Esprinet opens a cash & carry in Barcelona and commitment to interactivity with the customer

Smart labels and a digital totem are the signage solutions that have been implemented in the new store in Hospitalet de Llobregat inaugurated, yesterday by the wholesaler, and that seeks to facilitate the purchasing experience of the distributor and allow greater control of the stock of products.

Esprinet has opened a cash & carry in Barcelona. Located in the area of Hospitalet de Llobregat is the second to open in Spain and follows the same line as the Esprivillage in Madrid. It has a space of 740 square meters of exhibition and 150 warehouse, and it markets more than 4.400 References.

The Esprivillage Barcelona is another step in the strategy of the company that is committed to this model of direct sales to distributors and that as explained by José María García, country manager of Esprinet Ibérica, "We will continue to develop. We plan, in the near future, Continue opening cash & carry although it is not yet determined where it will be. We have chosen Hospitalet for our second center because it is the most suitable area by number of distributors".

The future forecasts of the company seem to have their sights set on the south of Madrid, although it does not rule out that this business expansion will focus on Portugal. "It is a market that is slower than Spain but after these years working there we have the experience and knowledge to bet on it".

Cash & carry from Madrid has brought the company a business of 15 million euros and hope that this new establishment that they have opened in Barcelona will report a similar figure.

This company already has 17 Cash Points of Sale & carry in Italy, spread over different areas of the country, where more than 6.000 Customers make their purchases. "When it comes to opening stores,, in Italy distance is taken into account while in Spain more emphasis is placed on the advancement of the business".

Encouraging customer interactivity

At the technological level, in this center has been implemented the same smart label solution that Alcobendas has but, In addition, It has gone a step further and installed a solution that bets on interactivity with the customer.

This interactivity aims to facilitate the customer's shopping experience and allow what Esprinet calls 'intelligent dynamic replenishment' and that as José María García comments "will be marked by the more than 1.300 distributors that are in the surroundings and that will be the ones that indicate to us what products are going to be sold".

For the implementation of this initiative they have had the collaboration of the company Nicolis Project who has implemented a digital kiosk, The Btotem, that helps the distributor in his purchases and optimizes the management of the stock in the center.

The btotem is built with a touchscreen that facilitates interaction with the client. It can be programmed to perform different actions and facilitates the search for products in the store, In addition to allowing interaction with other devices and browsing the intranet of the point of sale.
The totem that is installed in the cash & carry of Hospitalet de Llobregat has a touch screen of 22,5 Inch, Barcode reader and thermal printer.

The customer performs in this information booth the search for the products he wants to purchase and the information is sent via WiFi to the labels that are on the shelves with the different products. Through colored Led signals is indicated where they are, as well as if they are in stock. This solution allows you to manage up to seven operations simultaneously.

Thanks to the interactivity provided by this solution it is possible to manage promotions, Replenishment dates, take action on products, indicate which items should be removed , help to perform different activities in the store such as picking, Check items that are out of stock, and enable the marking of critical stocks.

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