5 questions to Antoine Fresnault, CEO of Alexis Robert
To help them maintain their business during containment, we interviewed several of our corporate customers. In this article, we interview Antoine Fresnault, CEO of Alexis Robert.
Our relationship of trust with SOLEDIS has lasted several years (2012), when we created our first website. In the current context, I've appreciated the SOLEDIS teams' high level of availability. To absorb such a large flow of orders, we had to make certain components more reliable, and upgrade others. The Soledis teams were there, even at weekends. Many thanks to Bruno, Jean-Christophe and Yoann.
SOLEDIS had to think outside the box, so it shortened its development/delivery cycles to deliver on the same day. Of course, there were a few bugs, linked to this downgraded mode and the extra flow, but the responsiveness of the teams enabled them to be corrected very quickly.
In addition to this day-to-day support, SOLEDIS presented us with the prospects for exploiting and analyzing our data. I also appreciate this in-depth work, which will enable us to develop further.
Antoine, what are you doing?
In particular, I run ALEXIS ROBERT, an independent hardware store with over 200 years' experience in the central region of France, offering a very wide range of professional-quality products for manufacturers, craftsmen, farmers and private customers. We stock 30 000 tools, fasteners, hardware, electrical, personal protection and metal products. There are 47 of us, with a 5,000 m² store. https://www.alexis-robert-bricolage.com/
How did you deal with the COVID-19 crisis in your company? What impact has it had on your business?
Like everyone else, we were taken by surprise. From March 16 onwards, in-store traffic dropped sharply from 1,000 customers to 10 customers per dayAt the same time, orders from the web were soaring.
Our sales have risen from 80% physical / 20% web to almost 90% web (plus a little drive).
At the same time, many suppliers have gone out of business, giving rise to fears of stock shortages.
Fortunately, as a "hardware store", we were allowed to stay open, and many suppliers gradually returned to business.
The decision was quickly taken to close the store to the general public, and to welcome our business customers by appointment only, and drive-in customers. We suggested to our staff that they focus all their efforts on meeting web orders.
And how did you overcome these difficulties?
The company has reorganized itself essentially around the web business, of which we have multiplied by 4 dedicated surface area. We pushed out the gondolas, added preparation tables, ...
Employees have been trained in specific web skills (order picker, packer, invoicer, customer service). We invested in additional infrastructure (computers, networks, printers).
In the space of 15 days, the web team went from 4 to 35 employeesorganized in 2 x 7h shifts (6:30 am - 1:30 pm / 1:30 pm - 8:30 pm), 6 days a week. This has enabled us, for example, to absorb peaks in activity of up to over 1,000 orders / day.
This strengthened team cohesion and overturned the hierarchy. Everyone pitched in, showing great commitment and motivation in this change of activity.
How do you see the end of the crisis?
We imagine that for a few months there'll be a lot of activity linked to web orders, and we're hiring for that!
However, the gradual reopening of the store is already on our minds, with of course every precaution taken to protect our staff and customers.
Indeed, we have no intention of becoming pure players. Our business expertise and skills are linked to our knowledge of the field, and to the quality products we offer and have tested.
This consultancy and proximity to our customers is in our DNA, and is what gives us our added value.
Antoine, what are your plans for the future?
We're not in the race for volume. Our plans for the remainder of the year are firstly to start redesigning our e-commerce site, to move towards a more flexible solution. Prestashop.
We were also made aware of how to exploit and analyze our business data, where solutions such as Google Data Studio can be implemented. Our ERP does not currently provide relevant management tools. SOLEDIS Webmarketing teams are currently working on this issue.
How does SOLEDIS work?
Well, for the record, I had planned to come and run the Gulf raid "l'Ultramarin", a 90km night-time ultra trail, in June with the Soledis teams. It's a completely different kind of long-distance race, which we've been involved in together since mid-March.
Our relationship of trust with SOLEDIS has lasted several years (2012), when we created our first website. In the current context, I've appreciated the SOLEDIS teams' high level of availability. To absorb such a large flow of orders, we had to make certain components more reliable, and upgrade others. The Soledis teams were there, even at weekends. Many thanks to Bruno, Jean-Christophe and Yoann.
SOLEDIS had to think outside the box, so it shortened its development/delivery cycles to deliver on the same day. Of course, there were a few bugs, linked to this downgraded mode and the extra flow, but the responsiveness of the teams enabled them to be corrected very quickly.
In addition to this day-to-day support, SOLEDIS presented us with the prospects for exploiting and analyzing our data. I also appreciate this in-depth work, which will enable us to develop further.
