Focus on Italy
Duni began developing its operations in Italy at the end of 2003. Sales efforts were initially focused on northern Italy, but since then have expanded southwards with a focus on premium products, despite the fact that the market is generally price-sensitive. Today, 120 distributors and four local cash-and-carries work together with Duni's sales force to reach out to 95,000 restaurants and 34,000 hotels in Italy.
The Italian market is fragmented and consists largely of small family-owned companies. One half of the restaurants offer meals at price levels that are sufficiently high to make it interesting to offer Duni's concept-based product range. 1.4% of the 34,000 hotels belong to international hotel chains, while 300 hotels have five-stars and the remainder are largely four-star or three-star hotels.
Italy is one of the most linen-oriented markets in Europe. A clear majority of the restaurants use linen tablecoverings. Consequently, the competition does not consist primarily of other paper-based products; instead, the challenge involves changing ingrained habits. The push/pull strategy, which involves customers being visited by both Duni and wholesalers, represents the key to success. Duni's sales force spends a great deal of its time together with restaurant and hotel owners in order to demonstrate how different table setting concepts enhance the atmosphere and thereby increase restaurant turnover.
So far the strategy has been successful, with sales growing at an average rate in excess of 30% annually since 2003. We are witnessing a steady growth in interest in Duni's premium products on one of the most linen-oriented markets in Europe. With its high proportion of linen users, Italy is also an extremely interesting market for Evolin.
Content
Duni's sales in Italy have increased on average by 30% annually since 2003.
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