Can you give us some figures to position Intermer - Accastillage Diffusion on the market?
Thierry Gannat: The Intermer purchasing center, franchiser under the name Accastillage Diffusion, is part of the Alliance Marine group. This group represents 400 people with 9 subsidiaries and 6 warehouses. The company has 80% of its products in stock and 125 points of sale, including 70 in France, 30 in Spain and 15 in Italy.
What were your key actions and results in 2017?
Thierry Gannat : 2017 was the best year since the creation of the network, with a strong dynamism of the stores and the opening of 10 new stores: 3 Accastillage Diffusion in Toulon, Marseille-Estaque, Ampuria Brava and 7 AD Corner.
We have worked on our price image, as you can see on this stand at Nautic 2017 (Editor's note: interview conducted during the show). During a benchmark that we carried out on a typical basket of fittings, we were the cheapest and yet this is not what came out of the customer satisfaction surveys. We therefore worked on the presentation of the products.
We have also created a rope stock in our 4,000 m² hangar.
What is the typical Accastillage Diffusion customer today?
Thierry Gannat This is a male boater, owner of a boat from 8 to 15 meters. His age tends to decrease. If before, he was either a sailor or a motorboat owner, he is now more a practitioner than an owner. He is also increasingly impatient, which makes stock necessary, an asset for Intermer, which has historically been built on stocking. The boater is also physically connected to his neighbor on the dock and to his store.
What are Intermer's plans for 2018?
Thierry Gannat We will continue to develop the network in terms of quantity and quality. The quantitative aspect involves improving the network with the reopening of centers in Gruissan, Annecy, La Trinité sur mer and Catalonia. We also want to develop Italy, for which we have hired a Mediterranean-Italian network coordinator. In terms of quality, we are helping stores to renovate and offering merchandising assistance to optimize the organization of the store.
We are pursuing our internet will with an online platform that will allow delivery in relay point at the beginning of 2018. Our internet policy will remain respectful of the stores by putting them forward and paying them correctly.
