Makro | From wholesaler to marketplace, part I
About 6 months ago, I shared with you that wholesaler Makro Nederland got on board of the S2M Ecosystem. A pretty fascinating and daring choice for quite a traditional wholesaler and of course part of a much larger innovative transition the company is going through. So where are things now? Being part of the change team within Makro since a few months (note: an assignment that came out of me being active within the S2M Ecosystem), I am happy to share the story of Makro with you step-by-step. Today’s part will give you some context on the challenge Makro is facing.
THE CHALLENGE
Founded late 60’s of the last century, Makro was a real household name for decades within The Netherlands. The Makro Card, giving an entrepreneur access to shop at Makro, was a most wanted item. Customers were lined up, parking lots were filled up to the last space. The 17 big blue ‘boxes’ situated along the Dutch highways offered all you needed, both food and non food. Through the years though, the world changed, just like the customer. As Makro did not tune in on this well enough, the customer went shopping elsewhere.
THE CHANGE
So what exactly has changed over the years?
Nowadays, people just want the best offer for the best price, no matter where that comes from (online/offline, regular shop/wholesaler).
Access has become more important than possession, meaning that people rather share things, than buying them themselves.
There is no clear difference anymore between work and leisure time. People are able to work anywhere and anytime they want and lots of entrepreneurs do not even have an office anymore. People are more flexible and mobile.
Entrepreneurs do not have the time to figure out everything themselves; they want solutions instead of products.
People will only go out shopping if the experience is fun. At the same time, personal contact stays important to them.
Conclusion: Entrepreneurs want to connect and do business in a smart way. Whenever they want it. In a fun way. And of course for the right price. They want their time spent to be well spent.
THE NEW STRATEGY
Makro realized it had to adapt its business model, and created a new strategy:
To focus again on its original target group: the entrepreneurs running the SME’s
To create a new format to facilitate the new entrepreneur, based on the 3 pillars shopping & purchasing, working & networking and doing business
To become a real market place for entrepreneurs, sharing the space the company has in abundance
Like Rome wasn’t built in one day, you can imagine it takes some time to implement such a new strategy in a big organization like Makro. It namely doesn’t only concern the customer, but all stakeholders, from personnel to suppliers. In the next parts, I will share with you how this new strategy is being implemented and what resources and tools are being used during this process.
Wanna have a peek already what is being organized at Makro? Events are both published at the S2M Event Calendar and www.makro-netwerkplein.nl
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