The headline was, the era of hyperconsumption is over. That was said 10 years ago, we have to take care of the planet we are going to leave to our grandchildren. Actually, we are seeing the negative effects we are seeing from today itself. And how can a brand like FNAC contribute to improving the environment?
A group like ours today makes hundreds of thousands of repairs each year that reduce the impact of the industry.
You have taken a big step, right? With the integration of UNIEURO in Italy. It is very important that the industry in Europe reorganizes, prepares for this competition that is going to be very violent. But why are you going to spend money opening a physical store? No, if through my mouse and a click I can already buy everything. And life is going to be talking through a screen, buying, not meeting anyone. I don't believe it.
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Hello everyone. Who hasn't spent good times, good moments in a store looking for that book or that record or simply to relax or to be surprised. That is why it is a cultural reference in the lives of many people and it will continue to be, it will continue to do so, increasing its expansion and also growing through new services, new strategies, subscriptions for its customers and also firmly betting on sustainability. To talk about all this, today we have invited to Forbes Fans, Enrique Martínez, Global CEO of FNAC, whom we deeply thank for your visit. It is an honor for us that you join us today. Welcome, Enrique.
Also, I must say that usually, well, here we usually have people, bankers or managers of great prestige, and what we usually talk about is assets, a lot of money, and the truth is that it is also a pleasure to be able to talk sometimes, for example, about culture. You are also a person, a leader, an executive very committed to this transformation that the consumer industry is experiencing without losing a bit of the essence, right? The contact also of physical stores with the customer, which is very important. So again welcome and well, I was going to ask you first of all something that has moved you, a book, a movie, a record that you have recently listened to that has left a mark on you, but I think that right now you are only thinking, what you have in mind is the opening, the reopening of the FNAC store here in Madrid, in Callao.
No, no, no, I think that in life you have to leave time to enjoy and I am lucky to be in contact with many sellers and many enthusiasts. I really like music and I was thinking about what I was going to answer you and I really like opera. So, a week ago I attended a Handel opera in Paris, Arión Dante, which is an opera that is not very much in the repertoire and that moved me quite a bit, I mean, it could have been a book. Well, it is a good recommendation, but a good opera that I recommend, Arion Dante by Handel, perfect for a day of love.
Let's also get into the matter. For many years FNAC has shown that it is not enough to sell culture and technology, you also have to always be close to the customer on a daily basis. I understand that your latest strategic plan, Beyond Everyday, goes a bit in that line. Tell us a little about what it consists of.
It is the strategic plan for the entire group that consists of taking the retail model, consumption further. For example, Beyond Everyday. We start from the basis that being close to the customer in the world of culture, entertainment, technology, we want to help them make a transition to the future. And the future is many things, but it is also the issue of sustainable and durable consumption and accompanying them on a new type of consumption. So, we are very committed to that and we are very committed to doing it with an adapted retail model, that is why the new stores and the opening of Callao and a few days ago in Barcelona. An integrated model with multi-channel, services, the in-store experience, but also proposing services that will allow us to create a different economic model to accompany the future of the customer transition.
And at what point did you realize that you had to take this step? Have you been maturing this idea for a long time?
Yes, I think it is a continuous process very based on the group's strengths. The group today is more than 30,000 people and there are more than 5,000 people dedicated exclusively to the world of service, repair, assistance. So, having such an important asset, what we have decided is to transform it into a unique competitive advantage and perhaps try to differentiate ourselves from other competitors, from other types of models, more online, more in immediacy, in delivery, etc., which we also know how to do, but to seek our strong point and it is clearly everything related to service, assistance, the human, the passion. So, making that our strategic model meant making choices, investments, advancing in that model, creating new types of services, subscriptions, etc. And that is the heart of our transformation plan.
Today in the strategic plan I think you contemplate the possibility of reaching, you have set as a goal to reach 4 million subscribers, for example, by 2030. Does this require a very deep internal change or is the base already there?
No, in the last 4 or 5 years we have gone from 200,000 to almost 2 million. So it is much more difficult to go from two to four than from zero to two because always well, but we have also learned and we have entered a new model, we have learned, we have acquired new skills in teams, systems, etc. So, I think today we are more sure of the path, but the path must be fought because we have to conquer customers, we have to provide value-added services, we have to be, the customer is very demanding with the quality of the service we are going to provide because the subscription by definition is not commitment. Today you are, tomorrow you are not. And for the customer to stay with us for a long time, we have to be there day in and day out and be able to fulfill the promise of the services we propose in every sense. So, the challenge is very important, but I think we are very calm about our ability to do it.
Now I also ask you precisely how it happens or how you carry out that change from what we commonly knew or know as a simple customer, a customer who looks at your products, goes through the checkout to that subscription model as well. But before that there is something that also caught my attention, some statements of yours that I have read, which highlighted the headline, 'The era of hyperconsumption is over.' It strikes me as very interesting as an executive of the consumer industry who seeks precisely mass consumption, right? The more profits, the better, to make that kind of reflection, right?
I think we have to seek sustainable consumption that is profitable and allows investment and growth, right? A consumption, mass consumption, the era of mass consumption is over, it is exhausted. Consumption is one of the biggest factors of pollution in the world. The electronics industry generates 50 billion tons of waste each year. I mean, what we are consuming today will have an impact on the planet for the next 50, 100 years. So it is like the debt of countries, we cannot leave it to our grandchildren. We have to act from today. So, what we want to do and hence the strong position the group has and mine is to seek an alternative way so that we can have access to consumer goods that make life much easier and more comfortable for everyone, but reducing the impact that this can have on the ecological transition, which we know today is a topic we feel every day and more in a country like Spain, coming from, I am Valencian, we don't need to explain all the consequences of the transition. That before were always seen as something for our grandchildren. That was said 10 years ago, it was said, 'We have to take care of the planet we are going to leave to our grandchildren.' And in reality we are seeing that the negative effects we are seeing from today itself. So today we have to act. So, my goal as CEO is to make that compatible with a sufficient model to continue developing the company. Hence the service model. Speaking of sustainability, of course, there will be people watching us who ask, and how can a brand like FNAC contribute to improving the environment, to promoting that sustainability?
Well, look, we have done many things, but I would say that there are two that are the most symbolic for me. First, we have put all our information, all our data, and they are millions, hundreds of millions of customers, users, repairs at the service of improving the industry, giving them all the information on quality, incidents, how their product can be improved so that it can last much longer. It has been a very important element to make it more transparent and that brands have to invest precisely in that search for quality and improvement. And the other has been to create an economic model that allows repair, which is one of the things that was in the DNA of our grandparents or great-grandparents: not to throw away, to repair because it was the economic and ecological gesture by definition. I think in the last generations we have all gotten a little lost with the throwaway, because anything is cheaper to buy than to use and throw and not make an effort. And I think that, we say, that has been exhausted in the sense that if we had to pass on the total cost of the impact of a product from production to recycling to the price, it would probably be much more expensive. So, there is an economic model to enter with repair and in a group like ours today we make hundreds of thousands of repairs each year that reduce the impact of the industry. These are two examples transformed into the world of business without ideology, without wild or radical environmentalism, but which can have a positive effect on our planet, on our society.
