Saint Gobain - Registration document 2016

2 ONE AMBITION: TO IMPROVE THE WELL-BEING OF ALL 4. Proximity to customers

The Group’s Activities have all strengthened their marketing teams to organize these kinds of surveys and especially, to respond to them. They have also created customer

experience manager posts whose role is to adapt the organizational structure to make it more responsive to address shortcomings.

4.2

LOCAL SERVICES

4.2.1

Using digital technology to increase

Smartphone applications for professionals, for rapid ‹ ordering from distribution brands, such as the Point.P application. less costly than measures for winning new customers. The ultimate aim of this work is to increase customer loyalty: firstly, because a loyal customer spends more on average than an average customer, but above all, because effective customer loyalty and retention measures (regular interaction, effective services, etc.) are acknowledged to be considerably 4.2.2 This marketing strategy of customer interaction using new digital and data analysis tools allows the Activities to develop new concepts, either in market segments identified by means of this strategy, or by improving customer satisfaction at various points in the value chain. For example, in July 2016, Saint-Gobain Distribution Bâtiment France launched the omni-channel platform Homly You, an intermediation service to put private individuals with a New concepts renovation project in touch with professionals, with the aim of improving the level of satisfaction on completion of renovation works amongst customers who are “project owners”. In the automotive market, the Abrasives Activity offers a package of services for garages and body shops in the US under the name of Saint-Gobain Refinishing Solutions Group, distributing a range of products and consumables in addition to the products that it manufactures itself. The product line is supported by automated stock management (via a barcode system) and automatic ordering. The streamlining provided by this approach (with a single point of contact and stock management) means a considerable time saving for these business’ owners. Lastly, a “comfort package” was developed in partnership with Norgehus, Norway’s leading builder of single-family homes, under the name of MyComfort, by Saint-Gobain. Norgeshus’ customers buying a house from the catalog have the option of ordering a MyComfort, by Saint-Gobain package, as priced in the catalog. This pull approach, where the end customer is presented directly with the value proposition from a group that is focused on user comfort and wellbeing and sustainable development, leveraging the Saint-Gobain brand, is set to develop strongly in 2017. and trade names, makes these new concepts more effective. The complementary nature of the Group’s Activities, brands

customer loyalty

development of the whole area of communication via the Internet and social media. Saint-Gobain’s interactions with its customers in the broadest sense (direct or indirect, actual or potential) through the Group’s different Activities number in the millions each year. This number is increasing by 10% a year as a result of the This provides a challenge for the Group: in many cases, “contact” no longer takes the form of a scheduled, physical meeting, but is made via the Group’s websites or via social networking, at the customer’s instigation. In 2016 alone, the number of contact requests via the web was more than 150 million! Clearly, in-person meetings with direct customers remain a crucial form of contact, but there is a need to develop a digital strategy that allows the Group to capitalize on all the the Group; updating the Group’s websites is crucial, to provide visitors ‹ using fixed or mobile devices with a high-quality experience that they find useful and which encourages them to extend their visit to the site. In this vein, the UK site for Celotex and the majority of Weber’s sites have developed content to drive sharp increases in the number of visits and in the conversion rate from visit to sales contact - the very purpose of the majority of sites that are not online stores. This is the approach adopted throughout the Building Distribution Sector has created ‹ better-designed, simpler websites to extend e-commerce to all of its brands, in the majority of its countries of operation. In both cases, data analysis is fundamental in developing the sites in the direction that visitors wish to see. A central R&D team focuses specifically on helping the Activities to make the necessary cultural adjustments. helps the Sector to develop services, particularly digital services, which support the customer in their journey. For the Group’s most important market in terms of net consolidated sales, residential renovation, a number of digital services have been developed to streamline the experience for professionals, but also for private individuals managing their own construction projects: This background work improves customer proximity and sites with photos to inspire private individuals who are ‹ planning renovations; such as Glassolutions’ LitePoint application and ISOVER’s F4 configurator; rapid diagnostics and layout tools for trade customers, ‹ commenced in 2016 and are ongoing: individual contact requests. Two background tasks were

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SAINT-GOBAIN - REGISTRATION DOCUMENT 2016

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