Fast Trade Iberica, Look to the Future
The main objectives for 2021 set by Jordi Freixas, Country Manager of Fast Trade Iberica, the evolution of Spanish Fontana Fasteners, and the new business unit of Fontana Gruppo 30km from Barcelona, are: bringing business back to 2019 levels, with approximately 11 million in sales, strengthening brand awareness, and perfecting the commercial and corporate structure for market development.
A reality that today counts 25 employees, divided between warehouse and offices (with sales, purchasing, customer service, quality, and finance departments), led by a resource that has been working for the Group for over 15 years. Jordi Freixas begins his experience in Lotor SA, one of the three Spanish companies belonging to Fontana Gruppo (together with the GFD subsidiary and Ramon Trenchs), to then hold the role of Sales Director in Fontana Fasteners Iberica in 2015. From November 2019 instead, after just over a year spent in the AGT Latam office, he becomes Country Manager of Fast Trade.
“In addition to the problems linked to the pandemic’s outbreak, which occurred right at the same time as the official launch of Fast Trade, in recent months we have had to deal with a market situation that had never occurred before. It was characterized by a lack of raw materials, a consequent increase in prices on the final product, and problems linked to maritime transport due to a shortage of ships. In this regard, the case of Evergreen’s container ship Ever Given, stranded for several days in the Suez Canal in Egypt, has also caused delays in supplies”. A busy year and a half, as described by Freixas, but one that also saw the development of new opportunities, especially at the digital level. “Fast Trade Iberica was the first company within the Group to work with the new SAP S/4HANA operating system. In addition, there is the development of e-commerce, a strategic channel that integrates with the traditional sales channel,” explains the Country Manager.
The Spanish site uses these tools and opportunities with customers and prospects from industry and distribution, explicitly targeting hardware cooperatives that join to create buying groups.