For years, electrical wholesale stores have been merging and forming associations. It’s getting harder and harder for small wholesale stores to retain their position on such a competitive market. So is it worth thinking about running one’s own local business in this sector? How can we ensure our company’s development and beat our competitors? How to enjoy the fruits, also financial but not only, of the work of our own hands? These are the main topics that we would like to tackle on our blog.
It will not contain academic deliberations; we will base our articles on our own experience only. Together with my wife, we started our family business in a very modest manner. Our first sales point in Kargowa was about 30 m² in size. Today, Kaczmarek Electric is one of the leaders in the sector and our chain of wholesale stores selling electro-technical goods has as many as 100 branches all over Poland. Based on my own experience, I can answer the first question posed in this article without hesitation – it’s worth it. It’s worth running your own business because it gives you enormous satisfaction and independence, it allows you to develop yourself, and it is simply great fun! It’s worth running a local business on a market that you know and to whose needs you will be able to adjust quickly. And in the face of consolidation and competition on the market, it’s good to have a big partner that will provide us with access to the best sales offer, give us financial, marketing and logistic support, and – in case of problems – won’t leave us without assistance. It’s also important that our partner thinks about development and that they are innovative, because we enter into a long-term relationship, not only until next year.
Cezary Kaczmarek, Chairman of the Board of Kaczmarek Electric S.A.
Within the last few years, the network of Kaczmarek Electric wholesale stores has grown significantly – we have almost doubled the number of our branches. Thanks to what? What makes more and more traders want to cooperate with us? In my opinion, the answer is actually very simple. People expect an honest approach, respect, a good atmosphere, and conditions that will assist their development, and of course conditions that will help them to earn good, or even very good money – without any restrictions. The declarations have to have backing in real life and we are truthful in what we say and what we do.
The first agency branch of Kaczmarek Electric was created 15 years ago. Since that time, more and more have gradually appeared. A significant increase in the number of branches in our partnership network took place two years ago, when we started the program entitled “With us it’s worth it.” Within the framework of the “With us it’s worth it” campaign, we wanted to show you who we really are. We want to do this here as well. To tell you what sets us apart from the rest and what our style of work is. We will also give the floor to our partners, to those who have been running Kaczmarek Electric agencies for years as well as those who have entered our ranks relatively recently. We will show you a few specific examples in a series of films entitled “True stories.” In those films, both our long-standing and new partners tell how they are developing their businesses, what kind of people they are, what their aspirations, dreams, and passions are.
The last two years were not a good period for our sector; for a few quarters in 2016 and 2017 we experienced an economic downturn. A lot of companies noted acute losses of turnover then. In the meantime, our development was above-market. Why did it happen that way? Because we had an idea for sales and our own, developed model of action. We didn’t wait for the economic situation to recover. We knew that we had to offer our clients more and better products, and to be real business partners for them.
On this blog, you will be able to read more about why it’s worth cooperating with us and what kind of support we give to our partners. Already today you can have a quick glance at “Ten reasons why it’s worth it with us.” By way of introduction, I’d just like to mention that the practical knowledge which we share with you is of utmost importance. I’m speaking, among other things, about our own model of sales, which suits both the professional and the retail customer. This model is a great advantage, but on the way there many perils await you as well. Our partners obtain a ready-made solution that we have been polishing and improving for ten years, free of multiple errors that we have eliminated in the process. And, as everybody knows, errors are costly.
Of course, the economic situation is changing; the world around us is changing, as well as consumers’ expectations and the mechanisms of making purchase decisions. At Kaczmarek Electric, we constantly work on keeping up with those changes. One of our most important tasks is to cope with future challenges in order that the local branches and field salespeople don’t need to worry about the future and about the ever-changing market, but can focus on their most immediate goals, relations with their clients and their own professional development instead.
Changes are, of course, inevitable, but there are also things we don’t want to change. Since the beginning, we have been developing our company on the basis of three values: partnership, passion, and professionalism. Above all, we have focused on people and true partnership. In our company, we treat everybody – our business partners, our clients and our employees alike – as partners. In all our actions, there is passion and that is why we are reliable in what we do. Professionalism is a word that best describes the quality and level of service that we provide for our customers. Those values are in the very DNA of our company and that is why in our partnership network we welcome people for whom they are equally close.
