Smart Mexico
Expertise
Healthy and organic products
Website
smartmexico.com
The Company
Based in Mexico, Smart Holding is a company of 35 people, which imports and distributes a range of healthy and organic products, including food, drinks, personal care and household products. The products are distributed on the Mexican market through various retailers such as Circle K, HEB, Amazon, etc. In 2014, the firm launched its online shop where it offers around 1000 references.
Learn more about Smart Holding Mexico here.
The Challenge
With a commitment to providing healthy foods to the market, Smart Mexico was in a continuous search for natural and organic products. This year, they were specifically looking for new suppliers that offered healthy snacks, cookies, biscuits or gluten-free items, and had the capacity to export to Central America.
However, finding the right suppliers was a time-consuming task for Smart Mexico. It was challenging to find and get in contact with suppliers that met their requirements. After a few years of chaotic trade shows and many email exchanges, Smart Mexico was ready to find a more efficient way to meet new suppliers.
The Strategy
In order to work more efficiently, Smart Mexico took the decision to partner with Wabel, a company that puts buyers in contact with quality suppliers. Together, Smart Mexico and Wabel came up with a plan:
1. Identify target suppliers
Wabel took on the responsibility of finding ideal suppliers for Smart Mexico. Out of the hundreds of suppliers in the Wabel community, Wabel was able to narrow down the best-fit groups for Smart Mexico based on their needs of healthy biscuits and gluten-free products. Wabel ended up identifying 40 suppliers that met the requests of Smart Mexico.
2. Set up meetings with the target suppliers
Next, Wabel arranged times for Smart Mexico to be able to meet with their targeted suppliers. All the meetings would take place in a span of 2 days at the Wabel Summit in Paris. Smart Mexico would be at their booth, and the suppliers would come by during pre-planned, 30-minute B2B meeting times.
3. Meet the suppliers face-to-face
At the Wabel Summit, Smart Mexico then met with their 40 target suppliers including Purasana, Frueat, Viera De Castro and many others. Smart Mexico buyers were able to taste the products and speak with the various suppliers during their 121 meetings. The meetings were particularly productive because each party was already familiar with the other and had time to fully prepare.
« Having suppliers’ full attention in a calm environment made it easier to get the information I need to close a deal »
Fernando Garcia, Smart Mexico Director
Results & Future Plans
Smart Mexico is seeing positive results from their exchanges at the Summit. They plan on signing 4-8 deals with suppliers they met at the Summit. The 30-minute meetings gave Smart Mexico solid relational foundations with the suppliers, which made it easier to continue their conversation in the future.
« Since we can choose what kind of suppliers we want to get in contact with, 90% of the meetings are extremely precise and productive. We will probably sign between 4 and 8 deals from this year’s summit, which is remarkably efficient in 2 days. »
Fernando Garcia, Smart Mexico Director
Smart Mexico will continue their mission to source exceptionally healthy products to Mexico and plans on returning to the Wabel Summit next year.
If you are a buyer and would like to discover our Wabel-approved suppliers, contact us for more information. If you are a supplier and would like to meet buyers during B2B meetings, register today for one of our upcoming summits.
