The pandemic and the confinement first and then the food inflation have posed quite a challenge for Winche, the company specializing in commercial networks founded in 2002 by Javier Scherk. These two factors have caused the company to reconsider some of its strategic lines before the arrival of covid: acquisitions and international expansion.
“With the pandemic, we have opted for a policy of prudence and have repositioned ourselves”, maintains Scherk. This, along with the difficulty in finding qualified personnel in the sales sector, has caused them to stop entering Italy or Latin America, which they had been studying for some time. “We postponed it sine die”, says Scherk. With regard to the purchases that had previously been considered, the manager assures that they have constantly mapped the market and, today, they have not found sufficiently attractive options. “We don’t want to grow only in volume and we haven’t seen anything that brings us added value, greater knowledge than what we already do”, he points out.
On the contrary, Winche will now focus on Spain and Portugal, where it has gained share after the pandemic due to the disappearance of some of the competitors that did not manage to overcome the covid crisis.
Last financial year, the outsourcing company earned 21.9 million euros, 8.4% more than in 2021 and close to pre-pandemic figures. For this 2023, already with the mass consumption channel normalized and on the rise (Horeca and distribution contribute 50% of its turnover), they expect to reach 25 million euros.
In addition to consumer goods, the company also works in electronics (30% of sales) and pharmacy (20%). It is this channel that Scherk wants to boost now. “We have room for growth here, it is a more traditional sector that has entered outsourcing later and we see opportunities to grow and gain share”, highlights the top executive of the company, 60% family owned and 40% from the Aurica fund.
For this reason, they want to increase the workforce from the current 540 workers to 600 by the end of the year. It is not an easy task, acknowledges Javier Scherk. “We are finding it difficult to find the right profiles, to dedicate yourself to sales you need skills, such as oratory and attitude, which nowadays have decreased”, he believes. They are also adding technical profiles to continue to drive data consulting. Of course, he proudly states that when a worker enters Winche, he “stays there”.
