SWAP deposit: the battles of Verdun
Spare parts available for at least 5 years
“When you sell, you sell a machine and a service”. warns Michel Aurejac, employee of Swap Europe, in the preamble. This precision takes on its full meaning when you arrive at the Swap depot in Verdun sur Garonne and enter the warehouse. On all the racks, boxes of spare parts pile up, follow one another and rise in imposing brown columns. One of Swap’s main missions, if need be recalled, is to guarantee the availability of spare parts for at least 5 years, and therefore to guarantee the possibility of repairing its machine. This is also what makes it unique when the bulk of the competition today prefers to exchange or refund. The National Assembly voted in December 2019 in favor of the obligation, from 2021, of an index of repairability of electrical and electronic products, one can reasonably think that spare parts have a future ahead of them.
The deposit in a few words
The physical translation of this conservation of parts, the Verdun depot expresses it bluntly. The warehouse of course and its thousands of references, its pallets, shipped daily by Swap Europe employees. A break room. An open-space where the offices are installed which manage logistics, characterization of spare parts and answers to technical questions from our customers. It is also a recycling center whose foundations were laid in the fall of 2019 and which will rise from the ground this spring.
The rise of reconditioning
From 7,000 parts processed in 2018 in reworking across Europe, Swap Europe has grown to 105,000 modified products in 2019. Demanding work in rarely optimal conditions (emergency interventions most of the time in transit areas), Swap has nevertheless managed to make a reputation with distributors and manufacturers. “The reworking activity of Swap Europe consists of reworking a whole defective series of machines already produced, to bring them back into conformity.
“In order,” lists the site manager, “we treated 7,000 Screwdrivers / Jigsaws, 40,000 barbecues, 21,000 brush cutters, then 22,000 mosquito lamps, followed by 800 sanders, 1,600 mulchers, to end up with 12,000 generators. took really well this year! “.
The challenges to be met
Waste, pollution, obsolescence, what if reconditioning becomes our priority? While the logistics specific to the flow of spare parts represent an important part of the Verdun depot’s activities, other challenges must be met. The recycling center. “Recycling would allow us to process plastics” specifies Styve Clavière, head of the reconditioning center. “The opportunity to reduce waste while giving a second life to our reworked products or parts. Recovering healthy parts from non-repairable machines, to reuse them, assemble them and make them a functional machine, that’s our goal. . “
Business development: a SWAP – Gardena agreement on the installation of robot mowers
Robotic lawnmowers: a growing market
The market for garden tools is really expanding, the market for robotic lawnmowers is not in crisis. Robotic mowers are increasingly popular with garden lovers, says Olivier LeTreste, European marketing director at the Swedish company Husqvarna, the undisputed leader with an 80% market share. “Sales jumped by 64% in 2019”
A spectacular progression that Gardena, the Group’s brand, wants to consolidate by developing with Swap-Europe a proposal for commissioning by specialists, as installation is still often complex.
It is in the context of this business development approach that an agreement has just been signed between the famous German brand of garden tools and our service platform.
New technology tools: from mechanical to electronic problems
As a partner of Castorama for the installation of Mac Allister (Castorama Group) and Workx (Positec Group) robot mowers, Swap-Europe has developed and strengthened its skills in the installation of these small machines available in garden centres and DIY stores.
But between the laying of the cable, the delimitation of the mowing area, the programming, the Artificial Intelligence Algorithm (AIA), and other innovative technologies embedded in these new generation tools, the device brings its share of electronic problems that both the end consumer and the distributor do not always know how to solve.
On the strength of its experience in this field, our platform has been able to develop a complete and effective range of adapted responses.
Swap-Europe: our experience, our skills, our confidence
Recognised and consolidated practical skills that have inspired confidence in Gardena, which from now on will benefit from our “Castorama” experience as well as from our network of approved installers trained in the specifics of our customers’ products, a training service, a hotline that handles calls from end customers and, finally, a management platform.
Enough to make an ever more noticeable breakthrough on the lawn of garden owners.
Winning partnership between SWAP-Europe and Invicta
Wood and pellet stoves: a healthy market
While the French market for domestic wood heating appliances experienced a slight decline in the previous year, the popularity of wood and pellet stoves among private individuals helped to drive the market up.
Also, when Invicta, leader on the French heating market meets our service platform with a strong network of approved installers and the ability to connect the actors of a whole ecosystem, the outlet can only be promising !
