Pavel Gekhtin: "The value of live communication has not yet been canceled"

The President of the company "Analpa" Pavel Gekhtin says that of all types of business that he is engaged, shoe - most lovely. For team him employees - also. In every case those people, With which we had to meet in the officespend at work Not only days but evenings из-за favorite thing. And the most the exact word for determining the office atmosphere of Analpa is “goodwill”. Is transmitted Is this enthusiasm for the company's retail partners? And if the yes how?

— Paul let's get started from the global issue: the current decline in sales in retail due only to general economic reasons or retail somewhere, in some moments could work more efficiently?

- Let's start with the fact that the decline in sales did not affect everyone. Sales figures for some of our partners are even higher than in the same period last year. Some of our clients did indeed lose sales, and here, apart from the global economic crisis, I would single out three key problems: margin, assortment and work with the supplier.

Product markups are a very creative process. On the one hand, there is a formula according to which our retail partners considered the sale price before the crisis, on the other hand, there is a market price above which the buyer is not ready to purchase the product. Our shoes are sold well with a mark-up from 60 to 100%, unfortunately, customers often put a higher price, which is why the sales process is slowed down or the shoes are not sold at all.

Until all retail operators agree that it is not “added value” that determines the success of a business, but “turnover” of funds, there will be problems with sales.

The second problem is the presence in the assortment of stores of competing models. Large networks hardly allow this, but even if they have such problems, then what about the rest ?! Working with the assortment matrix avoids duplication.

— If bye don't cross to the third paragraph - work supplier… How you thinknumber of shoe stores we enough or redundant?

- In Russia, it is super-excessive. I believe that after this crisis, most likely by the end of the 2009 year, random stores in the chains will close. But new, stronger ones will open. The quality level of stores will increase.

— And how much Do you need all the stores?

- The number of sales in pairs is reduced. Accordingly, the number of stores should decrease. I think at least a third.

— What does “random shops” mean, how could they appear?

- Many chains opened stores randomly - when developers offered a good place, and who the consumer is, what a competitive environment - these issues remained in the background.

As a result, the owners of one or three stores now turned out to be stronger than networkers, because they are better at owning the situation and closer to the buyer. They have everything worked out, and sales efficiency per square meter is the same as networkers have never dreamed of.

By the way, this is one of the reasons that we have changed our approach to the marketing analysis of our collection. What do we want? So that our shoes at the retailer be sold. And the tighter we work with each other, the better the sale. Last year, as an experiment, we selected about 30 large and medium networks, in which we constantly monitored sales of our brands. We needed to understand what sells well and why, what should be the price, what is the range. In August, we invited the buyers of these networks to select a new summer collection. Each buyer came with his assortment matrix, in which the lion's share was made up of classic models and comfortable low-heeled shoes. Undoubtedly, this approach is a win-win. We had to “comb” the collection to the needs of our customers: we left 60 from the 12 pads on the platform, removed bright bold colors and some of the high hairpins. Only at the insistence of our designers, we did not remove purple, turquoise, pink sandals from the collection.

Studying the results of sales, we came to the conclusion that, first and foremost, regardless of price, bright colored shoes on platforms were sold this season.

As a result, we decided that next time we will invite small business owners to the selection in addition to the buyers-networkers. In our opinion, they feel very well what their customers need. Another conclusion we came to: you need to trust yourself and your designers more.

-That is you the “playing staff” of buyers has changed. Touched is it the terms of the procurement?

- Customers and partners remained the same, we just changed the approach to confirming the collection in production. As for sales, then, like most system companies in the market, we have changed the terms of sales contracts. From formal norms, we moved on to real ones. We have not confirmed any orders without prepayment. I can say that the last time we collected this amount of money before the start of the season in 1995. For contracts, we ask customers to provide copies of constituent documents and guarantees from business owners (this is more for security purposes).

- Prepayment - This is a good way to get an order confirmation. And what then? Should supplier control sales of its brand in retail? If should how?

- If the retail client has a large volume of purchases, it is clear that you need to be in contact with him constantly. But the most indicative customers for us are those who buy one box - they need turnover, therefore, they feel the demand best. And they will most likely tell us if something suddenly went wrong as we and they would like.

