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One ambition: to improve the well-being of all Proximity to customers

New concepts 4.2.2 This marketing strategy of customer interaction using new digital and data analysis tools allows the Activities to develop new concepts essential for maintaining margins, which are more uncertain in the digital era. These new models can be grouped into three main categories: the first is services for the Group’s direct customers. In „ France and Great Britain, the Distribution Sector has developed software to help with preparing quotes, Solu+ in France and BuildAviator in Great Britain, which helps professionals to make significant time savings on this onerous task. In addition, software for creating layouts, for one-click ordering and for other purposes was introduced in most activities in 2017 and will develop further in 2018; the second concerns services to “end customers”, or at „ least, to key influencers in Saint-Gobain’s markets, who are not always direct customers – on the contrary, with digital, the decision-making power tends to shift towards the end customer. It is therefore essential to develop products and solutions that cater for their needs and which they are able to understand and evaluate. The “Homly You” offering, launched in 2016, continues its successful development: more than 100,000 requests from private individuals have been sent to professionals selected by the Homly You teams in France. The model is being rolled out to all the European countries where the Distribution Sector has a significant presence. Generally speaking, all of Saint-Gobain’s activities either launched user services in 2017 or are currently preparing such services: PAM, for example, with a leak diagnosis tool for water networks,

aimed at local authorities; or Sefpro, with diagnostic or maintenance services for industries that use its refractory solutions; or Abrasives, which offers full package services to bodyshops and repair shops, including inventory management and safety training for their staff; lastly, the third group comprises “concept” sales. This „ format involves presenting the end customer with a solution to a problem they are dealing with, in the form of a combination of different products. A number of examples have already been successfully sold in 2017: specification teams in India have a framework „ agreement with a number of IT service companies: they carry out an assessment of their facilities, particularly their open plan office space, and propose solutions to improve employees’ comfort and therefore, their productivity, more and more “manhole cover replacement kits” „ combining products from PAM, Weber and Adfors are being sold, to ensure that works are carried out properly and will be durable, launched in Norway in 2016, the MyComfort or „ Multi-Comfort option in residential is being adopted more widely: it involves offering a coherent suite of products for building or renovating housing that noticeably improve all aspects of comfort for the occupant. The complementary nature of the Group’s Activities, brands and trade names, makes these new concepts more effective.

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