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Signing of a SWAP-Europe partnership agreement - Invicta
If the objective of this partnership between Invicta and SWAP-Europe signed in July 2020 is to be able to offer to the final consumer a “turnkey” solution (the product + the installation at a price defined at the time of the acquisition of the product), the advantage for SWAP-Europe is double: to be able to increase our offer of services to our partners while answering the current needs of energy modernization of the market, ecological recovery plan of more than 20 billion euros of the Prime Minister Jean Castex in head.
Finally, as a reference player in the non-electric division heating market and present in more than 40 countries, Invicta, by relying on our platform, can further consolidate its position in the DSB circuit.
A unique device: the digital platform created by SWAP-Europe
At the center of this new ecosystem is a unique platform designed by our teams. Designed to measure, its performance enables all resources to be centralised and optimised between the various players in the sector.
A system that now enables each player in the business to be put in touch with each other and which offers everyone the possibility of accessing their specific needs in real time, whether it is a question of tracing a product, tracing back a history, or connecting to the network of service providers.
But IT cannot do everything. It is also thanks to our network of RGE Qualibois-approved installers located throughout France that manufacturers can now go beyond the simple supply of equipment by offering the installation of wood products, a genuine value-added service.
The consumer accompanied in his steps
To complete the offer, SWAP-Europe accompanies the final consumer on his rights and takes care of his administrative steps on 3 types of aids: Maprimerénov’, the Tax Credit for Energy Transition (CITE) as well as the Energy Saving Certificates (CEE)
This win-win partnership should therefore allow us to strengthen our position in an environment that never forgets to be competitive!
These international fairs in which we have always participated
Batimat. Les JDC. Glee. Cologne.
Behind these names, a reality that is well anchored in the Builder Systems business: trade shows represent an important part of our activities within the group. As a major vector of notoriety in a communication strategy, trade fairs allow us to generate contacts, prospects, and ultimately customers.
A showcase is far from negligible, all the more so when, in an ultra-competitive market, most of the other brands also take part.
Preparing a trade show also represents an investment. Time, human resources and money.
To date, BFTG has around 15 trade fairs on its agenda every year. These are all opportunities to refine our product ranges and to capitalise on our customer relationships.
Batimat Fair: developing and boosting its reputation
BFTG first participated in the Batimat trade show in 1997.
22 years today, which means a little over a dozen biennial editions.
The group invests in the trade show by first showcasing the Feider brand, primarily dedicated to workshop machines, and then the Hyundai brand under license.
A well-defined communication strategy for each brand
This strategy is no coincidence, as each brand’s specialties are highlighted.
Thus, plaster sanding, concrete sanders, and workshop machines for Feider, which targets DIY enthusiasts—a customer base that is not always easy to reach and whose trust must be earned.
Hyundai, on the other hand, is more focused on the construction sector, with products such as generators, compactors, jackhammers, and everything that makes up the construction range, created four years ago.
Keeping up with product evolution
With a focus on products and their use, the Batimat trade show provides an opportunity to showcase to our partners, through our brands, our level of expertise and ability to meet the real needs of professionals.
Today, market trends in tools are becoming increasingly clear: with rising voltages and amperages, lighter and more manageable products, and extended lifespan, the performance of cordless tools is getting closer to that of thermal ones—without the constraints.
Additionally, real thought is being given to an alternative to current energy sources on construction sites. Will we soon transition from generators to power stations?
In any case, our first prototype will be presented at this 2019 edition.
Hyundai: a "worksite" range in line with the brand
“Hyundai, in the eyes of the end consumer, refers to construction equipment such as excavators. We obviously wanted to maintain a certain logic and consistency by creating a range of construction tools,” explains Julien Cazalot, the group’s sales director.
Generators, compressors, vibratory plates, with, in the long run, an equally different way of “consuming” equipment. Rental, for example, offers an interesting alternative to sale. The turnover of this segment is becoming a little more important year after year.
Feider: tools that follow the evolution of behaviours
If the consumption of tools evolves, so does their use.
The competition between craftsmen is tough and a significant proportion of them have limited means, not to mention that today, more and better informed, many of them refuse to damage their health with poorly adapted equipment.
These are the challenges that BFTG has taken on board by offering, via Feider in particular, tools that are less expensive and more comfortable to use.
A giraffe sander with an induction motor has a real advantage over its competitors: it weighs less.
Double-filter vacuum cleaners offer additional safety when it comes to cleaning up the work area.