Interview of Benoit, sales manager for Nespresso

Nespresso stand in e-commerce trade show

Today, the 24th of October, we had the chance to meet Benoit, a sales manager for Nespresso, on a trade show dedicated to e-commerce, based in Lille Grand Palais from 23rd to 25th of October. We took the opportunity to ask him a few questions about the brand.

Marion/Camille: Which one of these markets is the more profitable: households or companies (BtoC market Vs. BtoB market)?

Benoît: without hesitating, the BtoC market is the more profitable for Nespresso, it represents 85% of the whole sales whereas the BtoB market represents 15% of the total sales.

M/C: According to you, what will be the evolution of the coffee market?

B: It is sure that it is a very dynamic market, constantly expanding, but today we don’t really know how long it will go on. But we take benefits from this current development as much as we can. Coffee is really representative of our everyday life.

M/C: Who are your main competitors on the BtoB and BtoC markets?

B: In term of coffee machines, on the BtoC market, Senseo is our main competitor whereas on the BtoB market, Lavazza and Illy are our main competitors.

M/C: How will Nespresso maintain its position on the market when the patents will fall into the public domain at the end of 2012?

B: Our strength is principally the coffee quality. We base our communication on this advantage and it is our response to the growing competition. Even for the coffee-pads which are said to be compatible with our machines, they don’t guarantee the same quality of coffee and can’t really compete with us. That is also why we speak of “great vintages” of coffees.

M/C: Concerning the coffee-pads recycling, what is your policy? It concerns the debate about aluminium and waste products.

B: There’s no problem about the BtoB coffee-pads because, as there is not too much aluminium in them, users can throw them away with traditional waste products.

For the BtoC market, we have been criticized because coffee-pads are made with aluminium and can’t be recycled easily. So, since 2010, we have had a special place to recycle our coffee-pads. It is based at Rungis and is only dedicated to Nespresso pads.

M/C: What can you say about your way of communication?

B: As you may have seen on the website, our communication is a real one to one communication. We speak to the consumer personally to make him feel concerned. Each client has its own website page. An essential feature of Nespresso is the fact that only people who get their machine can buy coffee-pads. When buying a machine, the client gets a special number and has to give it if he wants to buy coffee-pads. Only members of the “Club Nespresso” are able to buy coffee-pads. Consequently, we are in relation with Nespresso machine’s owners only and we can adapt our communication to each one.

Then, we tried to get information about Nespresso positioning and future strategy but the manager was not allowed to give it because of professional secrecy.

This trade show was an opportunity for Nespresso to experiment indirect marketing actions. Indeed, by offering coffee to the participants, they were everywhere. People had their coffee

in Nespresso cups and participated to the communication of the brand by using them. Moreover, as the show was principally dedicated to professionals, they could have promoted their machines and would sold some to the participants.