Frederique Constant Grows Sales by 10% with Pepperi

Founded in 1988, Frederique Constant is a Swiss luxury watch manufacturer, now producing over 150,000 pieces per year, which are sold in over 100 countries.

The company’s mission is not to restrict Frederique Constant watches to a limited and elitist circle of connoisseurs but rather to a broader selection of appreciative enthusiasts who want to enjoy high-quality classical watches at sensible prices. The ‘Accessible Luxury’ positioning was the basis of strong growth during the financial crisis when consumers came back to classical values and accessible prices.

Why did Frederique Constant look for a new field sales solution?

Frederique Constant has a field sales force of 30 sales reps selling directly in the US, Switzerland, Hong Kong, and Germany, and sells via independent distributors in other countries. In addition to sales and order taking, reps are expected to present the product catalog, discuss new collections, take count of in-store stock, perform store audits, and collect competitive intelligence.

Faced with a growing need to improve the efficiency and productivity of its sales force in the field, Frederique Constant wanted to completely overhaul the way their field reps were operating. The time-consuming method of taking orders manually with pen & paper, and checking stock via email or complex spreadsheets was labor intensive and misaligned with the brand’s professional image.

The company needed to standardize their procedures across all markets and reduce the time to take and process orders. What they were ultimately looking for, was to enable their sales reps to have more time to focus on the customers’ sales challenges, promote key items, and develop new customer relationships.

What happened next…

After selecting the Pepperi mobile solution, Frederique Constant quickly turned to implementation, which took just 2 months to initial production. The mobile sales app was rolled out to 26 reps in the US, Switzerland, Hong Kong, and Germany.

Change management was key to successful adoption. Initial training of sales reps at key events like Baselworld, and the ability to provide remote support, ensured a smooth transition from paper to digital.

Impressive business results

By implementing a mobile sales solution, Frederique Constant realized the following impressive gains:

• Sales increased by an average of 10% per rep
• Sales reps visit approximately 20% more customers per week
• Sales order errors have been reduced by about 30%

In addition…

• The simple digital sales order interface has drastically reduced order taking time during sales visits and reduced order processing costs
• In the luxury watch industry, product presentation is especially important and being able to show products with stunning images and full product information provides a professional sales experience
• The ability for reps to quickly and accurately take count of stock at the stores provided Frederique Constant with sell-through visibility, enabling them to track availability of key items and control “dead inventory” at the point of sale
• Accessibility to full sales history in the field means sales reps can make recommendations based on sell-through and best-sellers
• Feedback and photos from the stores enabled management to have a full view of what’s working in the stores and any issues that needed to be addressed
• Sales reps can save information from each visit to plan for the next meeting and know in advance if customers are meeting their goals

All of this has added up to an improved and differentiated customer experience and made the life of the sales managers and reps much easier.

“Implementation of Pepperi has made our sales reps more productive and freed up their time to discuss business strategy and expectations with customers.”
Leo Corlay – Sales Coordinator, Frederique Constant, Switzerland

Finally, management now has a ‘big picture’ view of their field sales operations – both micro and macro trends. They can assess sales performance by product to identify top-selling and slow-moving items, and optimize their production and inventory levels accordingly.

Future Plans

After using Pepperi for a year, since last Baselworld, Frederique Constant plans to gain additional benefits with Pepperi by:

1. Expanding the functionality of Pepperi to support in-store merchandising activities
2. Adding B2B e-commerce and B2B ordering system

They will be using it again at this year’s Baselworld to give them a competitive edge and provide the best possible sales experience for their customers in the challenging, fast-paced environment.