Interviewed by Balqees Alramahi for MBSC Sales Management Project Date: November 13, 2024
Balqees: Thank you for making time for this interview. I don't come from a sales background. This is a project for a sales management course in our university. We're not experts, so we want you to lead this conversation. Can you tell us what you exactly do in Panda and how does it help sales?
Yousef: I'm Yousef Daghstani. I work under the marketing team as a retail media specialist. First of all, I want to give you an overview of retail media. Retail media in general is something new in Panda.
Basically, when we talk about the marketing department, as a marketing team, we should think of long-term effects on sales. When we talk about sales in marketing, certain promotions have immediate effects. For example, when I reduce a Pepsi from one Riyal to half a Riyal, tomorrow I'll find the sales are very high. In the marketing team, we make plans so that after 2, 3, 4 years, there is a reflection on sales. The advantage of retail media is that the things we do can have a quick reflection.
For example, we have things we do in-store and things we do out-store. In-store, we have activation areas inside the store, floor displays, gondolas - all of them have branding and specific things. It catches the customer's attention so that they come and then see the promotion or whatever it is and buy it.
Balqees: Yes. In sales terminology or marketing terminology, this is the long-term and short-term technique that you mentioned. Does it have a name? Is there a terminology for this?
Yousef: Honestly, there may be a terminology that we use, but what we are doing basically is trying to catch the customer's attention to generate sales. There are other things we do, for example, a new segment we are working on is how to make partnerships with other companies according to the segment we want. For example, there is a segment called young professionals, people between 25 and 35 years old. These people are mostly looking for convenience.
Yousef: In Panda, we serve convenience. How do we know that we serve convenience? We start making partnerships with companies abroad, such as SMC (Saudi Motorsports Company). They focus on motorsports events and things like that. Most of the people who come to these events are young professionals. We start making partnerships with them. We go to these places and create awareness of our products so that we drive sales in the store.
Balqees: Awareness for your products, or awareness for a specific line, a specific category, based on this market segment. This is what you mean, right?
Yousef: Yes, we make awareness of the brand in general.
Balqees: You also advertise, for example, the app. When we talked to Majid yesterday, we found out that there is a new Panda app and they want to publicize it. Is this something special?
Yousef: Yes. The app is one of the things that we are developing in a very big way. One of the main things that people ask for in the app is that they don't want to go out and do things. When someone asks for something in the app, if it comes to them instantly, within half an hour, it will be useful. Otherwise, it won't be useful.
We are also generating ads, for example, pop-up notifications, header displays in the app - all these things help to reflect on sales. For example, when you open the app and want to search for something, there are specific suggestions that come up. When I write something specific in the search, I get suggestions. I might think I want to buy something, and it will reflect on sales. Or I get headers for a specific brand or promotion, I enter it, and it will reflect on sales.
Balqees: Yes, I think this is cross-selling and up-selling, right?
Yousef: Yes. There is one more thing - when you said cross, I remembered something we do in the store, it is also retail media. When you enter the store and go to the category, for example, cornflakes. Automatically, when you come to eat cornflakes, you have to put milk, right? We do something called cross-merchandising. We put a small refrigerator at the cornflakes to have milk, because when I see the cornflakes, I will take the milk below it immediately. This is also one of the things we do that generates high sales.
Balqees: Are you a team lead? Do you lead a team or do you just work together?
Yousef: We have a team, of course, but I am not leading the team. Our head always told us that we are all decision makers and we are all leaders in the team. We work together in the team. We work together and we all lead.
Balqees: Now, when it comes to sales forecasting, do you contribute in any way? How critical is it, for example, for planning and meeting revenue targets?
Yousef: We use forecasting for things that help us in sales. For example, when I work with a certain supplier - most of the sales we are generating are from suppliers. When I come in with a certain supplier and I want to convince him to join a certain marketing campaign, I make a forecast for his sales before and after this campaign. I compare it with other brands that we have worked with.
For example, I want to sell gondolas. What is a gondola? When a gondola enters the supermarket, each line has a shelf in the front. The shelf in the front, at the beginning of the line, is called a gondola. A gondola is one of the things that has a lot of oil in it. For example, in the oil category, I don't want to go inside and take oil from inside, so you always find that the stuff in the front has high sales.
So, I make a history for the sales of the competitor brand that I want to sell. Plus, I make a forecast for the sales of the brand that I want to sell. I make a comparison if you took the gondola and if you didn't take the gondola. This will help me in sales.
Balqees: What you work with is the vendor. Your vendor or your seller. You are the buyer. You want to sell space to them in the gondola. This is your method when it comes to sales forecasting. Right?
Yousef: Yes, exactly. We have a whole team in the company specialized in doing things like this - forecasting, collecting data, etc. The team helps us with this. Before I go to the supplier, they give me all the details and insights that I need for the forecasting. Then I go to the supplier.
Balqees: We also had a question about what kind of sales support tools and technologies you use. Do you have a whole team that does that for you?
Yousef: Yes. It's very useful. When you go to the supplier with knowledge, it's not like you go in without knowledge. When you go in and you know how the sales are doing, how many were in 2023, how many were in 2024, and how many could happen if you joined me in this campaign. When I know the knowledge that the supplier has 5 brands, and one of his brands is not doing well, I go in and tell him you have to do a promotion for this thing.
When I go in and I have knowledge about his brands, it makes a huge difference in sales. He knows that I know. This also builds trust during the conversation.
Balqees: Sales development and execution. How important is structured sales development and execution support in advancing prospects through the sales pipeline? I think this is your marketing. This is more related to sales development performance about how do you develop a strategy for sales and how does it help advance prospects through the pipeline.
Yousef: Of course, it depends on the case. I think everything I sell needs a certain strategy depending on the case. Honestly, for me, it's case by case. Personally, if I want to sell something, it's case by case depending on the situation. For example, sometimes I make a strategy to sell part of a package because later on I will sell the entire package.
Or sometimes, for example, the supplier comes to me. I'm not selling something, I'm not suggesting to sell something. He comes to me and says, I want a certain package from you. Okay, I will give you an 80% discount. He will consider it as a favor because I'm planning that after 3 or 4 months, I'm going to sell him another package. It will be much more expensive, but he's going to take it because before that, I gave him a big discount. I feel that it's case by case. I don't think I have a clear strategy.
Balqees: If we go back to the gondola, do you think you can give me a success story? For example, what is the brand that you tried to work on this gondola method with and you had a really big difference in numbers? Like a success story.
Yousef: I have it in mind, but I don't have the exact numbers. But I have a really good success story with Saudi Snacks. I can share it later with you. It started with them trying it as a trial. They have a specific branding that they do in the gondola with the entire category. This thing increased sales in an unusual way. But it's better to share it in numbers.
Balqees: Yes, yes. I'm going to share it with you later on, Inshallah.
[Interview concludes with discussion of follow-up survey and thank yous]