Eastern European partner boards meet in Wuppertal

Kick-off for the FORMAT concept 3.0 

How can the opportunities of digitalisation be used to establish target-oriented sales and marketing concepts? This was the question addressed by the partner advisory boards from four Eastern European markets during their sales meetings at E/D/E in Wuppertal.

High-growth markets were represented by the partner advisory boards from Hungary, which met in December 2022, from Poland, as well as from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which each travelled to Wuppertal in January. Poland stands out in particular with a 13 per cent increase in volume in 2022 compared to the previous year. “After a break of several years due to Corona, it was high time to meet our partners in person again and discuss current topics,” says Martin Ochelski, Sales Manager Austria, Switzerland, Eastern Europe EDE International: “We were able to welcome the advisory board and the dealer network from Hungary to Wuppertal for the first time, the other advisory boards last met here more than five years ago,” Ochelski continues. 

All the more welcome was the opportunity to get information on the spot about key topics such as marketing, purchasing optimisation and logistics. The visitors took away exciting impressions from the tour of the eLC Logistics Centre, among other things. The use of dispensing machines for even more flexible customer delivery was also discussed. The main focus of all three sales conferences was the topic “FORMAT concept 3.0”. After the person-oriented concept with advice directly at the sales counter and the catalogue-driven business, the course is now being set towards digitalisation in the third stage of market development. 

Interactive marketing

The goal is to connect with customers at all levels, in person as well as online and in social media. Catalogues continue to serve as sales support, but are increasingly being supplemented and replaced by digital channels from YouTube to LinkedIn. “The kick-off served to present the concept of interactive marketing as well as the medium-term planning for the coming years and to develop it further with the partner advisory boards,” Ochelski continues. 

New activities for 2023

Implementation will begin successively in the coming months: In addition to a new edition of the tool catalogue, which will be published in the middle of 2023, increased online activities are planned, including FORMAT landing pages in the respective national languages. To strengthen personal customer contacts, FORMAT marketplace events are also in preparation: in May for the Czech Republic and Slovakia, followed by Poland in June.