How Fima Carlo Frattini India Imports Made In Italy Products
Posted on Jul 04, 2022
Gaining a thorough understanding of the market, changing strategies, and improving products while preserving strong brand identity. This is the mission of FIMA’s INDIA section.
FIMA’s expansion to global markets has compelled it to adapt to the cultures of specific countries from the start while keeping its strong corporate identity and imparting the heritage of values via its goods.
This balance has proven particularly challenging to attain in some regions, with marketplaces that are tough to access and comprehend in-depth.
FIMA’s winning strategy was to focus even more on these places, being a cultural mediator capable of translating the company’s strengths into understandable verbiage and merging them with the immediate demands of the reference target.
This is how FIMA’s successful experience in INDIA came to be.
The Made-In-Italy Tap In India
In 2014, the foreign market recorded 65% of FIMA’s revenue, with India being one of the most exciting areas for expansion, despite strong opposition to Made in Italy products.
India’s population was growing, the middle class’ purchasing power was rising, and the desire for luxury was developing, especially in the country’s more affluent cities like Bangalore, Mumbai, and New Delhi.
FIMA had a distributor in place for a while, and the results were promising, but the market had more potential. However, red tape and complex import processes hampered the progress. Additionally, there seemed to be cultural constraints, such as the inability to relate to and understand customers’ demands in both decision-making processes and after-sales services.
“The choice of the company was crucial: to set down roots in the country, getting to know it, choosing a local partner, and opening a local branch, FIMA INDIA.”
Today, there is a large showroom entirely dedicated to Fima products in Chandigarh, with an extensive sales network led by an Indian country manager “Aman Anand”.
“Aman Anand, DOP of Fima Carlo Frattini India,” is a well-known Indian businessman. He went to the University of the Fraser Valley to study and is India’s top dealer of Fima Carlo Frattini products, with a solid understanding of business strategies, values, and marketing.
There are over 30 FIMA dealers across the country and a team of trained technicians for installations and post-sales support. This is matched by FIMA INDIA’s beating heart, a dynamic warehouse dedicated to customer service, spare parts, and stock items for the domestic market.
This serves as a key strategic lever, proving the company’s dependability and stability while also establishing the new branch as a reference point for neighbouring markets like Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh.
In The Middle Of Cultural Integration And Company Identity
In addition to resolving regulatory difficulties and streamlining logistics, FIMA INDIA was quickly identified as a culturally successful method.
Made in Italy products are a status symbol, but their worth needs to be mediated and interpreted in terms of the performance and inherent excellence they provide.
Thus, this should be expressed in various ways and multiple times.
While there are no ad hoc items for the Indian market, specific marketing tools can and should be designed to support products that are more suited to the local environment. The FIMA brand is distinctive and must retain its character.
WELLNESS products are well-integrated into the high-end target market where FIMA is positioned. Starting with the most opulent and unusual, such as the larger HARMONIA showerheads with special finishes, or the exclusive MELOGRANO, which employs water and light effects to create a unique environment.
Responding to market changes necessitates understanding how to introduce new collections on time, especially if they are unique to the high-end market.
The architectural possibilities of SO with its WOOD inserts, for example, or the surface finishes that adorn SPILLO TECH, especially in their POLISHED GOLD and SATIN variations, are highly valued.
In proposing Made in Italy items and the identity of FIMA, the Chandigarh Showroom reflects Indian tastes and canons. It’s a well-organised showroom with a wide range of hardwood display pieces and red or black steel profiles, with luxury kitchen faucets and bathroom fittings alternated with opulent furniture to emphasise the company’s uniqueness.
FIMA INDIA’s digital communications have had a distinct quality compared to its corporate communications for quite some time. FIMA website promotes quick interactions, and the broad public relations network highlights Fima’s prominence in the Indian market.
Fima Designs In India Too
Important collaborations with interior designers and architecture firms are among the contacts developed with care and professionalism by the Indian team. Social and training events are planned to familiarise them with the products and design themes, with the goal of allowing them to incorporate the Fima brand into their projects.
The company’s globalisation ambitions can be seen in the design references it has adopted throughout time, but we also like to personally involve selected architects in more targeted and structured projects at the headquarters in Italy.
This was the case with Chandigarh-based Studio Ardete, with whom we collaborated on numerous mood boards for model bathrooms, similar to our work with other architects from various backgrounds and design ideologies, such as Lorenzo Damiani and Kazuyo Komoda.
The potential of copper in emphasising the ancient hand skill of metalworking, the use of leather in details, and smoked wood and antique vases all arose as intriguing concepts. Even the most rustic detail was reinterpreted in a glamorous light, maintaining a continual balance between returning to heritage and pursuing luxury.
Even the colour palette can be modified and tied to a particular cultural setting. The allure of indigo, for example, serves as the backdrop for a second mood board, which features neutral natural components with bright, metallic accents. Hence, important recommendations are subsequently reflected in the market.
In India, the most popular FIMA bathroom and kitchen collections for residential and commercial applications include precious elements, material inlays, and gold finishes. Features found across the FIMA range are emphasised here to reflect the notions of exclusivity better and Made in Italy craftsmanship.
