For more than 30 years, they have been supplying thousands of products to customers around the world: food, household chemicals, and cosmetics. The success of the Brand Distribution Group is based on experience, international relationships, and knowledge of markets, products, and consumers. The Brand Distribution Group owes its success to... people.
Enthusiasts and Miracle Workers
The basis of success in distribution is a true passion, thirst for knowledge, open communication, and multitasking. Experienced sales representatives say that it is the ability to do several transactions at once that attracts more business partners. This is more so because they perfectly understand the needs of their customers – retailers, wholesalers, merchants of large retail chains, and, above all, the target consumers.
– There’s a lot going on at the same time. There is no boredom, there are tasks. What about the goal? To understand the needs of a business partner – says Wiktoria Karpiel, who coordinates the work of the sales team in the Spanish-speaking markets daily.
Other experts at the Brand Distribution Group share similar considerations. Not a day goes by that their teams don’t ship hundreds of thousands of products to customers around the world. The expedition of quickly tradable products is their element. They have been working for the company for years – it’s a business where relationships and mutual trust matter above all. And these take time. Especially because we are talking about relationships between different cultures, races, religions, customs, behaviors, and languages.
Sales representatives speak fluent English and the languages of their business partners’ countries of origin. They are all university graduates and have many years of industry experience. They love what they do and constantly deepen their knowledge of the markets, local trends, applicable laws, customs regulations, and much more.
Nothing is impossible
One-man band? In the Brand Distribution Group, yes. – Expert, connoisseur, advisor. From product search to negotiation and delivery to the point of sale. Logistics? Right away! Flexible approach to order processing? Of course! – says Katarzyna Bruczko, business unit leader, which serves clients from North America. She added that the current macroeconomic situation was an additional obstacle. – Higher costs, poorer access to resources, disruptions in supply chains, exchange rate fluctuations, and inflation. An obstacle is a challenge, so the Polish trait comes in handy – the ability to adapt to the most difficult situations”, explains Bruczko.
From trend to shelf
The Brand Distribution Group offers a service that starts with the search for goods at a reasonable price, logistics, and the preparation of all necessary customs documents and transport. It is a close collaboration of many departments of the company: Trade, Purchasing, Finance, Controlling, Logistics, Marketing, and Customs Agency. – It is no wonder that the company’s purchasing department is a team of scouts trained in international search – emphasizes Malgorzata Lukaszuk. – Do you find a product on another continent and bring it to Poland, for example? For us, it’s a piece of cake! When consumers reach for a product on the shelf, they don’t realize how much effort and work goes into getting the East Asian delicacy on the shelf in a shop on the other side of the world. We take care of the formalities because our business partners don’t have time for them. Their goal, and our mission, is to deliver a product that allows them to reach their profit margin”, adds Lukaszuk.
Gelatin and the Diplomatic Scandal
What is allowed in one market can be banned in another, so the attempt to market such products is a recipe for financial and reputational disaster. – We know how local law regulates the composition of the product, the descriptions on the labels, and even the tools of marketing communication, explains Katarzyna Bruczko. For example, the usual gelatin for Americans or Italians, often mixed with sweets, disqualifies the product in the markets of Islamic countries. Because the industrial source of gelatin is pork. Therefore, expert knowledge is required in product sales teams in different markets.
Product data sheets, studies, certificates, labeling – sales representatives need to know exactly what they are selling. Edyta Owsiejczuk, business unit leader of the export team for Central Europe and the Balkans, confirms the words of her colleague. – Knowledge of the local market is the guarantee of the success of my business partner. I need to know which brand of washing powder is most appreciated by consumers and why. And I must find a replacement if I need one. We cannot afford to lose trust, she explains. For this reason, the Brand Distribution Group offers thousands of products. – We need to be sure that the product thrives on the market and that the customer has a sense of security, adds Wiktoria Karpiel.
Taming black swans
Pandemic, commodity, energetical crises, broken supply chains, inflation, and skyrocketing price increases. For others, it’s a problem, for Brand Distribution Group it’s an opportunity to show how much they can support their business customers even in turbulence.
Some products can be replaced by others, less popular, but often with potential for iconic brands. – Our new destinations are not self-evident, but we don’t think it makes sense for a global business to stick to old patterns. For this reason, we have decided to look at customers from other, even a little exotic, markets. It has been shown that consumers from countries such as Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Armenia, and Georgia are much more open to new products than before”, explains Anna Muszynska, business unit leader of the Eastern Markets Team.
Although prices continue to be the most important determinant of consumer choices, other motivations and trends come into play. An example of this is the growing demand for superfoods and functional foods. Knowledge from other, already mature markets is very useful in opening new markets. For example, from an already very diversified superfood market in Poland, says Klaudia Ejsmont, who works in French-speaking countries (France, Belgium, etc.). – Many superfoods or functional foods come from Poland. So, we have our share in the promotion of domestic producers in other market, she says.
The company’s business sense is also reflected in its approach to the organization of deliveries. Mixed deliveries are the perfect answer to the crisis. The ability to mix goods in transport, i.e., to ship mixed categories, is a clear advantage of the Brand Distribution Group. It is a win-win for both parties – retailers and purchasers. – Transport costs are increasing, so it is our aim to organize delivery in such a way as to maximize space and capacity. The customer receives from us a product volume that is so loaded that the proportion of transport costs relative to the value of these products is as low as possible – says Anna Muszynska.
Right time, right place
All employees of the company agree that sales work is based on constant change and adrenaline. They are not complaining because, as they say, the number of customers returning to the Brand Distribution Group is increasing. It is a sign of the quality of their work. They also appreciate the opportunity to get in touch with people from all over the world. Here, working in an international environment is not a slogan from a corporate recruitment advertisement. It is not just about markets, but above all, about cultures. This can be seen, for example, in the manner of business communication. – In Europe, e-mail business contacts dominate, but Brazilians or Uzbeks prefer to make calls. For the people of the Balkans, it is completely natural to combine business topics with private ones, and everything at dinner – this is what charmed Edyta Owsiejczuk, who works with clients from the Balkans and appreciates openness in contact with her business partner. – The customer is our focus – adds Anna Muszynska. – His trust, relationships, and sense of professional and safe service are the basis of our work.
