Partnership, passion and trust

Partnership, passion and trust

How Adrian Mădărășan, the business manager of Maresi Foodbroker and his sales team manage to build and strengthen the partnerships with retailers to bring the brands from Maresi’s portfolio on the shelves of as many stores as possible.

What are the pillars of Maresi’s sales strategy in Romania?

I would define them as the Maresi’s pillars  not just the sales’ strategy pillars:

Partnership: no strategy will work in the long run if there is no partnership.

Passion: real selling is a passion. If we look back a few hundred years ago (still actualt among some peoples) the act of selling is a ritual of the bargaining passion.

Trust: as in any relationship (because even in sales there is a seller-buyer relationship), trust is the main ingredient. The trust that you are fair, that you deliver quality products, that you keep your promises.

Growth: in a world where market demands are increasing, whoever doesn’t scale up perishes.

What challenges do you face on the Romanian market?

The main challenge is to maintain market position. We are too big to be small now. We are competing with big companies, big manufacturers, but our budgets are not at all aligned with the „fight” we are waging. Our brands are in most cases in the premium area and the addressability is lower. Our major enemies are lack of money and of education related to consumption.

How do you collaborate with major retail networks?

The collaboration is based on trust. Our relationships have already been „welded” for many years now. However, despite all good relationships, eventually, everyone will follow their own goals. On the other hand, the lack of face-to-face meetings makes it very difficult to launch new products. It is a huge difference between sending an e-mail presentation with a price offer and having a meeting with the samples on the table. The product’s persuasive power is replaced by a strict analysis of assortment area necessities, without making a qualitative comparison with competitors. So our products here win through quality.

What are the challenges in sales for a portfolio of  brands and products as varied as Maresi’s?

The main challenge is the focus. We have products in almost all areas of a hypermarket (currently we do not have clothing and gardening products) and most of the times the turnover that selection could generate per category is not of particular interest to a buyer to make him sign a new contract.

How did sales evolve in 2020 and what are your estimates for 2021?

I do not think that we are making an exception to the rule: the HoReCa sales have dropped dramatically, retail sales have risen and online sales have exploded. As the share of HoReCa turnover in our country is very small the overall sales increases were above the established budget. I would even say that we have reached a new level of maximum joy for 2020 and a challenge for 2021.

Translation Supported by AB Traduceri