NETCOMM SUISSE HOLDS ITS SECOND DIGITAL BRAND MEETUP FOR CONNECTING ITS COMMUNITY

13 May 2020

Netcomm Suisse organized its second digital brand meetup for connecting its community in times of social distancing. The meetup took place on 12 May and was organized in collaboration with BertO Salotti, an Italian furniture brand well-known for its high quality and exclusive sofas. The session was joined by 14 of our members.

 

Viktor Herbeiu, Senior Partner Manager at Netcomm Suisse, kicked off the meeting by introducing the association’s digital initiatives including webinars, live interviews, e-workshops, e-conferences, and research reports. Netcomm is clearly underlining its efforts to connecting industry leaders in times of uncertainty and supporting the digital community with actionable knowledge.

 

After the introduction of Netcomm Suisse, Filippo Berto, CEO of BertO Salotti, presented the evolution of the family company from a traditional manufacturer of furniture to a digital brand that is seeking the direct connection to its customers.

BertO Salotti originates from the north of Lombardy, a region with a long-lasting tradition of producing furniture. BertO started with a traditional business model with a rather complex value chain as consumers were only able to buy products through resellers that BertO was able to reach only with the support of agents. 

The early 2000s initiated a big step forward as BertO started to embrace newly available digital tools. In 2002, BertO was launching its first Google Advertising campaign. In the following year, the brand launched its blog to show the brand’s heritage to the world. Today, the blog is available in seven languages. In 2007, BertO launched its YouTube channel that gathered a total of around 2.5m views by today. With the opening of mono-brand stores, BertO was able to get in direct contact with their customers and to directly take them into their world which was initiating a new era for the brand.

Covid-19 had strong direct effects on BertO and its employees. It took a couple of weeks to understand what this new situation would mean and how to adapt the business model. As a reaction, BertO was seeking to enhance its direct connection with consumers and was enabling them to directly buy their products online. BertO was also adjusting its communication for supporting the community in order to feel comfortable at home in times of lockdown. Thanks to this direct interaction with their customers, BertO was learning that “customers are willing to dream and learn about design even in times of deep crisis” as Filippo was stating.

Coming towards the end of his presentation, Filippo shared also a few insights about the Chinese market where they find a lot of interesting of consumers in Italian design products. Besides the online channel, BertO is directly present in the country with its own stores and with company representatives managing the strategy locally. “China is the most difficult market, you can do a lot of stuff as the offering of available platforms and tools is very broad.” 

If you want to discover more from BertO, visit their website.

 

The brand meetup was closed with a presentation from Benedikt Zingg, Market Insights Manager at Netcomm Suisse Observatory. He shared some insights on how consumer needs are shifting in the light of Covid-19. As consumers spend more time at home, there is an increase in internet use and especially on websites dedicated to video streaming and entertainment.  Benedikt also presented some data from the recently published Home & Living consumer report. The data confirms what Filippo was mentioning before, consumers today are ready to buy high-priced and complex products online. Further, consumers are interested in using smart home technologies such as smart speakers and home automation devices. 

The full report can be found here.

 

We would like to thank all our members for joining us and Filippo Berto for taking the time to share his experience. The next brand meetup will take place on 4 June in collaboration with the Swiss luxury brand Bally.

Learn more about our brand meetups here.

 

The members that joined us:

 

Marco Loguercio, Founder & CEO @ FIND

 

Silvio Cavallo, CMO @ ParkinGO Group Int.

 

Alessandro Marrarosa, CEO @ Veco Digital SA

 

Michele Cristiano, Marketing & Comunicazione @ Centro Studi Villa Negroni

 

Marco Martini, Corporate & Tax Advisor @ PM Consulenze SA

 

Mathias Bettschart, Head of New Business @ Converto

 

Luca Preto, Web Marketing Manager @ Ticino Turismo

 

Angelo Coletta, CEO & Co Founder @ Zakeke

 

Mannon Van den Enden, Business Development Manager @ Retail Rocket

 

Mauro Prada, Responsabile clientela commerciale @ Credit Suisse

 

Alessandra Veronesi, International Sales Manager @ Diennea – MagNews

 

Enrico Roselli, CEO@ La Martina

 

Yannick Bazin, President@ by connect

 

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