B2B express service
• We handled more than 780,000 customer communications in 18 languages, representing approximately 14% growth
• We processed more than 500,000 returns
• We traveled so many kilometers that we could have circled the globe 83 times

Our vision and next steps

Our vision remains unchanged – to build an export platform that will offer comprehensive services for expanding e-shops. One of the main drivers of growth will be our acquisition, which we will announce soon, and we believe that over time there will be others that we are working on.

One of the pleasant discoveries last year was that our vision and idea of connecting resonated with several companies. They contacted us with offers of partnership or the possibility of acquisition. We see a trend of market consolidation within the e-commerce supply chain, and we want to be part of it.

We have the ambition, the resources, and already strong experience to be such a consolidator in the areas of logistics, e-commerce tools, and support services. If you provide services within e-commerce and what I am writing makes sense to you, give me a call.

Do I have what it takes?

Many entrepreneurs have big egos. They make it clear to themselves, their colleagues, and those around them that they are successful thanks to their talent, consistency, innovation, etc. I'm not judging, just stating a fact. I have the opposite problem. I realized that in the 12 years I've been in business, I've never once thanked myself internally. It was only recently that I woke up to this, and even though it's a step outside my comfort zone, I'd like to give voice to my inner thoughts with the following words:

Tomáš, thank you, good job! Be strong, persevere, and trust yourself. You can do it!

May my "self-praise" be an encouragement to all entrepreneurs and managers who doubt themselves every day, despite their successes, wondering if they are good enough. You are!

To recap the recap

Allow me to conclude by once again sincerely thanking my colleagues for their dedication and strong nerves in 2025. I wish not only them, but also you, the market, and myself a less stressful 2026, good decisions, and good health.

See you soon!