Business model
At the heart of the Group's business model is the ability to create high-end products and manage strong, recognizable brands (including: Śnieżka, Magnat, Poli-Farbe, Vidaron, Rafil and Foveo-Tech). This assumption stems from the awareness of consumers and business partners’ expectations and needs. We have worked out our development projects and processes in such a manner so that our Group would be ready to embrace challenges of the future, as well as to identify and shape trends in the market of decorative paints and construction chemicals.
Śnieżka Group’s business model
The owner of the commercial brands of the Śnieżka Group is Śnieżka Trade of Colours Sp. z o.o. (with the exception of Hungarian brands, which officially belong to Poli-Farbe Vegyipari Kft.) This is the company in which own marketing and sales resources are located. The process of developing a new or modifying an existing product is assigned to a specific brand. It is initiated by the marketing team by submitting assumptions to the Research and Development Centre and units responsible for production.
The final stage of the process is developing a sales strategy. The Research and Development Centre runs laboratories and conducts research teams that – in addition to the development of new recipes – ensure quality control primarily in production processes and products. FFiL Śnieżka SA acts as a competence centre in the field of Supply Chain Management (purchasing, production, distribution, warehousing, logistics, information flow), IT, technology, research and development (R&D) and quality assurance. The parent company acts also as a shared services centre.
In up-to-date production facilities of the Group located in four countries (including 3 key ones – in Poland, Hungary and Ukraine) approximately 130 million kg of products are manufactured assigned to approximately 5,000 SKUs (stock keeping units). Within individual production assets and brands, technological processes are automated and robotized to increase efficiency and reduce the workload of employees.
The Śnieżka Group Logistics Centre located in Zawada near Dębica has been operating since 2022. Owing to the ambitious investment, it was possible to permanently transform the distribution model and equalize production levels in the annual cycle, which in turn reduced the impact of seasonality on the efficiency of supply chain processes.
Since 2022, the Group has been benefiting from the parent company’s digitization project, estimated as the largest in the entire Central and Eastern Europe region1. The implementation has radically changed the manner of managing the supply chain. The flow and analysis of data in real time, combined with the capabilities of the Logistics Centre, has become crucial for order fulfilment, which contributes to effective inventory management within the Group. Integration with the systems of most logistics operators cooperating with the Group has also been carried out. The transformation project modernized the way of working with data in all areas of activity, including sales, e-commerce, logistics, human resources management and financial management.
1 According to SAP data, 2022 (SAP NOW 2022)
A major change in the approach to product portfolio management, brand management, production, logistics and supply chain management is the inclusion of the ESG component, i.e. sustainable development, in the strategy (in which the Group takes responsibility for the environment, people and business).
The Group’s objective is, inter alia, to develop products with a low environmental impact and to reduce the carbon footprint related to business activities. In the business model, the ESG approach is a kind of filter through which not only activities within the Group are analysed, but also the activities, products and services of its suppliers. Detailed sustainability data is presented in the Sustainability Reporting.
All the described components of the business model allow the Group to be close to its B2B customers and consumers. This closeness is understood as the physical availability of products in retail outlets, care for appropriate level of customer experience and the collection of feedback. Since the beginning of 2024, the Group has expanded the distribution model on the independent market in Poland – selected retail outlets that were previously serviced indirectly by distributors can simultaneously make purchases directly from Śnieżka ToC. The company still continues the cooperation with its existing partners – wholesalers.