The Mover December 2012

34 The Mover ● December 2012 ● www.themover.co.ukPROFILE: INTER S&R“We are seeingmore people comeinto the businessfrom other areasof the industry ...”Àngels Gallardo● Left to right: Elisabeth San Nicolás, M. Dolores Martínez, Catherina Stier, Miriam Acedo and Mari Carmen García.Dealing with the recession –the Spanish wayWherever you are in the world your business will have been touched by the worldwiderecession. In some countries, such as the UK, we think we have had it pretty bad. Butelsewhere the effects have hit even harder. In this interview with Àngels Gallardo andCatherina Stier, International Director and Manager for Inter S&R in Spain, Steve Jordanlooks at some of the decisions they have had to make to keep the business healthy.Inter S&R was started 20 yearsago by M. Dolores Martinez,Àngels Gallardo’s mother. Shehad been working in theindustry for some years, includingwith Interdean in Spain, but thetime had come to start a business ofher own. She still owns and runs thecompany and is involved every day.The company originally started inBarcelona then opened a branch inMadrid ten years later. The officesin Barcelona are still bigger than inMadrid but more crews run out ofthe capital. In 2005 the companyopened an office in New York toservice enquiries from Spanishpeople, mainly those working forgovernment agencies and multinationalcompanies, who wished tomove home.Àngels joined in 2004 at a timewhen the Catalan government wereencouraging companies to becomemore international. She spent fiveyears in New York, returning to Spainonly after the birth of her son and● M.Dolores Martinez, seated, and Àngels Gallardo.when the office was then established.“We started in a rented office in theCatalan trade centre in NY beforemoving into a Business Centre,”she explained. “It is just a salesoffice with all the work being subcontractedto partners that we havechosen very carefully. It’s just apoint of contact for the Spanishcommunity in Spain.”Catherina joined the company in2006 and has enjoyed the businessever since. “I like the people andthe fact that every day is different,”she said.Working with the recessionÀngels explained that when therecession hit in 2009, things hadto change. “At that time we wererunning with around 55 people. Wehad to make cuts and had to worktwice as hard to get the sameamount of business as before.” Thecompany now has around 40 peopleemployed.Part of the problem was that InterS&R’s corporate customers changedtheir objectives. “Before they justwanted a smooth stress-free move,”Àngels explained. “But they had tocut costs themselves so their maingoal was to keep the cost down.The quality of the service becameless important.”The competition changed too.Many moving companies started tocut corners to cut costs. “I don’tknow exactly what they are doingbut I know the prices they chargeand there is no other way to do it.One way is to use more temporarystaff.”Not only are moving companiescutting costs but there are morecompetitors entering the markettoo. “We are seeing more peoplecome into the business from otherareas of the industry,” explainedCatherina. “Courier services, cleaningcompanies, even shipping lines areall offering removals services now.”It would have been easy for InterS&R to follow the market down and,to some extent at least, its marginshave been squeezed. But they havemade a stand when it comes to thequality of the service. “All our crewsare on the payroll and all our vehiclesare inspected and legal for the road,”explained Catherina. The companyhas also avoided the temptation tofollow any business at any cost. “Ifpeople just want to load a containerthemselves we suggest they godirect to the shipping line. We don’twant to get involved with that sideof the market. We have to keep ourlevel and our standards to ensurethat we will be here long term.Maybe we took the difficult way.”Maybe they did, but Inter S&R didmake a stand and have already seenimprovements. 2009 was very bad,2010 and 2011 were better, and sofar 2012 has shown continued