Brands Increasingly Need Fewer Intermediaries To Sell

Brands Increasingly Need Fewer Intermediaries To Sell : Dimas Gimeno is a benchmark in the world of retail and distribution, with more than 20 years of experience, four of them running El Corte Inglés. Today we interview him as the founder and CEO of Wow to talk about the latest trends in the industry.

How Is The Distribution Sector Right Now?

These are difficult times for all sectors, but distribution is probably one of its most complex moments for several reasons. 

First, by digitization. It has taken a long time to understand what this was about and it is difficult to find traditional companies that have made a good transition to the digital world. To this must be added the pandemic, logistics and transport costs, raw materials… 

And In The Case Of Small Businesses? 

Small businesses have the great advantage of proximity to the customer and specialization. The role that it can play in large nearby cities and knowing its client very well has been fundamental and we saw it in the pandemic. The problem is that it has to associate to cheapen its access to the digital world because it is very expensive. 

They should look for platforms. There are already initiatives from neighborhoods or towns that are beginning to be added. There the key is how to dump your inventory and how not to clash. We have to come up with formulas. One model would be to do like an Amazon of small businesses. I have seen initiatives in Latin America of platforms that supply products to small businesses, so that small businesses stay within proximity, but the merchandise is ordered from the platform. 

You Just Published A Book Called Reset Retail. How Can The Retail Sector Be Reset?

It is a title with a lot of meaning. As these have been very difficult years, the managers of the industry have dedicated themselves to putting out fires and have made little strategy. And what the title of the book intends to say is: ‘it’s not so much about being a firefighter, as it is about stopping, rethinking everything and being sure that you have a well-focused photo’. The message behind the book is that everything has changed. 

And How Is That Done?

The business of distribution is relatively easy: it’s buying the product that people want, trying to make it as unique as possible, and delivering and serving it to them in such a way that that customer repeats. It has been that way for centuries and centuries. What happens is that before, in scenarios in which supply and demand were more or less even, in the end, it was a question of doing fairly well. What technology and digitization have done is speed up all processes to such an extent that differentiation is extremely complex.

And If You Sell Brands?

Here we are experiencing another phenomenon and that is that brands increasingly understand that they do not need intermediaries to sell their products. In the past, since there was no Internet, to enter a country you had to associate with someone who was there and sell your products through third parties. Now, with digitization, you no longer need intermediaries.

How To Innovate, Then, To Attract Brands?

That’s what we’re trying to do at WOW. Give brands something totally different and innovative so that they relate to the customer in a different way. Before, the main loyalty tool was the vendors themselves. The corner store clerk knew the names of all his customers and was able to anticipate their needs. 

Shall We Go Back To The Physical Store? 

Commerce has been separated between physical and digital due to circumstances, but it is coming back together. In a country like Spain, digital retail does not exceed 20%. That means that there is 80% of the market is still in a physical environment. If I am a brand that is in the digital world, 

How Do Attract New Generations To Physical Stores?

Understand that we are talking about completely different codes of behavior. For starters, they communicate with the world in a different way. And I say this from experience because I have three at home. We are digital migrants. We have always communicated through the press, television, and radio and now we have integrated our traditional media and mixed it with the networks. We combine. 

And How To Work On This New Shopping Experience?

To begin with, we must fight against the pernicious dynamics of the 4Rs. What is the first thing I do when things go wrong? Cut. What is the first thing I cut? The Communication and Marketing department and we began to communicate poorly, which made things worse. 

You have to understand very well that your brand must transcend. Another thing is that you have to take great care of the product: nothing is worth it, I want you to make the product for me. The 4 R’s must be replaced by the 8 C’s: customer, community, content, curation, customization, culture, and circularity. 

What Have Been The Main Mistakes In This Adventure? 

Mistakes are permanent. We live in a world where we basically learn by doing. Right now the marked lines are erased. It is as if you were walking on a snowy mountain: the tracks have been erased and you have to do them yourself.