Learn how Prestige was able to reduce response times on customer issues and complaints by 90%, increase feedback from the market on product releases by 500%, and reduce coordination time by 60% in their 400 person sales team by using Unifize.
Prestige is a publicly traded consumer goods company with approximately 1,000 employees and a large, global distribution network for both B2B and B2B2C channels. Apart from operating its own retail stores, it also sells to distributors and directly to large brands like Walmart, Aldi and Costco.
In 2019, the company did approximately $250m in revenue across 30 different kitchenware product categories, including non-stick cookware, stoves, appliances, cleaning solution and grinders. It is also the largest manufacturer of pressure cookers in the world.
To maintain their market position as a leading consumer brand, the company invested substantially product development, sales & marketing and customer service. Specifically, the company released over 80 new products a year via its network of 400 direct sales employees, who were then managed by a 70 seat after-sales service team.
In spite of the efforts and considerable expenditure deployed to these areas, Prestige faced a number of problems:
- Although 90% of orders were fulfilled within the 2 day target period, the remaining 10% resulted in delays due to a variety of issues, including the management of credit limits and unavailability of stock.
- Unresolved dealer/distributor issues such as marketing scheme settlements, credit/debit notes, quality problems and short supplies were the subject of over 40% of the dealer/distributor interactions with the Prestige sales team.
- The sales team then spent a further 2-3 hours a day coordinating and following up with their commercial team, billing, warehouse/despatch, and the customer service team to resolve these problems.
- The product development team never received as much feedback and inputs as it needed from the sales team about competitive activities and the success or failures of new product releases.
Apart from the employee frustration, wasted time and missed product opportunities, Prestige’s relationship with its channel partners was beginning to suffer, making it more difficult for them to sign more profitable, exclusive dealerships. Finally, it was impossible for management to get visibility into the extent and causes of the underlying problems.