Sofasam, International strategy to open new European markets

Sofasam, the international strategy to open up new European markets

Sofasam asked us to design and implement the international strategy to open up new European markets in collaboration with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

The company Sofasam

Sofasam is a Tunisian manufacturer of solid beech furniture with over 50 years’ experience. Although they have industrialised many of their production processes, they still have an important handicraft component with a remarkable commitment of skilled and specialised workers. They have a large catalogue of standard pieces, but they also specialise in the manufacture of exclusive bespoke furniture.

They have 4 showrooms and sales outlets in Tunisia and export on a project basis, particularly in the contract sector, where they are the leading furniture manufacturer in Tunisia.

Project objectives

Sofasam comes to Barcelona Export with a request for an international strategy to open up new European markets where there is an interest in quality, solid furniture at competitive prices.

The project comes from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development with which we collaborate as Specialist Advisor.

Preliminary project phase

As we always point out to our customers and to Sofasam, going international requires certain adaptations to the target markets, especially when there are accentuated cultural differences.
In this case, we find a catalogue with a strong Arab sensibility, where gold materials, filigree and strong colours abound. They use very elaborate fonts and typographies in their catalogue and some of their product images are not of sufficient quality.
We also found that Sofasam’s catalogue lacked the commercial information required by the European buyer.
After this analysis, we adapted the catalogue to the European market, where the visual trends are soft, natural colours on a white, minimalist background, highlighting fine materials such as cotton and linen. We took inspiration from the most prestigious brands in our sector to effectively communicate the value proposition and adapt the look and feel of the commercial material to capture the attention of the potential European buyer.
We also developed other international prospecting materials, such as a company profile and a portfolio of work, showing the projects Sofasam has carried out in both the contract and residential sectors. In this way, we were able to demonstrate to potential clients in Europe Sofasam’s production capacity, the quality of its products and the scale of the projects it can carry out.
We produced a short and very visual presentation which we used in a presentation email. After validation by our client, we created a database of sales agents and distributors of contract and residential furniture in Belgium, France and Spain.

International Telephone Prospecting Phase

In this phase, we contact all the leads in our database by telephone and collect the comments we receive. We collect suggestions, proposals, advice, explanations and measure the level of acceptance of the project.
The feedback we get is very positive and we find that Sofasam’s biggest competitors in Europe come from Portugal and Poland. The European furniture market offers opportunities at contract level thanks to the strong tourism sector and the large hotel chains.
We also see that in recent years there has been an increased interest from individuals to renovate and improve the aesthetics of their homes, which has had a very positive impact on sales in this sector.

Challenges and results

We have signed representation agreements with one agent in Belgium and two in France, specialising in contract business but also reaching out to furniture stores, architects and decorators. In Spain, we have acquired five exclusive agents covering the regions of Galicia, Valencia, Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Western Andalusia. In all cases, Barcelona Export took part in the negotiations to conclude the commercial agreements.

Once the contractual agreements had been signed with Sofasam, we set up a schedule of meetings with the new commercial partners in order to present the new catalogues in person and start the activity. In the course of the prospection, we also received 10 requests for quotations for important operations from high-profile potential customers.

Closure

It has been a pleasure for Barcelona Export to work with Sofasam and its manager, Mrs Lelila Arfaoui, in this export adventure. Their high level of discipline, responsiveness and quality of work have allowed us to achieve these good results, which we hope will be the first steps in the company’s sustainable growth, thanks to the rigorous monitoring of our international strategy to open up new European markets. Our best wishes to Sofasam!

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