Interview Damien Fauve
Our CEO, Damien Fauve, gave us an interview at the end of May 2021 to talk about the current situation of Wobz and its future. He is confident of the future : the hardest part is behind us, he assures. He has plenty of ideas and, although it may take some time, he knows that sooner or later, the projects will come together. “We have the expertise, high-end machines, beautiful products, a reliable and loyal team, we have everything to succeed…”
We know that our company will soon change its name, Dalvin becomes Wobz ? What does it mean ?
Everything will change : the name of the company, the name of the group. The commercial part located in Villeurbanne will become Wobz.com. Wobz Industry for the industrial part in Veyziat, Wobz Tech for the technology part. Dalvin will remain as the reseller brand. The objective is to have a unified and clear communication. For example, when we made a promotional film or a communication action, we had to adapt it each time and this could be difficult to understand for our customers and partners. The goal is to make Wobz a strong brand. By unifying the name of the company and the names of the products, we will be able to communicate both on the company and on the products.
Moreover, when we raise funds, do institutional communication or when we present the company, it will enhance the brand of our products. The website will highlight the products, our printing technology, the values that are conveyed by the brand, our precious teams. We will always have Cupkiller for events and Dalvin for resellers. Their graphic charter and their identity will stay the same. But we are also going to create some websites that will address specific targets. For example, we are going to dedicate a website to weddings, another one to gift items, etc. We are currently working on the names of these websites. We will be accompanied by communication agencies to better penetrate the target markets of these new websites.
The objective is to have specific websites that will sell Wobz products and other complementary products that we can outsource. We will continue to work with all the skills that we master today, that is to say : web development, SEO, commerce, purchase funnel…
Is Wobz becoming a brand in its own right ?
That’s it. We are going to position Wobz as a product brand, with its own identity and our own values. Wobz has one goal : to be sold everywhere, with a strong identity, beautiful and customizable products, a high quality of printing and a high-end user experience.
How do you feel about Wobz’s recovery ?
In the curves that we observe, there is a gradual recovery since January 2021. We are starting to reach important sales figures. It cannot be compared to those we reached in 2019 but the numbers are close. This recovery provides us with two interesting things.
Firstly, we have automated and industrialized our company. During the lockdown, we received the support of banks and investors, which allowed us to finance our investments. We invested 4.5 million euros in technology and industry. This amount of money allowed us to automate our flows and to produce better. It should be remembered that most of the products we sell today, except for the mugs, are produced by us.
Also, the number of orders we have right now is increasing compared to 2019. Our average basket hits 110€. In 2019, it hit 200€, and even though our turnover is lower, the number of orders is now higher. This process is done in a very fluid way. Today, we are more than ready to absorb a very large flow.
Secondly, during the lockdown, the sales team did a lot of work to develop strategic targets. We have succeeded in bringing in important players in the market; competitors as Petit mariage entre amis, for example.
We now have three types of resellers: Standards, Gold and Factory. At the same time, we are developing the international strategy with strategic targets in England, Spain and Italy.
We are also working on direct factory sales. Jean-Pierre Rousselet and the Veyziat team have manufactured a machine for printing covid tests (a specific machine for this market). Today, we are able to print around 6000 covid tests per hour. Our idea is to produce 23.000 pieces per hour. We are about to sign a contract to print large volumes per year.
What can you tell us about Wobz’s new era ?
The real challenge is to conquer foreign countries and to find a strategy to penetrate these markets. That is why selling a product is important, not selling a website. Our products can be sold as Wobz’s products, even through other websites, like cadeaux.com, for example.
It will allow us to position our products on different markets, through third party sellers. If we diversify our websites, we establish a different development strategy. With our expertise, want to go beyond the borders of Europe and conquer, in the medium term, other markets like the United States.
The future is ahead of us and we know that everything is now possible.
