The Company
With over 150 years of experience, Acesur is a producer and packager of oil, sauces and vinegar, with a specialty in olive oil. Their 8 industrial plants and 600 employees allows them to have a large production capacity and export to more than 90 countries around the world. Their strong commitment to quality and customer satisfaction has led them to become the leading olive oil producer in Spain and is now responsible for 40% of global olive oil production.
Learn more about Acesur here.
The Challenge
Along with increasing business with existing customers, it was Acesur’s goal to add enough new partners to meet their sales goals for 2020. Their new customers needed to contribute to 20% of their intended growth. They were looking for new hypermarkets and supermarkets that would appreciate Acesur’s large production capacity. However, reaching the right person within these retailers was challenging and time consuming. Buyers change positions often and are unavailable and hard to reach. Acesur was ready for a way to get in contact with buyers in a more effective manner.
The Strategy
Acesur identified several strategies to overcome their challenges and get in contact with the right buyers. One key decision Acesur made was to partner with Wabel, a company that puts suppliers in contact with head buyers of retail groups. Together, Acesur and Wabel carried out the following plan:
1. Identify target prospects
Wabel took on the responsibility of finding ideal retailers for Acesur. Out of the hundreds of buyers in the Wabel community, Wabel was able to narrow down the best-fit groups for Acesur based on their needs. They ended up identifying 20 retailers, which included retailers in target locations and most importantly, retailers that had already expressed interest in quality spices.
2. Set up a meeting with the decision-maker
Next, Wabel arranged times for Acesur to meet with the head buyers and decision-makers of the retailers. Wabel was able to schedule meetings with all of their 20 targeted groups within 2 days at the upcoming Wabel Grocery Summit. Weeks in advance, Acesur was notified about which retailers they were matched with so they could prepare a pitch and offer for each buyer.
3. Meet buyers face-to-face
At the Wabel Grocery Summit, Acesur met individually with their target retailers including Jeronimo Martins, Système U, Marjane, Pao de Acucar and many others. The 1-on-1 meetings were 30-minutes each, allowing buyers to see the olive oils for themselves and discuss the terms of a potential partnership. Outside of their B2B meetings, Acesur was able to display their products to all the other attending grocery buyers.
Results & Future Plans
Acesur is seeing positive results from the Summit. The 30-minute meetings gave them solid relational foundations with their prospects, which made it easier to continue contact in the following weeks. They also get exposure all year around from the 1,000+ buyers on the Wabel platform.
