Thibault de Romemont, Bergonzo
It is within this context that emerged the project of the Bergonzo company specialized in the organization of points of sale: through the systematic recovery of end of life POS equipment, the sorting of materials and the optimization of waste. More details from Thibault Romemont, Commercial Director of the French firm.
Premium Beauty News - What is the weight of the POS equipment sector in France?
Thibault de Romemont - POS equipment in France represented a market of 1,021 billion euros at the end 2008. As they were confronted to crisis, advertisers changed their strategy by choosing to highlight the value of their products directly in points of sale, to be as close as possible to the end consumer, as a result in 2008, expenditures for POS advertising progressed by 1.8%. The health and beauty sector is by far the largest consumer of POS equipment, far ahead of the food and beverage industries.
Premium Beauty News - Is the environment really a concern for brands?
Thibault de Romemont - Today, the ecological approach becomes every day more and more an integral part of the design specification for components of POS equipments and actively participates to a corporate responsibility process. Advertisers insist on the choice of mono-material to favour and facilitate recycling and also recommend the use of cardboard-made POS equipments because of its biodegradability.
The issue is important because POS equipment represents large investments for displays of a very short lifespan (two weeks on average), which generates a lot of waste.
Premium Beauty News - What do regulations provide regarding the recovery and treatment of such waste?
Thibault de Romemont - In France the Environmental Code regulates the obligations of companies in terms of waste treatment and laid down the responsibility of any person who produces or possesses waste (article L.541-2) in case of damages or nuisance or pollution caused by these wastes or inadequate treatment processes.
Premium Beauty News - Sorting out one’s waste has become something natural!
Thibault de Romemont - Indeed, when collection facilities are made available for them, nearly 7 in 10 households sort their waste. They also see to reduce their energy and water consumption. These "green" habits are now in fact - increasingly more - part of the French lifestyle.
Beyond daily actions, surveys show that French are increasingly concerned by environment issues.
Premium Beauty News - What is your project?
Thibault de Romemont - Actually, it is nothing more and nothing less than to propose to distributors the management of their whole POS material from the warehouses to the outlets, with the aim to minimize the environmental impact, in particular the global warming potential (GWP) of the activity.
That is to say:
Managing the receipt of POS equipments in our warehouses (all brands considered).
Picking and dispatch per outlet.
Delivery per outlet / and recovery of end of life POS equipment, every 15 days.
Installation (real-time reporting included) and dismounting /end of campaign report.
Storage and maintenance for reuse or recycling (environment).
Premium Beauty News - It is the whole organization and logistics that need to be reviewed?
Thibault de Romemont - Yes indeed, the delivery of the POS equipment in our warehouses needs to be performed between 5 or 2 working days before the date of installation according to a distribution per outlet communicated at the beginning of operation. We have several warehouses located throughout France, to total a storage area of more than 9,000m sqm (Evry, Lille, Nancy, Strasbourg, Lyon, Marseille, Ajaccio, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Tours, Rouen, Rennes).
The equipment is checked by sampling and photo taking upon delivery (conformity of equipment, allocated quantities,...). Upon arrival in our warehouses the equipment is identified. A delivery record is sent to the customer. This receipt material procedure is subject to a detailed charter in use in all our agencies to ensure the reliability of the information transmitted.
Regarding the supervision of installations, we guarantee the effective implementation of the entire POS equipment, on due date, and in compliance with display requirements. Each installation is subject to an immediate report posted on the extranet with pictures and an alert in the event of problems. The customer distributor or brand contact can follow live the smooth running of the installation. A tour report is issued at the end of each campaign.
For each material recovery (cardboard packaging, end of life POS material, ...) the installer will have a specific document validated by the store manager or any other authorized person, indicating the number of m3 collected. A periodic report is sent to the client indicating the average volume of waste picked up per outlet during a given period.
Our warehouses follow a charter committing them on the means implemented for waste management: sorting of materials, compacting of cardboard elements, dumping into the bin appropriate for each type of material, collection of the bins by an accredited company for destruction or recycling. Upon request, the record of destruction is given periodically to the customer distributor or to the brands.
Premium Beauty News - What are the benefits for the distributor?
Thibault de Romemont - Time saving and simplification of processes (see table here below).
To note also among other additional benefits, the ability to enable beauty advisors to refocus on the main purpose of their occupation which is advising and selling, but also the outsourcing of these tasks who are time consuming. There is also a gain on additional sales area with the possibility of using the space previously dedicated to storage. The implementation of this process gives the possibility to go forward on environmental issues and to organize an appropriate management in the installation of POS equipments.
Premium Beauty News - What are the benefits for brands?
Thibault de Romemont - They obviously benefit from this Implementation of an environmental approach upon the destruction and recycling of their end of life POS equipments. They may also consider in a process of sustainable development, the optimization of POS material reusable after recovery. There is a possibility of considering a depreciation rate on reusable equipment according to the unit cost. And some other benefits can be considered:
Sharing of costs (logistics).
Optimization of current installation costs.
Sales force that focuses on its core business: selling and training.
The ability to supervise the smooth running of the installation of the POS in strict compliance with implementation dates and requirements for display.
Anticipating the possible late delivery and non-compliance of equipment.
