It was not an easy task. But Valero was aware that the changarros are the first line of distribution for Bimbo, a client with whom they began working in 2017 to help them transform the way they related to their clients and consumers, through a contact center. So they accepted the new challenge.
The central question of the campaign was how to optimize the distribution processes on routes that are difficult to access, considering that the trip was more expensive than the sale that was originating in the changarro, either because the distributor did not have the requested product or because the shopkeeper did not buy on a large scale.
The solution was to add WhatsApp as a means of contact to make pre-orders. This would help the distribution to be more automated and that the visits of the distributor would happen only when an order is already established. At the same time, it would benefit the shopkeeper to have product available in a timely manner.
“We chose WhatsApp because today everyone has this app installed on their mobile phone and it helped us so that the shopkeeper no longer had to download another application to be able to order products in a simple way that would be familiar to him”, explains the manager.
The initiative was called “Changarros by WhatsApp: how to quadruple sales” and began in 2020 as a pilot in a few selected stores and then scaled it up in the state of Puebla. Valero reveals that at first they worked based on trial and error, and since it was an action business to business (B2B) was not invested in advertising. It was all internal communication with the shopkeepers.
The strategy was anchored to direct marketing and one-on-one communication with the sales team. When the pandemic began, the campaign was only launched for a couple of weeks on television, announcing that the changarros could also be supplied through WhatsApp.
“Through the implemented model, we managed to quadruple sales in a complicated environment, given the pandemic situation,” says Sara Sierra, Marketing Manager of Bimbo Mexico.
By 2021, the campaign had already delivered results. 85% of shopkeepers adopted the WhatsApp pre-order model. There was an increase of four times the average ticket and an automation of the process, since now the shopkeepers can manage their product with a single click. The initiative scaled to Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Argentina.
“We are focused on exporting the model. We have the challenge of taking it to the rest of Latin America and Asia. We want to convert all these actions into information that is of value to the customer and to the shopkeepers, and that allows them to continue growing their business”, comments Valero.
The Grand Effie Winners
The manager acknowledges that working with the world’s largest baker gives them visibility as an agency, and although he assures that they do not work to win prizes, but to provide business solutions, the agency customer experience took home the Great Effie 2022, thanks to the campaign “Changarros by WhatsApp: how to quadruple sales”.
“We don’t do campaigns or activations or projects aimed at winning prizes, we are focused on generating business solutions that have a positive impact, but we understand that a recognition like the Great Effie reveals how your work is having an impact out there and also gives us more challenges in the face of future,” says Valero.
For Bimbo, the initiative would also represent a lot. “(The pandemic) challenged us to think of different ways to reach customers and find channels that would facilitate management with us, it was not only technology that was implemented, but also an automated model for monitoring and push to the orders, as well as a constant analysis of the data to be able to increase the purchase tickets”, concludes Sierra.