Eric Dodin - <\/strong>My main mission is to develop the company through profitable growth. Europcar is a very fine company with excellent assets, but it probably has the capacity to perform much better, in terms of its commercial development, its operational excellence and its economic results. These are the three major areas in which we are implementing our strategic plans, along with employee commitment and technological mobility.<\/p>\n E. D. -<\/strong> The sector is not flourishing, and the B2B segment is probably even more challenged than the B2C segment. There are new players, potential new entrants - I'm thinking in particular of car manufacturers - prospects for consolidation... If we look at the market from a traditional angle, we see a significant drop in the B2B sector - a drop in both consumption and value - which slightly exceeds the 50% of our business at Europcar. But car use will strategically increase, and vehicle ownership will evolve. Businesses are increasingly looking for comprehensive usage packages. It's easy to imagine mobility accounts as part of business travel or benefits offered to company employees, through offers that extend over the weekend on unused vehicles or vehicles negotiated at a certain value, for example. So we need to look at the market from a dynamic angle. We need to ensure operational excellence at all times, a high quality of commercial relations, and a presence with all the players in the commercial chain. This is a market that can become commonplace. To counteract the risk of trivialisation, we are banking on excellence, respect for the customer promise, and placing the customer at the heart of the company.<\/p>\n E. D. -<\/strong> Not all users need human intervention: depending on the stage of the journey, the added value is not enormous. The difference will be made by all those little touches that reassure the customer: by offering a child seat, demonstrating the GPS, and so on. We therefore need to automate certain stages of the customer journey to focus the value of our men and women on relationships; to develop an empathetic relationship to make the Europcar experience exceptional, because customers are increasingly demanding.<\/p>\n E. D. - <\/strong>Today, almost 60% of our bookings come from the Internet and mobile channels. The mobile offering is experiencing very strong growth, and we are investing heavily in this area. Our application, one of the best on the market, will soon be renewed to adapt to consumer habits. We are also developing communication services for businesses, such as SMS text messages. We have also just signed up a new partner who will enable us to offer a geofencing service to locate and guide travellers when they arrive at a destination, showing them the nearest Europcar branch.<\/p>\n E. D. - <\/strong>Historically, Europcar was one of the first rental companies to introduce electric vehicles on the market. The real question concerns the segmentation of journeys. Spontaneously, demand is very low today. It's a subject that needs to be integrated into a broader offer to adapt our range to mobility. What I'm highlighting today is the average CO2 emission rate: our fleet is very modern, renewed every five or six months, and we have more and more hybrids in our range. We need to be sure that we are offering the right solutions to meet users' needs.<\/p>\n E. D. - <\/strong>Above all, excellent value for money. The price is fixed in contracts, and we might wonder whether these prices shouldn't vary in some way, in the same way as in the leisure segment... I wonder if everyone wouldn't find the same thing. That's a question I'm asking. The buyer expects a good price, a good framework agreement and compliance with these agreements. The travel manager focuses on the correct application of the agreements and suggestions for improving the service offered to users. As for the travellers, they expect the customer promise to be kept, the vehicles to be available and clean, easy access to the reservation, a high quality welcome, very limited waiting time, and the minimum of constraints on returning the vehicle. The ultimate offer for B2B customers is embodied by our CarChoice service, which works well because it represents a 'zero constraints' offer with all the advantages. The user's information is ready and the car is available: there's no waiting. They can also choose their car, and a Europcar employee is on hand if they need one.<\/p>\n E. D. - <\/strong>As I said, the market is tight and competition is high... So before dreaming up any revolutions, let's first focus on the core of our business: operational excellence, delivering on the customer promise, waiting times and quality of service. Secondly, I think that a car rental company like Europcar has a duty to be a player in the mobility chain, and to offer customers a number of services that will enable them to be mobile when they hire a car. For example, making the car available in front of the customer's home or place of work, and developing subscriptions that offer maximum flexibility. The other change concerns the way we sell our product. I wonder whether tomorrow, instead of offering it by the day, we won't be selling it by the kilometre, with a different type of usage, in the same way that telephone packages are nothing like they used to be. \u00a0<\/p>\n E. D. - <\/strong>I'm optimistic, but above all I'm aware of the changes currently taking place in the car rental sector. We are faced with complex missions, which require the commitment of our employees to bring us ever closer to our customers.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Eric Dodin, Managing Director of Europcar in France, intends to give the car rental company new impetus in the French market, particularly with business customers. In a difficult economic environment, he intends to base Europcar's dynamism on the values of excellence in customer relations and on new approaches to mobility.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33311,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[127],"type-darticle":[51],"n_magazine":[],"class_list":["post-33309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-deplacements-urbains","tag-europe","type-darticle-interview","vapo-free"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat is your view of the French car rental market?<\/h2>\n
How can we reconcile the development of self-service with this excellence in customer relations?<\/h2>\n
What about mobility, which is one of the major challenges facing the market?<\/h2>\n
And what about electric cars?<\/h2>\n
What do B2B customers expect?<\/h2>\n
How do you see the future of car hire?<\/h2>\n
How do you see the future?<\/h2>\n