EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW MULTICHANNEL IS THE WINNING MODEL, COMBINING SERVICES, EXPERTISE AND CONVENIENCE Enrique Martinez Managing Director, Fnac Darty group Enrique Martinez, Managing Director of Fnac Darty group, tells us how the business, which was formed by Fnac’s purchase of Darty in July 2016, will change, following the sale of the Pinault family’s shares to Metro Group earlier this year. order to continue operating the Fnac model in the local market. It is a priority for us to be completely focused on the Fnac Darty integration and our main markets in Europe. How are you seeing sales channels evolving, and what are you doing to keep up with the times? a good economic model both for customers and for us. The group has introduced some quite revolutionary ways for consumers in-store to consult information about products – along with forums and os on online… How is this progressing? which is integrated in the stores through displays. We are very actively testing many other applications in stores, some of which are not entirely finalised yet. What are the biggest challenges in the sector today? Our main challenge is to defend value, for customers developments in the market in terms of product? The smart technologies and the connected products create new opportunities in different markets. Voicecontrolled technologies and connected home appliances will become standards in the near future. Another trend is to combine products and The Pinault family has been an incredible ally for many years, as it accompanied the transformation of our business model. Now that Fnac Darty has laid the foundations for its new group, we welcome a new shareholder who is willing to support and accompany the strategy set out by our Group and the teams who carry out that strategy. Ceconomy will be a reinforcement for the development of Fnac Darty. You recently divested the Brazilian division of the group. Why so? Though it had many assets, our Brazilian subsidiary lacked a critical size, which is key in retail. We want to focus on our operations in Europe since we have a lot of value to create from our merger with Fnac Darty. We are happy to deal with Cultura, the Brazilian leader in Culture Distribution, in Retail Evolution Fnac Darty Managing Director Enrique Martinez on Metro Group buy-in Retail has evolved tremendously for the past years, notably in terms of services. Fnac and Darty are great examples of players moving from traditional retail to a modern combination of stores and online sales. Multichannel is the winning model, combining services, expertise and convenience across our more than 700 stores. We can deliver a product in less than one hour in the main cities, with Our main focus is to complete a great human experience in-store, with all of the content available on our websites. Our mobile applications give our customers that access in a very efficient way, to the point that they can complete the transaction themselves and bypass the lines to collect their products. Recently we overhauled the Fnac Laboratory, The Lab, a real institution of the high-tech world with more content, and also for the industry. Combining nice and delightful products with great services and experience both before and after sales, in order to improve the overall experience for the customers. Through new technologies, we will be more effective in the future to manage the customer life cycle as well as the products themselves. What do you see as being the most interesting content, in particular on the TV market, which is also very interesting. Why do you come to IFA? It is a great opportunity to meet our main partners, share our vision and objectives, discover great new products and figure out how Fnac and Darty can be relevant to their success on our markets 22
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW Changhong – Focused on Growing European Business A new organisation to drive global growth and bring a full range of CE & HA products to market Early this year, Changhong created Changhong International Holding (HK) in order to facilitate the company's international expansion and branding. Yorkson Wang, Chairman of Changhong International Holding (HK), says that Changhong’s brand value has risen in recent years and was valued at US.3bn in 2016. At IFA 2017, our exhibits include AI Smart Home, an advanced and open Smart Solution, which is connected by IoT, Big Data and AI technologies. We are also showing Wall Paper TV, which is only 4mm thick. Your largest overseas manufacturing and operation base is in Europe. How is this progressing? Changhong maintain the growth in Germany, France, Czech Republic as the core market, and we have expanded to Italy, Slovakia, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal and other markets. We are trying our best to provide our products to more consumers in the region and ready to service more for our customers. In Europe we attach great importance to technology research and development and product quality. We established laboratories in Germany and France in 2014. Our European R&D centre was established in the Czech Republic to integrate the local European intelligence platform, and carry out product testing co-operation with several European famous enterprises. We are currently preparing new competitive products for Europe, such as Android TV, OLED TV, and curved TV. New products displayed at IFA will be listed in Europe this year. Can you tell us about Changhong’s globalisation? We make great effort to develop and cultivate independent brands and achieve further increase overseas, through strengthened product research and development, and enhance brand image and core competitiveness. Changhong plans to increase investment and construction in R&D and branding, to promote and accelerate the development of globalization. We have formed a professional international team and established 14 subsidiaries in Indonesia, Pakistan, Spain, the Czech Republic and other countries through sole proprietorship, joint venture, factory building and overseas acquisition. Changhong's Czech Republic factory produces more than one million TVs in Europe. To create an intelligent R&D platform and to strengthen R&D capability, we established a global model of agile R&D. Changhong have set up overseas R&D centers in the United States, Czech, Spain and other countries. Changhong formed a global R&D capability layout. By the end of 2016, brand sales revenue grew by 9% over the previous year, Changhong European business achieved an increase of 56%, Changhong Pakistan achieved an increase of 16%. Changhong continues to increase global brand investment, brand reputation keep rising, and now it is "first choice" of Chinese home appliance brand in Indonesia, the Czech Republic and other countries What are the differentiation points of Changhong? What makes your products different? Changhong, established in 1958, is a famous brand in China with good quality products. The Chinese trust the Changhong brand. It is a diversified enterprise, not a conventional one, but one of innovative technology. We have been building an entire industrial chain, including hardware, software and services, tanking intelligent strategy as a guidance to innovate development. Through the intelligent use of the internet and the internet of things, Changhong will achieve interconnection and intercommunication, mutual control and synergy among terminal devices of different brands, and will finally put the first totally synergic service mode of what we term “smart home under smart community” into effect. Brand internationalisation sees Changhong needing to transform, upgrade and enhance its core competence, and it is also the only way to realise the vision of becoming a globally respected enterprise Yorkson Wang Chairman, Changhong International Holding (HK) Ltd. IN 2016, CHANGHONG’S EUROPEAN BUSINESS GREW BRAND SALES REVENUE BY 56% www.ifa-international.org IFA International • Monday 4 st September 2017 23
