In this episode of The Orita Podcast, Aaron Schwartz sits down with Daniel Höhnke, General Manager of EMEA at Andzen, for a candid conversation about what it really takes to scale ecommerce across borders.

From launching one of Germany’s earliest online furniture experiments to leading CRM strategy across global brands, Daniel shares what he’s learned moving from merchant to agency life and why international growth is far more nuanced than most U.S. brands expect.

Together, they unpack:

• Why Germany, France, Spain, and the UK behave like completely different markets, not one region

• The biggest mistake U.S. brands make when expanding to Europe (hint: English isn’t enough)

• How GDPR changed the game and why it’s no longer the real barrier

• Why personalization maturity in the UK still outpaces much of mainland Europe

• The hidden complexity of Shopify Markets + Klaviyo in multi-country setups (and what finally got easier)

• What an “AI-first” CRM agency really looks like internally and how that mindset compounds client results

• How empathy, segmentation, and regional nuance unlock real growth across EMEA

This episode is a masterclass in international expansion, CRM strategy, and why deep customer understanding still beats tool obsession.

If you’re a U.S. brand eyeing Europe, or a European brand scaling globally, this one will sharpen your thinking fast.

👥 Meet the guest

Daniel Höhnke, GM EMEA at Andzen

🎙 Hosted byAaron Schwartz, Co-Founder & Co-CEO at Orita.ai

🎧 Chapters

[00:00] Meet Daniel Höhnke: From Magento 0.6 to Global CRM Leader[02:34] Why I Left the Brand Side for Agency Life (No Regrets)[04:59] The German Ecommerce Bubble and Why It Stayed Closed[07:37] AI-First Ecommerce: What That Actually Means in 2026[10:11] Martech Overload: How Brands Choose the Wrong Tools[12:47] Europe Is Not a Market (And That’s Your Advantage)[15:25] US Brands Expanding to Europe: Do This First[17:41] GDPR Panic vs. Reality: What Actually Matters Now[20:29] The International Playbook: Scaling Smart Across EMEA

🌐 Check out Orita.ai for more episodes of The Orita Podcast, where we sit down with the most interesting operators, marketers, and founders in e-commerce to talk about what’s working right now. Hosted by the Orita team. Orita uses machine learning to help brands send smarter, more profitable marketing, by figuring out who actually wants to hear from you and when.

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