02 minutes
02/03 at 07:00
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For eight months, the purchasing outsourcing company Buy Made Easy has turned into a supplier of masks. A temporary transformation that saved the company and even consolidated it.
How could a company specializing in purchasing outsourcing transform itself into a supplier of anti-covid protective masks in just a few weeks? Yet that’s what managed to do Buy Made Easy (BME) in 2020 under the effect of the Coronavirus pandemic. ” From the start of the crisis, all of our current projects fell through. The future looked bleak », relate Benoit Constanty, one of the co-founders with Olivier Audino and Jérémy Ferrer. Salvation finally came from its BtoB customers (Thales, Endemol, Roche, Rolls-Royce, etc.) who have turned to the company overwhelmingly to demand masks and other personal protective equipment (gel, plexiglass, etc.).
Recruit to get new references
To meet this demand, BME first relied on its network already made up of Chinese partners capable of sourcing large volumes of masks and ensuring their compliance with European standards. To register and manage online orders, the BME Care web platform was implemented within a week. But the technical means were not enough. Especially since the leaders did not want to be satisfied with filling orders from existing customers. At the same time, the company is therefore recruiting freelance salespeople to gain new references. Company managers also form a hotline team to follow up on orders and several buyers come to strengthen the workforce.
The three co-founders of the procurement outsourcing company sold anti-covid masks for 8 months.
– Buy Made Easy
In one month, around fifteen people joined the ranks of the SME. These efforts have paid off. In addition to its thirty customers already under contract, the company has signed with some forty companies to supply masks. In seven months, BME Care has garnered 7 million euros in turnover, bringing overall sales to 13 million euros in 2020 against 8 million the previous year.
Gain notoriety
Since last fall, the supply of masks has exploded around the world. The prices of anti-virus protection have collapsed and so have margins. ” Despite everything, we again have demand for these protection products and we have reactivated freelance sales contracts. », Specifies Benoît Constanty. In the end, the results are largely positive: the company used the masks to get new customers to join its purchasing outsourcing service. In a normal situation, she would probably have taken longer to convince them.
BME has also increased its notoriety. ” During this period, we have gained many contacts from buyers who can become potential users of the outsourcing solution. “, Assures the leader. The war chest won in 2020 thanks to the sale of masks should be used in part to strengthen the marketing resources to relaunch Sourcing Force, the purchasing management software marketed by the company.
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