An article about the transformation of marketing currently being performed by Russian distributors. Among the speakers is Anastasia Sokolova, Marketing Director of MERLION.
Digital transformation is gradually involving more and more sectors of the economy around the world, including in Russia. The editorial board is trying to evaluate this transformation among Russian distributors, where it is mostly a marketing-related process. Part one is available here, and these are excerpts from the second and final part of this article.
What other areas of activity which are not typical for IT distributors is your company considering?
Anastasia Sokolova, Marketing Director of MERLION: It is necessary to mention cloud computing. But not by itself because IT distributors implement it in one form or another. Instead, I want to talk about our approach to it. We will develop this business area based on our own technology platform. Its potential allows us and our partners to work with any required number of cloud solutions. We can interact with users and copyright holders, perform billing tasks, and allow customers to select, enable, and pay for IT services. There are very few platforms in the world that are comparable to Velvica. This is a Russian system that is in no way inferior to the best global analogues. Based on such know-how, we can create exclusive offers for all our partners and their customers who use cloud applications.
What innovations in your logistics and sales systems have been introduced in the last two years?
Anastasia Sokolova: We will announce these innovations in the near future. So far, I do not want to get ahead of ourselves and reveal our far-reaching plans.
What changes were made in the marketing of your company during the digital transformation of distribution?
Anastasia Sokolova: Our successful cooperation with partners rests on a foundation of loyalty programs which spring from a deep understanding of product promotion strategies and the closest possible interaction with manufacturers. At the same time, we must take into account that the effectiveness of such work depends largely on the effectiveness of interaction with the target audience, which is becoming multi-channel and more and more personalized. As of today, brand reputation and sales depend not only on traditional media, but also on reviews from bloggers, experts, and buyers. Therefore, targeted interaction with those people who influence the public opinion in a particular niche, social network, or channel plays an increasingly important role. The high level of digitalization of modern society has led to the fact that almost any information is constantly supplemented and verified on the basis of facts from various sources. For this reason, we need to constantly interact with a very diverse audience on a variety of online platforms. This applies not only to distributors, but also to all other areas of business, as well as to non-profit organizations.
The full version of the second and final part of this article is available here.
All news
