CONFERENCE REPORT
Detailing these challenges, he said: “Customer culture has changed, shareholder and financial markets have changed but this industry hasn’t and you are trapped between the two. Give me one example of one bricks-and-mortar retailer who is, today, a leading online player… The way of doing business has radically changed. It’s a completely new way of thinking about the customer’s needs. Our customer is digitally native and very demanding.” And, Mr Raisson had some harsh
words for retailers. “I’m going to be very tough with DIY retailers. You didn’t do the job. You stayed in the old model; a model based on the car industry, based on the size of the car park, based on what products you have in stock, or what product you have to push to make more profit. As a result, in France, for the first time we have seen the market share of the big box retailer decrease.” Explaining the sales process via ManoMano and the services provided to customers, Mr Raisson said: “Today with ManoMano, if you want to buy a swimming pool, you pick up your phone, you read reviews online, you chat with an expert (even at midnight), you pay the right price and it arrives on your doorstep. And, if you want, you can hire a super-Mano to install and fix your swimming pool. And, that’s what the customer wants today. A frictionless experience.” Whilst the culture of the customer has changed, Mr Raisson also believes the mindset has changed. “In the digital word, growth is the new EBIT and agility is the new stability,” he said.
“First of all, we don’t expect global leaders to be profitable anymore during the scale-up phase. Growth and market share are the new EBIT and shareholders today want to invest in growth. Just look at Amazon or Uber. Secondly, agility has replaced stability. “Today companies reinvent themselves every day and launch new businesses. They shorten the value chain. Just look at Google or Alibaba. Without added value we would die. We must continuously reinvent our business. ManoMano is just five years old and we have already launched three different business models in order to address the changing economy.”
A digital culture Addressing the second challenge, he lists as technical, Mr Raisson said: “Every month we seek new talents and new skills. Had you heard about a growth hacker or data scientist three years ago? We invent new jobs. We constantly need to develop new
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skills in order to convince millennials to join us and to work with us. Remember the survey launched last year by Dell, which said that 50% of the skills in a company would be obsolete in two years? Guess what, 85% of the recruiting positions in 2013 don’t exist today.”
He also extolls the virtues of using data to shape your business and serve your customer more effectively: “The DIY industry is one of the last industries not to use any data. Most of you are still relying on your internal buyers and your engineers in order to think for the customer. ManoMano uses data to serve the customer. “Our industry is changing radically. And the future lies with the customer. It’s only with technical profiles that you can master this data and understand the customer.” When it comes to the third challenge; customer-centricity, Mr Raisson believes many businesses say they are customer focused but fall short. A survey conducted by new ManoMano shareholder, General Atlantic was created to study “the blueprint DIY customer’s expectations”.
Mr Raisson explained the findings: “The customer wants to stay at home. They want the right products, they want the right price and they want quality. Customers want to go online and it’s our job to satisfy them, so we’ll do it with data. We know the extent that you can analyse massive data and we are in a unique position at ManoMano to track every customer journey. We built ManoMano to address these three challenges. We have a digital culture”
Call to arms
As well as satisfying its customer needs, ManoMano is also keen to satisfy the needs of its sellers. Mr Raisson explained: “We give sellers the tools to succeed in the new frontier. We created ManoMano by thinking of their customers and have developed services to address these sellers’ needs. We give brands and projects visibility, we have logistics, we have building services, we can handle customer service, we can do cross-border, we can share data to increase the sale.”
He concluded with both a stark warning to retailers but also an invitation to join forces: “Do you want to die because of Amazon, Google, or Alibaba? Do you share their values? We don’t at ManoMano. Our industry has a pool of great innovation. It has a capacity of imagination but you have to make a decision. “Together with ManoMano, with
our current values – our business and human values – we can take the DIY industry to the new frontier.”
10 AUGUST 2018 DIY WEEK 11
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