Offering something different to the tissue products market. Products that differentiate themselves for their added value and that are capable of satisfying the different needs of consumers.
Maura Leonardi
Writing this article on the Spanish Grupo Tivoli makes me think about a consideration I often make while travelling: the object typical of a certain place no longer exists; that something that you find only by visiting that particular city or that country. Nowadays we find everything everywhere, losing that peculiarity of a given place, city or country. The same happens every day while going to the supermarket, where we find larger or smaller ranges of well-wrapped tissue paper rolls in packs from 4 to 24 or 36 pieces.
But how can we offer different products able to attract consumers' attention? Grupo Tivoli of Las Palmas (Gran Canaria) met the challenge passing from the distribution of tissue paper products to their production. For thirty years, Grupo Tivoli has been present on the market as a distributor of well-known tissue paper brands. It knows the market and the value of a product that is today easily recognizable because different.
José Carlos Rodríguez Marrero, the Group's Director, and José Gómez Guedes, his partner, have undertaken this new entrepreneurial challenge with lots of energy, passion and commitment. And for technology, they have entrusted their company to the experience of Fabio Perini S.p.A. with a converting line model Sincro 4.5 Evo for the production of toilet rolls, kitchen towels and industrial rolls, better known as "centometros" - i.e., a concentrate of paper perfect for domestic use and not only.
Gran Canaria counts 838,597 inhabitants, a figure that become two million in the high season period that goes from October to April, transforming the island into a perfect place for anyone looking for refuge from the cold winter months of North and Central Europe. Here, we can find the highest concentration of shopping centers per square meter. The large number of tourists highlights how both the HORECA (Hotel/Restaurant/Café) and consumer segments present high growth potential as far as tissue products are concerned.
In 1981, Grupo Tivoli began distributing rolls (toilet, kitchen towel and industrial rolls) and personal care products such as baby diapers and feminine pads on the island produced by well-known French brands. In the course of the years it has directly followed events in the tissue market scenario, marked in the 1980s by a series of acquisitions, mergers and transfers whose consequences also affected the distribution of tissue references on the local market of Gran Canaria.As a consequence of all these structural vicissitudes, in 1995 the Grupo also became the first distribution platform for famous Italian brands and contracted the production of a line of PL products out to Italian converters. The Canary archipelago is comprised of seven main island of volcanic origin. From an administrative point of view, the archipelago is divided into two provinces: Las Palmas, from which depend Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, from which depend Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera, El Hierro.
Tissue paper consumption in the Canary archipelago is today 14,000 tons per year and Grupo Tivoli's production target aims at attaining 200 tons per month to supply retail chains as well as and the HORECA sector.Josè Carlos and José Gómez have very clear ideas as far their business development is concerned, which revolves around three fundamental points: the creation of a brand dedicated to the HORECA segment; the production and promotion of a PL brand for the consumer segment; production of PLs on behalf of third parties to satisfy the demands of small retail chains that are not able to have their own brand due to the low quantities required.
Grupo Tivoli's philosophy is based on creativity and flexibility. Creativity is to be embodied in the production of their brand, with the aim of acquiring a market niche on the Canary Islands that is not completely satisfied by the present offer.
Flexibility will serve to ride the wave of originality through products that will bring a breath of fresh air on crowded shelves. Supermarket chains are dominated by multinationals that propose, in series, standardized rolls. To contrast this strong presence of more or less similar references, their intention is to propose attractive promotions to consumers, tired and bored by the usual commercial activities.
Their differentiation goal goes beyond the Canary market. Indeed, they are thinking about a product designed exclusively for Morocco, a market they want to enter with an ad-hoc product, lower-quality compared to the Spanish market and with little added value, given the low consumption rate of rolls there. The aim is to conquer a share of the market in order to grow with time, exploiting Gran Canaria's strategic geographical position. The idea is very clear and the target is ambitious, and the two men do not hide their apprehension in embarking on this new entrepreneurial adventure that they are facing with courage.
The choice of Fabio Perini S.p.A. as reliable supplier of technology and for its ability to professionally cover the field at 360°, placing its know-how and competencies at the company's disposal for their entry into this "new" business, is the first step towards success. The commitment and skill to work well, together with the intention to offer a different brand and the desire to envision a better future, make this company an admirable industrial reality, a small oasis in the desert, different from all the rest, where the key word is standardization. But, the bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it. (Thucydides).