CHANGING THE FACE OF RETAIL WITH DMV
Formulating a full Structural Assessment to engage stakeholders within leading German Distributor, DMV, inspire the organisation’s sales force and overcome disruptive factors facing their industry. Cosaris conducted a full assessment of DMV’s organisational structure to build an impactful learning experience for all its internal and external stakeholders to improve collaboration. The partnership transformed DMV’s, processes and synergies whilst providing a detailed roadmap for stakeholder engagement and organisational restructure. Cosaris added real value for DMV’s new service model and customers, providing time and cost savings, connecting their workforce and solidifying their brand’s goal.
DMV
Bad Pyrmont, Germany
120 employees
Retail, Distribution, Consumer Goods
DMV Diedrichs Markenvertrieb is a leading German distributor and service provider, for branded health, beauty, cleaning and washing products.
Top Challenges
- Identifying new customers
- Engaging distributor network
- Enhancing internal communication and collaboration
- Educate their manufacturers on particular retail insights
- Utilise internal and external synergies
Why Cosaris?
- Connected to us through our work with ESMA member organisation
- Ability to turn complex ideas to actionable strategies
- Decades of industry knowledge and a core network
- A unique approach to research and presenting data
Key project successes
- A full survey of manufacturers which tested the water for potential new service for DMV
- Providing target-oriented data and strategies, new business model improving sales and adding value for both retailers and branded manufacturers
- Enhancing communication and collaboration across DMV and its stakeholders
THEIR CHALLENGE
The retail industry is evolving at pace, so order-taking and the salesforce processes have become outdated and increasingly old-fashioned. More tech and centralised warehousing have weakened DMV’s position in the supply chain leading to an impact on costs and less use of its salesforce.
DMV approached Cosaris to work on a project to evaluate, design and introduce a new service product they could offer existing and new clients to leverage their existing salesforce.
A BESPOKE SOLUTION
The retail industry has changed beyond what anyone could predict in recent years and DMV were keen to discover how they could keep up with the trends.
At Cosaris we help transform organisations to do just that and collaborate with all their stakeholders to discover how they can best adapt, not just to current market movements but in a sustainable, circular approach to industry changes too.
Cosaris arranged internal and external analysis and investigated DMV’s organisational structure, processes and synergies, providing a detailed roadmap for stakeholder engagement and organisational restructure. In addition, Cosaris connected with DMV’s competitors and organisations outside the retail industry, to showcase how their stakeholders and teams were collaborating and what best practices could suit DMV.
“I first approached Cosaris to work with us after seeing Rene Schneider give an interesting presentation in Brussels [for trade association ESMA]. I felt Cosaris could help us with ideas to overcome the disruptive factors we are facing within our business.
“We had an initial kick-off meeting where we discussed the topics for the project and the issues that were most pressing and relevant. Part of the project also involved surveying manufacturers and retailers to see if there was a demand for a new kind of service. In addition, Cosaris looked at our competitors, what their sales teams are doing and what is happening not only in our industry but in others as well.”
A 360º CONNECTION
Learning
Knowledge is power and at Cosaris we empower our partners with only the best and most impactful knowledge we can provide.
For DMV, we knew they were keen to focus on a new service product so we gathered all relevant data and insights to deliver a full-service design concept with which they could pursue the new product knowing it would be beneficial to all their stakeholders. Cosaris interviewed internal and external stakeholders (customers, manufacturers, retailers, team members and people outside the industry) to provide 360º resources covering all the research and strategy ideas necessary to deliver this new service product from every conceivable angle.
Our research and presentation allowed DMV to learn from what the industry was doing and what its stakeholders want or don’t want, whilst also establishing a clear roadmap on how to bring the new service product to life.
Markus Spieker, Commercial Director at DMV, said: “Cosaris arranged internal and external analysis, looked at our organisational structure, processes and synergies, and conducted in-depth interviews with existing and potential customers before developing a detailed plan for the new service and necessary changes in our organisation.”
Collaboration
Following the Structural Assessment which produced positive results in overall internal communication and focus on new direction for DMV, we also developed a business plan for further expansion and to create a new innovative service for DMV’s customers.
Our partnership with DMV led to better utilisation of existing teams and infrastructure whilst also adding additional value in store for both retailers and branded manufacturers.
In addition to bringing together stakeholders within DMV and its network, we also looked at the organisation’s competitors, what their sales teams are doing and what is happening outside the industry to bring a wider network to the data and allow DMV to benefit from cooperating with innovative ideas and insights outside their normal way of thinking.
Markus Spieker, Commercial Director at DMV, said: “With Rene, we set about developing a business plan for further expansion and to create a new innovative service for our customers. This will allow us to better utilise our existing sales teams and add additional value in store for both retailers and branded manufacturers.”
Engagement
Sometimes we need to remember not everyone in our organisation knows the exact same information we do!
For DMV, we were approached to engage their internal stakeholders across all their teams but also involve manufacturers, retailers and other industry insiders to truly establish where the organisation was positioned at the time and how to best approach new commercial undertakings.
Not every stakeholder across DMV is aware of all the intricacies of stocks, design, shelf placement or listing fees so we engaged with stakeholders across the board to discover any knowledge gaps and to learn from them how they would best be served by a new service product.
One of the major benefits of asking stakeholders in the right way is we bring them into the conversation and then they’re engaged and keen to discuss opportunities and possibilities that might have been missed if they had not been involved or allowed to collaborate.
Experiences
In some projects, it’s not about chasing a goal but making the journey an experience for every stakeholder.
For DMV we delivered more than just insights into a new service product, we provided a full-service stakeholder engagement and strategy planning experience.
By connecting them with new stakeholders via a shared experience of surveys, store visits, interviews and workshops, we essentially gave their idea a test-run in real customer environments without the expense of having to create and build all that infrastructure.
The experience allowed them to learn, work together and formulate a working plan of their idea and its impact which they can then use, modify and continue to adapt and grow in coming weeks, months and years. Working with Cosaris gave DMV the flexibility and adaptability to overcome disruptive factors by being trailblazers themselves.
Markus Spieker, Commercial Director at DMV, said: “The experience has been very beneficial for us. Rene is extremely professional and target-oriented. He consistently gave 100%.”
