SCA was early making use of Internet for B2B, and now the pace is accelerating for direct sales to consumers as well. Leading the way are incontinence products, where the Internet is an ideal – and discreet – sales channel.
“We have 10 web shops up and running and are planning to open another 10 this year,” says Lennart Hjält, e-Business Director for Hygiene products at SCA.
With its TENA brand of incontinence care products, SCA has been active in e-retail for several years. “The Internet is in many ways an ideal channel for sales and information about a product, and many customers appreciate the discretion the Internet gives them,” Hjält says.
SCA is closely following the trends on Internet. While the Internet today accounts for only a few percentage points of total sales, it serves an important function as an information and marketing channel for customers who shop in traditional ways. One of SCA’s most recent web shops is for the baby diaper brand Treasures in New Zeeland.
“The web shop is an interface and generates indirect sales via other channels like telephone and mail order sales,” Hjält says.
SCA has been making use of the Internet since the beginning – its B2B trade started even before the turn of the millennium. Today its annual Internet sales are about 60 million euros and include markets in Europe, USA, Korea and Japan. “We started early using Internet and are well positioned to join the development in an area that has very strong growth,” Hjält says.
Source SCA’s magazine SHAPE 1/2010