Saint-Gobain India- The Growth Saga
Saint-Gobain India- The Growth Saga
“Acting every day to make the world a more beautiful and sustainable place to live.”- Saint-Gobain
Saint-Gobain is a name synonymous with building, designing, manufacturing, and distributing materials that are important for the well-being of an individual. Having an illustrious history of more than 350 years, Saint-Gobain ventured into the Indian markets in the year 1996. Today, it is a leader in its major businesses and has 22 manufacturing sites in India, sales offices in all cities and major industrial towns and an extensive dealer network. For Saint-Gobain, India presents a vast opportunity for growth. Over the years, the group has made significant investments in India and has achieved strong and profitable growth and has built an enviable reputation. It is known as the symbol of strength, reliability, innovativeness and advancement in technology.
“There is a strong culture of forward-thinking and innovation among Saint-Gobain’s employees.” - @Pierre-andré De Chalendar, Chairman of Saint-Gobain
The Onset
Saint-Gobain follows the framework of the 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion). The group had successfully followed this business strategy in India for a long time. It developed specialized marketing and advertising strategy. It extensively promoted itself to purchasers and had allocated an enormous amount of resources into brand building. Lots of advertisements helped the brand to carve a niche for itself in the market and targeted the end-users. High market shares and an outstanding performance helped it to improve its brand value and visibility. The aggressive marketing strategy coupled with an enormous sales team played a pivotal role in establishing supremacy in the global and Indian markets.
The Transition
Over the last two years, Saint-Gobain has reinvented its strategy and has increased its presence and reach to the end-users by following the B2C model, thanks to the company’s leader’s contribution @Santhanam B, CEO of Saint-Gobain, Asia Pacific & India region.
It makes immense business sense to directly sell their products to the end-users. One can get instant feedback from the end-users and can control the way one interacts with the consumers. Thanks to the simplified structure that is closer to the markets, it makes it advantageous for the group to build its expertise. It can also support the local activities in research and development, marketing, technological and industrial performance, and performance in distribution.
By changing the marketing strategy, Saint-Gobain has now opened a gamut of opportunities. By reaching the end-users directly it has considerably reduced the third party interventions. There is a large pool to target and sell.? The unlimited market space enables the customers to shop at their convenience and provides them with a huge range of products. With the shift of focus to the end-users, the group can now serve its customers much better and provide better services. This also helped in allocating the resources in a more organised manner and making it more productive.
But B2C model comes with its own set of problems. It can be seen through research that B2C models do not let long-standing relationships be formed with the customer. Also, the product sold is in small quantities and not in bulk. Also, the competition in this model is cutthroat.?
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The Strategy
To overcome the complications posed by the model, Saint-Gobain has been rigorously marketing on social media platforms and creating its presence on the world wide web. It can reach consumers on a large scale through the web and various social media platforms. The recent pandemic has accelerated this trend and has shown us the importance of e-Commerce and building client relationships. This has also led to improving the services and meeting client satisfaction. To achieve this higher client satisfaction the group is following a three-fold approach.?
The digital transformation has helped in improving commercial efficiency, customer satisfaction and loyalty. It has also impacted the work culture and has created new career paths. Congratulations to Mr. @P. Padmakumar for his great work for developing a healthy and transparent work culture.
Over the years quirky taglines and marketing strategy has been used to attract Indian customers. “Dekho magar side se”, Give your home a new avatar in seven days”, “Some truths can never be hidden”. While some of the taglines have been inspiring and motivating like “Building our environment together”, “We are improving daily life”, “Invent yourself reshape the world”, Saint-Gobain also launched its brand campaign that highlighted the purity of its glass apart from the clarity that it is renowned for. The focus of the Ad campaign was to institute the fact that glass can be measured for purity as well, just like other precious metals. Through consistent research & development and world-class technology, the PPM of iron content was brought down to 654 in all their products. The lesser iron content makes the glass clearer and purer.
Recently, Saint-Gobain has heavily invested in the brand concept “MyHome”, by offering solutions to customers for products including windows, shower cubicles, ceilings, kitchen and wardrobe shutters, roofing products and mirrors. It is a huge opportunity for organised players in this sector. The strategy of the company is to gain a share of the fragmented downstream markets and create new categories, is going "phygital" by combining its physical stores with digital experience to homeowners. “MyHome” physical stores have come up across India. All the solutions provided by Saint-Gobain are made available under one roof. The customers can get a real-time experience and can visualise how their homes will look like.
The Story of Building Trust?
A name you can associate with comfort, performance, health and respect for the environment. The group’s vision to be the leader in sustainable construction and improving the day to day life of consumers with high-performance solutions sets it apart from its competitors. Social and environmental responsibility is not considered as restraints but as a constant source of enthusiasm to create a model of long-term value. Saint-Gobain has set the highest standards in the markets in which they operate, with an expectation of exemplary behaviour and continuous improvement. With its superior quality of product offerings, better customer management, and futuristic approach, is truly a brand to be reckoned with. It is a leader in the industry and its approach to reaching the customers and fulfilling their needs is commendable.?
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