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If we talk about the regularity of communication with clients, then, it seems to me, a weekly report is enough. Another question is the depth of communication. One can’t just ask: “Well, how are you doing there?” The supplier should receive a sales report, which, among other things, contains two very important parameters: the sale price and the quantity delivered / sold at all points of sale separately. As a rule, we get a report in general for all stores of the company, but this, as the average temperature in the hospital, is not indicative. And if any difficulties arise, we have to make a lot of efforts to understand where exactly and because of what they arose. There would be detailed statistics, everything would be faster and easier.

I can say that for those companies that provide us with detailed and regular reports, we are moving forward on many issues. For the same partners who trade at the retail price recommended by us, we provide additional discounts or reserve goods for further sorting.

— Who and how thrown out for sales brand in the shop - supplier or seller?

- It is clear that the brand owner should stimulate its sales in the store. This is a postulate. In most cases, this is a mutual process, since it is important for both the supplier and the seller. The initiator, it seems to me, should be the owner of the brand. But our brand owners have too much aplomb to seriously deal with it. Although there are very, very few really recognizable brands in our country. Again, a lot depends on what budget the company is able to invest in advertising its brand. In Russia, there are almost no truly rich companies that could seriously invest in brand development.

Our company has a separate paragraph in the contract in which we prescribe our mutual actions in the field of marketing. Another question is that in the low and medium-low segments, the brand is not the primary factor in the decision to purchase. But in any case, some joint actions on the ground must be done. It works.

— Are you ready you pay for special display of your brand in the shop, for stimulating initial purchase for retention customers?

- If the keyword is “pay,” then no. If the keyword is “special layout”, then yes, we will help. First of all, we are ready to support those customers who sell our shoes well. In the second - those who are trying very hard to sell it. In the third - all other sellers of our brands.

— How often you are in those stores where your brands are sold?

- Our company has a whole sales support department. Specialists of the department appear in the office once a week, the rest of the time they go around our customers ’stores both in Moscow and the region, and beyond. Based on the results of their trips, we formulate recommendations both for our sales and collection development departments, and for customers. Most of our partners listen to the recommendations of our specialists. Everyone wins, agree.

— Shoe collection speed is very important for shoe suppliers to shops. What is the most effective way for you: shipping through distribution centers in the regionsShipping by a logistics company, tandem of your logistics and logisticians seller, pickup by retailer?

- For us, the best option is the tandem of our logistics and customer logistics. Logistics in the season is no less important than the organization of sales in the store itself. I can share the unique experience of our partners, this is one of the most powerful regional networks in the Central District. They have organized a system of a round-the-clock warehouse: in the evening they receive the goods, sort at night, in the morning it is already on sale. This allows them to work very quickly. As a result, almost the entire collection is sold at the planned prices, and the rest at the end of the season usually does not exceed 5%.

— But as is it more convenient for you to work when each store in the chain has the right to place orders or when orders are placed centrally?

- In fact, we would be better if each store was independent. Our customers have stores that are unequal in terms of cross-country ability and sales volumes, and the order, as a rule, is done entirely on the network - this is not always good. It would be more convenient if the features of all points were taken into account and procurement with logistics was adjusted to them. There is one more practice adopted by companies that could be simplified: sometimes a situation arises such that some models fall into the category of scarce in one store network, but are present in abundance in another. And for some reason, instead of making transfers of goods within the network, the company begins to order shoes from the supplier. As a result, the most hit models are not implemented at 100%.

— About what can you dream now?

- I think that you can dream about a lot. The shoemaker’s main dream is to have winter in winter and summer in summer. That there were no strong currency surges. So that, going into a shoe store, to see a crowd of happy buyers, and on the street to stand out from the total mass of people with your shoes on your feet or with a bag with the brand logo in your hand.

... I do not understand people who believe that the shoe business is only a job. This is a very pleasant thing. Every season you start building a business from scratch, because only a beautiful collection can bring success, no matter how strong your brand is.

— What Do you think your main achievement?

- My main achievement in the shoe business is our big friendly family. I am proud of our team that people like to go to work. By the way, we try not to hire those who worked in other shoe companies, we prefer to raise professionals within the company. We have beautiful collections, very popular both before and now. I pride myself on partnering with customers. Sometimes they call me to consult not even the heads of client companies, but their managers. Agree, this is not only a sign of our authority, but also the best manifestation of friendship and partnership between a supplier and a retail company.