Message from the management team

The Best Sales Channels to serve Solvay Chemical’s Customers

Today’s Chemical Market is not only characterized by the constantly changing business environment but more basically, by a substantial change in the relationships between the different participants: product manufacturers, service providers, consumers, and finally all the participants in the value chain.

Although Solvay prefers the direct contact with all its customers, the cost-to-serve of such an interaction does not always make this viable. The good old communication channel portfolio with mainly two traditional routes (our sales force as direct contact, and distribution as indirect contact to specific customer segments) is changing more and more to a multi-channel communication portfolio, adding e-Channels through the Internet.

We want to adapt to meet our customer’s expectations of an innovative company of the 21^st century. The Internet has not only brought new challenges but also new opportunities to suppliers and customers. Today, an Internet on-line service is often the best communication channel available for exchanging business information with our customers.
I believe it is important to be actively adapting to this new way of doing business, as it will help us to progress and will create new innovative business models.

On the other hand, traditional distribution remains for us an important channel to serve our small customer segment. It is in the interest of the Chemical Industry in general and for Solvay in particular that these partners are able to totally fulfil the Responsible Care principles. Because of the good working relationship between the FECC, the representative of the European Chemical Distributors and CEFIC, the representative of the European Chemical Industry, the ESAD II improvement process was created and is now well in place. I would like to highlight that this is an essential factor in the relationship with our distributors and Solvay will look to select partners based on fulfilling these guidelines.

The Channel Management within the Solvay Chemicals Sector will keep relationships with the best chemical distributors, who are ready to follow and work together with us in this challenging business environment.

I am convinced that new ways of collaboration will lead to a developing profitable business relationship on both sides, and will provide a considerable improvement towards our customers, leading to a better life for all the end-users of Solvay Chemicals Products.  

Vincent De Cuyper,

General Manager of the Chemical Sector