Effective and modern management of sales processes and relations with the Client
 
In the contemporary economy, strong competition between companies requires active actions from the retail sector, aimed at fulfilling clients' requirements in all sales channels available – both stationary, as well as mobile and online ones. Understanding the sources of the choices on the basis of which clients buy products is a key challenge to contemporary retail chains. At the same time, one of the crucial challenges to enterprises is to find effective marketing methods to keep clients' involvement and long-term relation with the company.

The authors of “POLSKA.JEST.MOBI 2015” report emphasise that, as is the case with majority of European countries, Poland may be referred to as PC Centric and Multi-Device.  It means that Poles are a nation which, on average, has access to numerous digital devices. Poland's average is high, i.e. 4.6 device per person (3.6 in the world), and the devices which were taken into consideration include: mobile phones, smartphones, tablets, laptops, PCs, consoles, smart TV sets, TV set with a flat screen, landline phone. At the same time, the key device to get Internet access is a PC, in front of which Poles spend most time. It is, in fact, the first medium thanks to which users gained access to the global Internet. Such a description (Multi-Device, PC Centric) predominates in the western European countries, Canada, USA and Australia. It shows that although users have access to and possibility of using numerous devices, the most frequently used one is a PC and/or laptop. What it means for companies is that they need to build their strategy in a multi-channel way, ensure access to all devices, and provide a possibility of moving smoothly between the content on all of devices.

Getting to know the Polish trends related to consumer behaviour in the face of ever more intensive digital convergence, in particular in the context of developing use of mobile solutions, has become an objective of the analyses conducted by KPMG. The conclusions from the latest, cyclical "Consumers & Convergence” study were presented by Małgorzata Kowalczyk, Management Consulting Manager of KPMG, a consultancy, during the September "SALES 2.0" meeting of the Scandinavian-Polish Chamber of Commerce  (SPCC) in Warsaw.

 "Comparing the results of this edition of the study with the 2010 results, we can notice a continuous growth trend. The growing consumers' interest in using mobile access can be, for instance, seen in the percentage change in the number of persons who use landline Internet on an everyday basis, mobile Internet at least once a week, as well as who use a laptop and other mobile sources. In 2010, in Poland there were just 3% of Internet users, whereas in 2014 as much as 17%, however these users in 2010 accounted for merely 1.% of the population, whereas in 2014 it was 11%. The growth dynamics is really fast, and according to the KPMG analysis in 2020 as much as 50% of the population will use the Internet on an everyday basis. Currently, 58% of Poles aged 15+ have access to the Internet, usually at home (92%) rather than at work (40%). The Internet is most frequently used for checking e-mails (93%), visiting online portals (92%) and social media websites (80%), listening to music online (45%), using communicators (31%), as well as shopping (43%) and mobile banking (55%)."
"The research conducted also suggests that for 47% of the respondents it is very important to be able to see the products they purchase online also at a brick-and-mortar shop of a given company. At the same time, we have noticed that for 33% of companies the diversification of the shopping market has significant influence on organisation of the sales process" - emphasises Małgorzata Kowalczyk of KPMG.

No wonder then that the meeting organised by the SPCC, devoted to issues related to sales in the digital space, enjoyed such interest among the Scandinavian companies associated. Particular attention was paid to methods for managing relations with clients who take advantage of virtual channels. The participants also discussed modern tools used in the sales process, such as mobile applications, Instagram or social media.

Examples of effective actions aimed at acquiring a client in the context of buyers' changing expectations and models of modern, effective tools which support these actions were presented, on the basis of the experience gained by Electrolux, by Joanna Grzesiuk, Digital Manager. She emphasised that the research conducted by Electrolux suggests that 61% of persons who buy equipment from the company's offer take advantage of information, opinions and specifications found online. Consequently, what is particularly important is standardised and consistent offer aimed at clients who use various sales channels (desktop, mobile devices, shop) and information. In this context, what is equally important to a company is to have its own "landing page" which shows products in an interesting context (e.g. recipes and cooking competitions, own photos, etc.), as well as good cooperation with independent bloggers and equipment testers. Joanna Grzesiuk also emphasised the need for convergence with price comparison applications and shopping portals. Being aware of that, Electrolux pays particular attention to presence and conversion, for example, with Ceneo, an independent website owned by Allegro. The total number of the Ceneao application's downloads as of the end of April 2015 was 980,000; for comparison in February it was 870,000 for all types of operating systems  (Android, iOS – iPhone, iOS – iPad, Windows Phone, Windows 8 (tablets). Each month approximately 14% of all Allegro buyers do the shopping on mobile devices, so  we can talk about a visible u-turn towards the mobile strategy.

Mobile applications currently seem to be a good tool for building the brand's positive image and establishing long-standing contacts with clients, which constitutes a natural objective of companies' activity. Joanna Wendorff, a Business Solution Manager of COMARCH, a consultancy, discussed the process of building loyalty strategies on the basis of mobile technologies. She pointed out that thanks to a mobile loyalty platform which  Comarch has developed specially for British Heathrow airport, the number of transactions registered there increased by 27 %.

It is worth pointing out that on the Polish market the unrivalled leader is Allegro mobile application, whose total number of downloads for all operation systems (iOS, WP, Android, Symbian, BlackBerry, Bada) was over 5 million at the beginning of 2015. It is the first Polish application to have gone beyond that threshold. At the same time, the number of mobile-only users is as high at 50%, which means that half of all those who do the shopping on mobile devices do it only by means of such devices. For comparison, in May 2014 the share of persons who do the shopping only on mobile devices was 30%. In the report on the distribution of traffic on mobile devices in product categories (TOP5) fashion always ranks the first (10.14%), followed by computers (8.79%), household appliances  (6.53%), telephones and accessories (6.51%) and audio&video devices (5.80%).

At the end of the interesting series of lectures, PIASECKA&ŻYLEWICZ, a consultancy, presented modern strategies and solutions for increasing sales and appropriate maintenance of the valuable capital in the form of clients' loyalty towards the brand and products.

The meeting was moderated by Leif Christiansen, SPCC Management Board Member and Head of Impactive, a Danish consultancy company.

Source: SPCC materials, “POLSKA.JEST.MOBI 2015” report

Photo: Comarch