by Maddalena Baldini

Quality, trends, speed, personalisations, creativity, and digitalisation. These are only some of the characteristics that distinguish General Marketing, a company with an experience of more than 30 years in the importation and trade of commodities, including office and advertising supplies. In Italy they count more than 2,500 clients, all of whom are followed attentively, certain to have found the utmost security because the articles are certified and subjected to strict controls. In this particular situation, General Marketing has succeeded in reacting and remaining competitive; the company ECO, Daniel Genah tells us how.

What has General Marketing done to deal with the current health care emergency and economic slowdown?

«From the first weeks of the health care emergency and when Covid-19 stretched out, General Marketing Srl activated - and then continued to improve on - all the activities relative to the importation of disposable protective face masks and other protection devices. This operation made it possible to ensure that client companies had a constant supply and without taking any risks, thanks to the supply of articles like surgical masks, FFP2 marks, PPE, and even up to room sanitization devices. The more than thirty years of experience acquired by General Marketing Srl in the importation of very different goods and commodities from China to Italy, enabled us to be prepared to meet this challenge.

In General Marketing it was immediately clear that the activities linked to the importation of goods for protecting people from Covid-19 would have had to occur in full compliance with the laws and regulations, and that the products would have had to be subjected to strict quality and conformity controls. General Marketing Srl, that since 2018 is also an Authorized Economic Operator AEOC, in response to the growing need to have a contact capable of guaranteeing the conformity of the products and a high level of expertise in customs procedures, is capable of providing clients products manufactured in compliance with all the above-mentioned laws and regulations».

What are the company’s strong points and services offered to clients?

«General Marketing is an importation company with the objective of supplying their clientele with safe imported products, in conformity with every aspect of national standards and under the best conditions. The clients who turn to us can count on a warehouse that is always filled with articles ready to be delivered and on a department dedicated to the development of special projects. This is why, in summary, we can say that our 30+ years of experience in importation is a guarantee, because it enables us to expertly manage the search for the best suppliers for each product, quality controls, conformity, certification of the articles and safety in the importation process. Furthermore, let’s consider speed, thanks to the highly organised central warehouse situated in Italy, which offers the possibility to send orders in fewer than 24 hours year-round. Finally, but certainly not for importance, digitalisation, seeing as we provide our clients with a multimedia buying experience through our portal at www.generalmarketing.it. Moreover, we stand by our partner with all the tools for the management of our own e-commerce platform.»

Ecology, beautiful and long-lasting objects: how can the three elements be combined?

“In General Marketing we believe in the concept of quality. We spend important resources to put durable and quality products on the market. When it comes to sustainability, we believe in ecology as a principle to be defended, to leave our children a better world and to improve the quality of our lives through the conservation of the perfect balance of nature. We don't believe very much in simple market syllogisms for which one article glued onto a piece of wood becomes “ecological”. As importers of products that are often far from being natural, we take a practical approach every day. For example, we have made our office ecological by eliminating all the disposable plastic, replacing it with containers that can be composted. Instead, on an infrastructural level, we have an environmental compensation projects for our entire business in an advanced stage”.

Your catalogue is called “promoemotions”: what does it mean?

“For years in General Marketing we have embraced a Vision, which is to provide users of promotional articles with products that are insofar as possible far from the general idea of gadgets. The same gadget, in the collective imagination, is an object of “little value”, of poor design, and with a short life span. We propose quality products and why not, 40% of our catalogue also offers design. So, this makes “promoemotions” easy to explain: the catalogue contains promotional articles that must arouse emotions. And I would also add that for use it is always a great “Feeling” to see people using one of our articles”.

What are the innovations presented?

“Those who know me, know that I am not a fan of mentioning the innovations present in a collection. It is an old-fashion concept. An innovation, in and of itself, is temporary and the sensation it leaves is fleeting. The success of General Marketing is based on the search for product and services capable of generating curiosity and interest (hence a desire to purchase) in users and also capable of generating an advantage for retailers”.

Instead, what plans and objective are on that table for next year?

“We are certainly hoping for the end of the pandemic and a gradual return to normality for all families and for all the economic sectors. For us specifically, we always have ambitious objectives – only a few months ago, for example, we inaugurated a large logistics hub in Stradella in a 25,000 m² warehouse – and we are working on highly innovative ideas but... Why ruin the surprise?”