Company History
Drogheria & Alimentari was founded in 1880 in Florence
and was acquired in 1985 by Carapelli Spa, an Italian olive
oil brand leader in Italy and famous in many other countries,
owned by the Carapelli and Barbagli families. In 1990 the
families sold the Carapelli olive oil business leaving the
new spice business out of the deal, at that time the spice
turnover was just €200,000. In 2006 D&A built the
new facility (with over 10.000 m² that can be expanded
to 16.000 m²) gaining a much bigger
efficiency. Today the Carapelli and Barbagli families are
still co-owners of D&A and in just 15 years drove it
to be the spice market leader with
a 2009 net turnover of above 30 million €.
The Strategy
Starting in 2005 D&A decides to take advantage of
its commercial power and tools to start distributing
various food products with a recise strategy: focus
on high image products, finest food from all over the
World which couldn’t penetrate the complex Italian
retail market. The strategy lays also in the accurate
product selection focusing on a limited product range
allowing to push it to potential. Besides the proven
distributive capabilities the keys of success are the “Below
the line” tools (promotions, in store demos, leaflets)
which are critical for an always more expert and demanding
consumer like the Italian one.
The Italian Market: D&A’s
strength point
The vast and intricate Italian retail system, although
being a huge opportunity, is characterized by an elevated
fragmentation (all together we have around 300 decisional
points to cover the whole distribution). D&A leans
its deep foundations in the spices retail business which
requires, in order to be successful, a strong distribution
power in terms of sales reps and organization due to
the type of product and the many items involved (an average
spice assortment counts at least 40 items). D&A takes
advantage of this well established distributive channel
to reach the consumers with high image products, ethnic,
innovative or healthy products (Wine and Champagne, Biscuits
and Pastry, Sweet and Salted Snacks). The strength points
are based on a long experience (50 years with olive oil
and 20 with spices) and a good relationship with the
main buyers which comes from the good reputation that
D&A has been able to build in time.
The Organization
D&A is one of the few companies structured to serve
the single point of sale, using merchandisers, delivering
straight to the store skipping the central warehouses of
the retail chains. This system is preferable when it comes
to spices in order to avoid out of stocks.
The sales structure is made as follows:
The sales director and 4 sales area managers (responsible of 4 different geographic
regions) who are in direct contact with Buyers e Category Managers;
30 sales agents which guarantee a continuous presence around the whole territory
and are in contact with the assistant category managers who make sure that the
products are properly listed in every store;
40 merchandisers who materially place the products on shelf in approximately
5,000 stores where D&A delivers directly to the store.
D&A
in numbers
- Net turnover (forecast 2010/2011): 34/38 million
- Distribution in Italian GDO (ACV): 88% (71% numeric)
- 40.000 orders from our customers are processed every
year
- 10.000 m² building near Florence (strategic position
located in the center of Italy, just 1 hour away from
Leghorn port)
- 22.000 stores supplied (5.000 with direct deliveries
with merchandising service)
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