Transitioning from a physical-type company to a digital one

Desired outcome

C.P. Young & Active Traders LTD is a family-owned business. It revolves trading and importing products from EU countries. Business back in the day when the previous generation was managing the company was done by physical meetings, gatherings where the products would be shown off and networking would be done. Anyone that wished to be a part of the company as a "dealer" would get benefits. However, the company has now passed down to the younger generation.

Initial Problem Description

Nowadays with the technological advancements, the power of social media and the digitalisation of the sector, even though an e-shop is set-up, we are left with our older clients that persist in using the older ways (because the older generation is still involved in the business) and at the same time, we struggle to engage new, younger customers/dealers. This is the main problem that is also proving to be quite costly for the company,

Context

The problem appears to be twofold: 1) older clients, not familiar with the technological advancements (e-shop, social media, emails etc) persist on asking for products through either calling on the phone or physically visiting the offices and 2) the website, social media and e-shop struggle to engage new clients.

Connection to cross-cutting areas

Our challenge it is not directly connected to any of the above but can be indirectly connected. The "old" way of delivering the products a client has bought was for an employee of the company to personally drive to the client's location and deliver the products. This sometimes included driving to another town, in multiple locations a few times per month, costing a lot in terms of gas, time and effort. Through the e-shop, the products are sent through a courier company with many other orders, cutting down on the above-mentioned resources.

Input

The only trend identified (by the younger management) is that the older generation was more keen in gathering together, having coffee and cakes and having this kind of networking where products were introduced and bought by the guests, the guests would test them out and if happy they would host the gathering and the circle goes on. However, these clients are now in their 60s and 70s. Reaching out to a younger audience has been difficult.

Expectations

Our expectations from this project/platform is to receive ways we can keep engaging our older clients while at the same time enganing new ones. Actions on how to do the above would be welcome. There is already an e-shop and social media pages where regular posts are made (it has been about 2 years now) but the engagement is not sufficient. Would it be worth educating our older clients on how to use the new system or would that be kind of insulting to them?

Desired Team Profile

Not necessarily but we believe an understanding of how the digitalization has changed the way people think and act would be beneficial to our problem. Communication skills are important as well as knowledge on how this technological transition has impacted this specific business sector. A background in business administration we believe might be helpful.

Additional Information

Another big obstacle, not related to the main problem but it is definitely present is that of very widely known brands. As our products have mostly to do with house cleaning and/or body care (face, body etc) and we are not allowed to showcase them in supermarkets etc (as we are their "representatives" and not resellers), people find it way easier to just go the supermarket and buy an easily available window cleaner for example instead of reaching out to us (even though our products might have better quality and better ingredients).

Related Keywords

• Digitalization
• Other
• Consumer related
• Retailing
• Consumer Products
• Health and beautty aids, Cosmetics
• Home furnishing and housewares