Saint-Gobain is a French multinational company which manufactures high quality items which serves as essential for many industries and households worldwide. The brand has been around for nearly three centuries and has become a household name in glass manufacturing and household fittings since then.
The history of Saint-Gobain dates back to 16th century and it is one of the oldest companies in the world. It has successfully managed to be one of the top brands since then and till today, its products are used worldwide. The company is headquartered in Courbevoie, France.
Saint-Gobain Brand History
Saint-Gobain is a French multinational company which manufactures high quality items which serves as essential for many industries and households worldwide. The brand is known mainly for making high quality glass. The organization is situated in France and is recorded on Euro Stoxx 50 exchange list.
The initial days
Saint-Gobain is a 355-year-old company and it has set up a global market for itself. Aside from glass, it is additionally known for the creation of earthenware products, plastics, abrasives, gypsum plasterboards, bundling and other materials required in construction purposes.
The enterprise has set up workplaces in continents such as Africa, Asia, North and South America, Australia and Europe by the year 2015. It has a workforce of 186,000 workers and a turnover of around USD $ 43 billion every year.
The rise of Saint-Gobain
Saint-Gobain’s starting point goes back to the mid-seventeenth century when mirrors were well known among the high society in Europe. However, to a great extent, the Italians created products which were extremely popular as the greater part of the nation didn’t have a clue about the specialty of producing items that coordinated in quality.
Jean-Baptiste Colbert was the finance mister of France at that point of time and he felt that it was time for France to be independent and start producing the luxury goods in their country itself.
The industrial revolution
Saint-Gobain entered the modern phase just after the industrial revolution. From being an open undertaking, the brand started to acknowledge support from private financial specialists. Private assets were contributed despite the fact that the greater part of it was still heavily influenced by the French state.
Not long after Louis-Philippe was delegated as the new king of France, Saint-Gobain moved its focus from assembling mirrors towards glass sheets for usage in the development of structures.
The present day
Presently, the organization capacities as a private enterprise and continually puts resources into creating systems for making items which are superior to those as of now underway.
Under the initiative of its previous President Jean-Louis Beffa, the organization developed and advanced significantly. Since Beffa was a graduate and specialist from Ecole Polytechnique, he laid substantial focus on the organization’s R&D works. The motto of the brand was to manufactures products which were the superior most quality in the entire markets .
Saint-Gobain is a pioneer in manufacturing of glass. The brand has been ranked consistently on the Fortune 500 organizations list and has earned numerous honors for its product line and quality of the products.
The current CEO of the brand is Pierre-André de Chalendar who is also the president of the brand as well.
Saint-Gobain Brand Value
Saint-Gobain is a 355-year-old France based multinational company working in 50 nations and with a brand income of over USD $ 34 billion as per reports published in the year 2003. The brand entered India in the year 1996 by procuring a dominant part stake in Grindwell Norton.
From that point onwards, it has merged and reinforced its quality and today has four of its divisions working in India through six other organizations. The units incorporate Saint-Gobain Glass Limited, Grindwell Norton Limited, Saint-Gobain Sekurit India Limited, Saint-Gobain Vetrotex India Limited, Saint-Gobain Crystals and SEPR Refractories India.
Saint-Gobain Glass India Limited is Saint-Gobain’s biggest green venture in India. Situated at Sriperumbudur close to Chennai, this plant makes glass for mirrors, design, car fragments and different applications such as sunlight-based boards, photograph confining and so on.
The brand’s net turnover has seen a consistent increment throughout the years, and remained at almost USD $ 160 million in the year 2003. Glass represented 48 percent of deals, abrasives represented 25 percent, earthenware production and plastics represented 15 percent and reinforcements represented 12 percent.
Saint-Gobain Brand Strategy
1 . Product strategy of Saint-Gobain
Saint-Gobain has three significant specialty units. They are development items units, building supply units and creative materials units. These are canvassed in the product strategy of the organization. The development results of the organization include thermal protection items, pipes, mechanical and development mortars, interior and exterior structure building solutions.
The brand has numerous brands in the development unit, such as Saint-Gobain Ecophon, Weber, Artex, Saint-Gobain PAM ,English Gypsum and Recipe and Gyproc.
There are two item classes in the creative materials unit. These are level glass and superior quality materials. Glass I mainly made by the level glass unit. The glass is utilized in building, car and transport industry.
The superior quality materials division gives cutting edge items required in development, wellbeing and transport industry. Saint-Gobain Adfors and other brands are in this section.
The building supply businesses include brand such as George Boyd, Calders and Grandidge and Frazer.
2 . Pricing strategy of Saint-Gobain
Most of the brand’s products are for B2B marketing as they are directly used by businesses. The pricing strategy of Saint-Gobain is evaluated on the deals and the negotiations which takes place between Saint-Gobain and other brands.
The prices of the products are basically set on the raw material prices and the current market scenarios. So, it is clear that the price depends on both the parameters – raw materials and the market scenario.
The production of Saint-Gobain glasses is done using high grade raw materials and so the pricing has been done according to that. The brand has been using modern machineries and technologies to reduce the pricing of their products.
In the building supply unit, the organization utilizes the best ways to deal in terms of offering the best items at affordable costs. The best providers are picked to give great items at great costs.
3 . Distribution strategy of Saint-Gobain
In the building supply unit, the organization has a system of around one thousand destinations which incorporate specialized and general builders, vendors and merchants.
In the development unit, the organization has just about 460 creation and dissemination locations. Saint-Gobain is building up an incorporated methodology of utilizing web-based business administrations. These administrations are supported by best in class coordination.
The distribution strategy consolidates ongoing stock checks by clients, the association of distribution systems, and faster item delivery. Saint-Gobain has enabled a digital platform and remodeled the distribution and supply chain of the company to meet the modern day demands.
4 . Marketing strategy of Saint-Gobain
Saint-Gobain has developed a specialized marketing and advertising strategy. In spite of being in the B2B sector, the organization has promoted itself to purchasers and has intensely put resources into brand building.
Saint-Gobain has focused on advertisements and this has helped the brand build a name for itself. The brand has targeted the end users using its advertising strategy and that made the difference in the long run.
High market shares and a great performance in the relevant industry has help Saint-Gobain gain a tremendous amount of brand visibility. Saint-Gobain is known for its aggressive marketing and possess an enormous sales team which plays an important role in advertising and marketing the brand’s products in the global market.
Conclusion
Saint-Gobain is undoubtedly the leader and pioneer in glass and other building items manufacturing sector. The brand is perhaps one of the oldest multinational brands and yet the performance and the quality it produces holds the ground firmly.
There has been a tough competition in the global market but Saint-Gobain has established itself as one of the consistent and rock-solid brands.
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