During the past decade the global market for rugs has been growing steadily and even though rug sales at IKEA have grown as well, it has not matched the general growth figures of the segment, leading to IKEA losing market shares. Therefore IKEA a few years ago set out to turn their rug business into a destination business for IKEA where updated offer, quality and price levels would be more market relevant, ultimately leading to increased sales. The aim was to focus on living room rugs first hand.

Peter Herte, Global Brand Manager at Galderma Global Galderma is the world’s largest independent global dermatology company, with presence in over 100 countries. The company was the first in the world introducing hyaluronic acid fillers for aesthetic injections and is driven by medical research to help consumers achieve the desired natural improved look they want. Galderma’s overall aim is to continue to deliver a comprehensive portfolio of recognized products and services, trusted by both healthcare providers and consumers.

Charlotte Ungerth, Head of Aesthetics Business Unit Nordics at Galderma and previously strategically responsible for the business area on a global level have experience from aesthetics for over seven years and worked with several projects together with Opticom.

“Greatly appreciated by our customers and an invaluable tool to strengthen customer relations and further improve SCA’s market position”. Mikael Frölander has vast experience from the international forest industry, previously also holding positions at Grycksbo AB, Papyrus and Stora Enso.

Niko Kujala has been working within the product segment of breakers and switches at ABB Protection and Connection in Vaasa, Finland since 2011 and he has held different international positions within both sales and production. He gives the background to his first experience with Opticom International Research: We knew that we wanted to conduct customer satisfaction research on a global level in order to better understand our customers’ needs, basically asking them: What were the needs in different fields and what do we as a supplier need to do better?

Fierce competition between suppliers characterises the market for blood glucose meters with the additional challenge that this market is strictly regulated by public procurement. All blood glucose meter suppliers are fully dependent on getting their meters on tender in as many counties as possible. A customer can only obtain disposables (test strips) for a meter that is currently on tender and which meters are selected and available to customers is under constant change. Creating loyal customers under those conditions is quite a challenge. Abbott Diabetes Care has selected Opticom as a strategic partner in its strive for success.

“Eka, or AkzoNobel Pulp and Performance Chemicals as we’re now called, has, in conjunction with Opticom, broken new ground in terms of customer contact and communication,” says company Sustainability Manager Maria Norell very enthusiastically. “A few times during the spring, we invited our customers to attend web-based seminars, or ‘webinars’, that highlighted and focused on the concept of sustainability, which is an extremely important issue for both us and our customers. All growth targets must be centred on achieving long-term sustainability, particularly when it comes to the environment,” explains Norell. “We only have one planet, we must remember that,” she adds in all seriousness.

How do motor cycle riders see upon safety and the use of motor cycle helmets? More importantly, are they willing to pay for a safer helmet? When entering the motor cycle helmet segment, questions such as these were on MIPS AB’s mind.

A Story of Success In brief - “Our customer base is very happy with what we're doing and a lot of that is because we continue to anticipate and meet our customers’ needs and expectations. This understanding comes through our constant open dialogue with our customers and specific projects such as the Voice of Customer survey, performed in 2017”

It isn’t possible to improve our own operations unless we have properly identified our strengths and weaknesses as seen by the people that we ultimately answer to – our customers. A Customer Satisfaction Study helps to track and understand the overall satisfaction of the customers and our competitive advantages in the marketplace, and reveals as well areas for improvement.

Pietro Crovetto, VP Global Inhalation Strategy at Lupin Pharmaceuticals with vast experience from the international pharmaceutical industry at various prominent positions within commerce, marketing, strategy, and business development, for a variety of companies including Novartis, Chiesi, ALK Abelló and Teva Pharmaceuticals. Pietro has been a client to Opticom for over 10 years, both at previous positions and now, working for Lupin. He gives the background to his experiences with Opticom International Research, focusing on the latest Lupin project Opticom conducted, that he was personally involved in.

“For some time now, the paper market has been undergoing significant changes, with reductions in the consumption of several different paper grades, which in turn has seen a reduction in the consumption in pulp. This is a trend we expect will continue,” says Anna Altner, who manages the Pulp Labs communications tool and website at Södra Cell International AB.