PSA collaborates with KBRW on spare parts distribution, consolidates fleet sales structure in France

10 October 2017

One of the pillars of the PSA Group’s ′Push to Pass’ plan for profitable growth involves deploying a marketing offensive in the multi-brand aftermarket segment. The Group’s ambition is to cater to the needs of all aftermarket customers worldwide, regardless of their budget or the brand or age of their vehicle. This initiative follows an announcement earlier in the year about PSA’s development of its used car business, which is also at the heart of its strategic plan.

Through its Business Lab, PSA has identified KBRW as a company that can contribute the expertise and agility needed for B2B distribution of out-of-stock multi-brand spare parts. With its Distrigo service, PSA now offers a wide array of spare parts (over 80,000), including a range of manufacturer’s parts, requiring the implementation of diverse supply chain processes linking a variety of players to more than 130 Distrigo distribution hubs in Europe.

To manage the large number of spare parts not in stock, PSA has chosen KBRW’s digital Order Management System (OMS), which can integrate a variety of supply chains to optimise logistics management. The project kicked off in late 2016 with a test phase led by the Business Lab1. After only two months of development, a deployment plan was drawn up on the basis of the conclusive test results. The plan is now being rapidly implemented and will cover all of Europe by mid-2018.

The initial results are already contributing to customer satisfaction, thanks to highly reliable lead times, traceable goods delivery, seamless real-time order placement during supply station business hours and a significant 96% reduction in the administrative burden of ordering parts.

David Krief, Deputy CEO KBRW said: ′We are delighted to be supporting Groupe PSA in this ambitious project. The PSA teams’ perfect grasp of the technical and industry-specific issues enabled us to be agile and flexible when deploying the solution. Together, we developed a tool that has been taken up by the teams and has produced tangible results.’

Christophe Musy, Executive Vice President, PSA Aftermarket, said: ′After an in-depth review of the solutions available on the market, KBRW emerged as the most suitable partner to help us upgrade our IT systems and then swiftly launch the project for ordering out-of-stock spare parts. We were quickly convinced by the company’s agile, tailor-made and cost-effective approach, as well as by their excellent references. KBRW will help us achieve our objective of offering best-in-class service levels.’

In other news, from October 1, the fleet sales departments of Peugeot, Citroën and DS have been integrated into one entity called PSA Corporate Sales France. Having been structured for a long time as two different entities, Peugeot Professional and Citroën and DS Business France are now united into a dedicated structure in order to reorient the fleet sales policy of the French group. PSA sees the new structure as the ideal way to develop and reinforce the commercial force of PSA for large accounts, following the policy already put in place two years earlier for very large accounts. Those are already managed by a group of National Key Account Managers representing Peugeot, Citroën and DS as three-brand-ambassadors that will now also represent PSA’s large accounts in France and make commercial proposals for the three brands. To be considered as a large account for PSA Corporate Sales France, a fleet must consist of a minimum of 500 vehicles.

PSA Corporate Sales France counts about 95 people. They will also be responsible for the commercial development of sales within the multi-brand long term lease-channel. Furthermore, the new department will handle the commercial development of the light commercial vehicles (LCV) portfolio of Citroën and Peugeot in France, with a particular emphasis on supporting the dealer network in selling more converted LCVs. The general commercial operation of the dealer network remains in the hands of the B2B-area managers of the individual brands, who will also continue to follow up fleet sales with the self-employed and small and medium enterprises.

Finally, PSA Corporate Sales France will be offering and supporting the lease and mobility solutions of Free2Move Lease, PSA’s professional long-term and mobility services lease firm. Free2Move Lease was launched in January and is the result of the fusion of the long term lease-activities of Peugeot Lease, Citroën Business Finance and DS Finance.

Photograph courtesy of Groupe PSA