In the digital age, where meetings can be held from anywhere, across borders and time zones, it’s easy to communicate via a screen and to replace conversations with emails. That’s all part of operating a time-efficient and contemporary business, but, here at C&D Foods, we believe it’s important to catch up with clients face to face too, and that’s exactly what we did with our roadshow tour recently.
Hot on the heels of the success of Interzoo earlier this year, we decided that the best way to do a deep dive into what our customers need from us next, as well as showcasing how we can support them, was to invite them to join us for a mini expo.
Catching up with customers in Spain, France and Italy, we took C&D on the road, with our category and R&D specialists on hand to talk each delegate through the latest trends in the pet food sector, share retail data from their market, and understand how we can help them with their strategic goals.
Unlike a third party exhibition where long days and packed exhibition halls mean lots of distractions and information, our roadshows were targeted and by invitation, providing an ideal platform for troubleshooting, brainstorming and engaging with customers about their specific challenges and goals.
The program started with Madrid in early April, then Paris at the beginning of June, followed by Milan. Having booked a private business suite at a hotel in each location, we were able to invite customers to a neutral space and share insightful presentations, talk them through market trends, and share ideas on everything from recipes and ingredients, to format and packaging.
Market intelligence powers our approach to partnering with customers and adding value from concept through to shelf. We collaborate with customers, getting under the skin of their business and what they aim to achieve in terms of market share, brand reach and range extension so that we can support them with fresh thinking and data-driven suggestions.
In a busy industry where a variety of factors can affect product development and sales, we believe that it’s important to ringfence time to spend with customers, and invest in a dialogue like this. Our category managers are experts in interpreting research reports and market data to anticipate trends and suggest solutions that will help our customers achieve their commercial goals. They spend time in stores and understand the competitive landscape, ensuring we can advise both retailers and brands, wherever in Europe their own customers may be.
We also believe that it’s important for us to collaborate as a team. The insights and ideas we bring our customers can only evolve into potential product lines with the skills and knowledge of our R&D teams. Working together with a joined-up approach means our customers can be confident of a strategy that is both creative and viable.
Our team really enjoyed meeting up with customers at our recent roadshows. It’s just one of the ways in which we’re committed to customer outreach and adding value to valuable relationships.
