One hundred and fifty business and industry leaders participated, November 16 at Ciné Cambaie, at the first business strategy conference in Reunion, StratCo Run, hosted by Yves Puget, editorial director of LSA magazine.
Set up by Optimark Indian Ocean with the help of Leader Réunion, StratCo Run was not only an organizational success. The presentation of the trends and issues at work in commerce and industry in Reunion were clearly highlighted. Starting with a theme that we didn’t necessarily expect : corporate social responsibility (RSE) in commerce. Olivier Mercier, Managing Director of Caillé Grande Distribution, placed it, straight away, at the heart of the strategy that the Leader Price brand is developing through its local local network on the island. Olivier Mercier was the first business leader to speak out. He set the tone of the congress by emphasizing, en substance, that the human and the social bond remained the primary value of commerce. Pascal Thiaw-Kine, president of the Excellence group, echoed him : last to speak at the StratCo Run platform in the afternoon,he also highlighted CSR by recalling the actions of E.Leclerc Réunion in terms of humanitarianism, waste management and environmental preservation. A way to highlight commercial innovation from a new angle.
Industry and mass distribution : a Reunion model
Another highlight, the vibrant plea of Daniel Moreau, vice-president of ADIR and CEO of Royal Bourbon, in favor of collaboration between industry and large-scale commerce. The dialogue, already old in Reunion, between industry and mass distribution, proves to be exemplary in the current common effort to limit the increase in sales prices. The challenge represented by local industry is measured in terms of direct and indirect employment : 18,700 industrial jobs, 22,000 agricultural workers. Yves Puget’s conference on the theme of “developments in the relationship with distribution” brought, especially, another light on the forms that this collaboration can take (see interview below). You win the StratCo Run, we will also note the emphasis placed on digital in the ongoing changes in commerce and industry, and on the assets at this level of Reunion Island which is one of the departments of France where fiber is most deployed.
Consume differently
Faced with inflation, the Reunion consumer reacts generally in the same way as the metropolitan consumer : this was the lesson of the IPSOS Indian Ocean shopper study measuring the impact of inflation on purchasing behavior. Four hundred consumers were interviewed for this study, the results of which were presented exclusively at StratCo Run. Conclusion : at the end of 2022, he is not (encore) question of “deconsumption”, but the need as well as the desire to consume differently is evident through the reduction in expenses considered secondary (high-tech, hobbies, sorties, fashion and clothing...) for the benefit of essential expenses (food and health).
Yves Puget : “Everyone needs to talk to each other”
Observer of economic life, LSA editorial director hosted StratCo Run. He gives us his vision of this meeting, his view on the current economic situation and his impressions on Reunion trade.
There is no meeting place in Reunion where economic decision-makers can meet to talk about strategy., exchange and take stock. Is a conference like StratCo Run intended to fill this gap? ?
In the times we live in, it's more important than ever for people to meet and talk to each other. When difficulties are there, we only get through this if all the actors talk to each other. In a city, in our sector of activity – this is a little less true in Reunion Island – people are not used to talking to each other and do not see each other. If we want the entire sector, from upstream in the agricultural world to the consumer, via industry and distribution, go in the right direction, everyone needs to talk to each other. SO, oui, it is healthy to bring together food and non-food distribution in the same place, the food and non-food industry, and public authorities. This is necessary for everyone to agree on increasingly important issues. We are in an increasingly complex world, at an increasingly rapid pace. Visibility becomes very complicated.
Current economic uncertainty permeated interventions and debates. Are we witnessing a change of times? ?
I refuse the designations of the “world before” and the “world after”. We saw clearly, at the end of the health crisis, that this “after world” did not exist. What is true, is that all these events, the Covid-19 crisis, the war in Ukraine, serve as accelerators to existing situations. Companies that were doing poorly, two years ago, are even worse. Companies that had a good strategy are doing even better. Distributor side, where the example of Camaïeu. Camaïeu was doing poorly before Covid. The health crisis has only accelerated its difficulties. The real question a company must ask itself, it is : “What is my strong point? ? » If you don't have a strong point, you are in the danger zone. A strong point, it can be the innovation produced, technological mastery of the supply chain ; for an industrialist, a service rate of 99% when the others are at 90%... The companies that are most in difficulty today were content to be driven by market growth, they had no strong points. But I remain optimistic. Nature abhors a vacuum. The stores that will disappear will be replaced by other stores…
Is there not also a need to find new forms of relationship between manufacturers and distribution? ?
I think we are arriving at a generational change. The generation in charge since the 1970s, 1980, 1990, was a generation of conflict, of the confrontation, between industries and commerce. I see new leaders arriving, younger, who are not in this obsession with the balance of power. This new generation brings a change of mentality. And inevitably, this change requires partnerships. Partnerships between manufacturers and traders can be formed at all levels : logistic, the launch of a product, le marketing, etc. In all cases, actors must talk to each other if they want to improve their performance.
StratCo Run aims to reflect the dynamism of Reunion Island. Does Reunion Island demonstrate particular dynamism compared to metropolitan regions? ?
Impressions that I take away from this short stay, I note two things. Trade, it's human, a smile. My first impression, it’s only in Reunion, there is a smile. We are not in Paris ! And a smile, we go quickly to the service. Reunion has this human strong point. Above all, keep it ! Ensuite, I found the few stores I visited at the level, by that I mean they are above average. You can feel the commerce there, with own store, enlightened, the decoration well in place, of the world on the shelves for restocking. I had the pleasure of seeing that in Reunion, we have not lost the fundamentals of commerce !
StratCo Run 2
In view of the very positive reception given to this initiative by the professional community, its organizers have already made the decision to repeat the experience every year . Details on the second commercial strategy congress in Reunion will be communicated in a future issue of Leader Réunion.
