Strategic transformations and technological innovation : the example of Emil Frey France
In an exclusive interview, Stéphane Caldairou discusses the challenges and opportunities shaping the rapidly transforming automotive market. From evolving customer expectations to the integration of Artificial Intelligence, discover how the Group, in collaboration with Eleven Strategy, is implementing innovative strategies to anticipate industry changes and shape the future of mobility.
Can you tell us more about Emil Frey France and its role in the French market ?
As the leader in vehicle distribution in France, Emil Frey France is the French subsidiary of the century old Swiss family group Emil Frey Group, Europe’s leading vehicle importer and distributor.
With a workforce of more than 10,000 employees and revenue of €5.5 billion, Emil Frey France primarily operates in the automotive distribution sector.
Over the past three years, the Group has diversified its activities, while remaining focused on distribution and mobility, by expanding into industrial vehicle distribution and agricultural machinery distribution. The company has also strengthened its automotive distribution activities through industrial vehicle refurbishment as well as the manufacturing and distribution of automotive IAM spare parts.
What are the main challenges currently facing the French automotive market ?
The French automotive market is undergoing a major transformation driven by unprecedented economic, regulatory, environmental and technological changes.
Fully aware of these dynamics and the new challenges associated with the energy transition, Emil Frey France has adopted a proactive approach to navigate this period of transformation and drive the necessary evolution of its organisation and activities.
The Group’s objective is threefold :
- Adapt its organisation and activities to evolving customer behaviour and regulatory frameworks
- Fulfil its role as a responsible and socially committed company
- Sustain long term profitability
In 2021, with a clear vision of the market through to 2030, Emil Frey France launched its AERO strategy, designed to address the transformation of the automotive market through four main pillars :
1. Strengthening the “Autosphere” brand
As consumers increasingly seek flexible, sustainable and connected mobility solutions, Emil Frey France identified an opportunity to go beyond traditional vehicle sales by strengthening its Autosphere brand and creating Groupe Autosphere.
Focused on service quality and customer satisfaction, the Autosphere brand aims to meet customer expectations through a seamless and integrated experience, both online and within dealerships.
2. Operational efficiency
The disruptions affecting manufacturers across their value chains, combined with evolving customer expectations, have required Emil Frey France to reduce its break even point by optimising both its real estate footprint and internal processes.
This includes initiatives such as :
- Real estate consolidation
- Digitalisation of operations
- Creation of shared service centres for accounting and administrative activities
These initiatives help reduce costs, increase efficiency and improve service quality.
3. Enhancing customer relationships
In order to strengthen the Autosphere brand, it became essential to place the customer back at the centre of the Group’s strategy across all levels of the organisation, with a strong focus on customer relationships.
The objective is to emphasise personalisation and responsiveness, enabling the Group to differentiate itself through a unique customer approach : the Autosphere experience.
Key initiatives include :
- Deployment of a CRM dedicated to the brand
- Alignment of customer interactions across online, phone and physical channels
- Creation of new services such as trade in tablets and vehicle safety assessments
- Employee training programmes
4. Commercial expansion
Through an offensive growth strategy, Emil Frey France is creating new services, launching new activities and rapidly diversifying its business portfolio, with the objective of generating €1 billion in revenue outside the automotive sector within the next two years.
How does Artificial Intelligence fit into your overall strategy ?
Emil Frey France has adopted a cautious and pragmatic approach towards Artificial Intelligence.
Training the Group’s executive committee on AI was the first step in this pragmatic and ROI driven approach. This AI acculturation process enables executive committee members to identify the most relevant opportunities within the functions and processes under their responsibility.
Then, with the support of Eleven, we prioritised these opportunities in order to focus investments on the most promising ROI cases.
Several high data intensity projects with rapid ROI are currently underway. AI is being used to :
- Improve forecasting accuracy
- Automate repetitive tasks
- Deliver more personalised customer experiences
These initiatives aim to optimise customer relationships, inventory management and the efficiency of back office processes, among other critical operational areas.
Emil Frey France demonstrates how a company can not only adapt to the transformation of its industry, but also anticipate and shape it. Its ability to challenge itself, seize opportunities, rely on shareholder support and engage its teams reflects both its dynamism and ambition.
Can you tell us more about your collaboration with Eleven Strategy ?
Eleven Strategy is a valuable partner for the Emil Frey France Group. Their expertise in strategy, data and AI, combined with their values of humility and excellence, has been instrumental in the rapid deployment of innovative and effective solutions within the highly complex and strategically important used vehicle market for our business.
To learn more, visit the website of Emil Frey France.
To explore these topics further and identify the impacts and opportunities relevant to your organisation, contact our partners and experts :
Jean-Charles Ferreri (Senior partner et expert Mobilité)
Pietro Turati (Partner et expert AI et GenAI)
