KIN Cosmetics, an almost century-old company, has experienced great international expansion in the last two decades. And new times require new tools, especially in a globalised sector where competition is strong.

KIN Cosmetics: How to manage commercial growth with digitalisation

This company has integrated Sales Enablement CatalogPlayer technology to optimise the efficiency of its sales team and to improve processes by putting customer service at the centre of its strategy.

The story: KIN Cosmetics, a family business with a presence in 30 countries

The history of this cosmetics brand dates back to the early 1930s when Gregorio Bosacoma began developing and marketing hair dye that he sold in the Sant Feliu de Guíxols market square. Since then, the company has never stopped growing and expanding, always with the Bosacoma family at the helm.

One of the keys to its success is the constant innovation in its products, knowing how to anticipate its customers' demands. But also the good judgement when it comes to adapting commercially in a globalised and constantly evolving market.

The challenge: Improve commercial processes in the Growth phase

Today this brand manufactures and distributes cosmetics for hair salons on four continents and in more than thirty countries. And for a company with such an extensive commercial network, any improvement in the productivity of its sales teams can have a great impact on its results.

Its managers estimate an increase in productivity of around 200% thanks to two key factors: order automation, and the optimisation of commercial visits.

“We are a family business with a relatively new commercial network. As we have grown, it has become more necessary to control this commercial network, the work, how visits are made, optimising time on the road… We are working on organising routes, we weren't optimising times well and in this sense we have gained a lot.” – Esther Real, Administration Director

As regards automation, KIN Cosmetics has managed to reduce the hours of administrative management of its sales reps, order management times at the logistics level have been cut - with orders being managed in less than 24 hours -, and hours of human resources have been allocated to tasks of greater commercial value such as customer service.

CatalogPlayer technology has allowed KIN Cosmetics to synchronise orders between the sales rep and the warehouse. Through the tablet during physical visits, or from the computer for remote sales, sales reps pass the sales information directly to the logistics department, from where orders can begin to be managed even before the sales rep has finished the visit.

“Until now we worked in Excel. CatalogPlayer has helped us a lot to work in a more organised way and to carry out on site tasks that we used to do later, such as entering orders late in the afternoon. Now we work in the moment and in front of the customer. In this sense we have gained 200%.” – Joan Marc Palmero, Hairdressing Channel Manager

The digitalisation of the sales process, key to commercial productivity

Previously, KIN Cosmetics salespeople entered all orders into an Excel at the end of the day to be managed the following day. Now not only have post-sale management times been cut, but also the preparation of commercial visits, since the salesperson has all the customer information at hand: orders, invoices, invoice due dates, contract type, discounts, incidents…
This increase in productivity has not been limited to the sales team, but extends to other departments. As an example, CatalogPlayer has allowed KIN Cosmetics' customer service to be strengthened. The laborious task of manually entering all orders has been eliminated, and the commercial back-office staff only has to review them, which has freed up very valuable time to provide more personalised customer service.

The integration of CatalogPlayer, a Sales Enablement platform

“Our intention is for the customer service department to focus on improving the services we offer and not on order management, which is automated. Currently there are many hairdressing brands. The differentiating point is the attention we give our customers, the follow-up they receive, and this tool helps us.” – Esther Real, Administration Director.

One of the great advantages of having a Sales Enablement platform such as CatalogPlayer is that the benefits increase as the tool is used. So far we have mentioned the improvement in sales team productivity, the reorganisation of commercial routes, and the positive impact on the customer service team, all with a much faster order service time.
KIN Cosmetics had the advantage of having integrated CatalogPlayer prior to the situation arising from COVID-19.

“The first phase of CatalogPlayer implementation was quick. And when it came to resuming activity after lockdown, orders were placed remotely.” – Esther Real, Administration Director

The results: Automated processes and time savings in several departments

Thanks to the integration of CatalogPlayer, commercial visits have been carried out remotely with the support of the platform. In this way, the customer has the visual support of the virtual catalogue just as if the salesperson were present. In addition, sales reps have seen travel times completely reduced, being able to manage a greater number of commercial visits throughout the day.
The advantages of having a Sales Enablement system directly affect the sales team but also other departments.

These are the main objectives achieved by KIN Cosmetics since the adaptation of CatalogPlayer:

• Increase in the productivity of its sales teams by 200%.
• Optimisation of commercial routes and visits.
• Ability to manage sales remotely.
• Automation of orders at the logistics level.
• Notable increase in the speed of order service
• Reallocation of time and resources to tasks of greater value, such as customer service.

As its functionalities continue to expand, a Sales Enablement platform such as CatalogPlayer can continue to deliver benefits across all departments of the company. Among its advantages we find the improvement of the onboarding process for new sales agents and decision-making by the management team based on the continuous metrics offered by the platform. Without forgetting one of its greatest advantages: the constant optimisation of the catalogue by the marketing department to offer each customer personalised content based on their needs.