Development

KEY FIGURES 2016

Back to the projects – 2016

Commercial performance

Rungis Market achieved a record occupancy rate of over 96% in 2016. The 4.3-point increase in the rapidly expanding PRI (Paris Rungis International) office area since the recent undertaking of a major renovation project is particularly noteworthy. A total of over 155,000m² were allocated to 114 new occupants in 2016, i.e.an increase of 7%. This commercial performance was driven by the various initiatives undertaken by SEMMARIS with the aim of further boosting the appeal of the site in the eyes of both operators at the Market and the buyers who visit it.

In addition to the services already available to them, SEMMARIS has introduced a digital online platform for Rungis businesses, highlighting new offerings designed to make day-to-day life easier for operators. The catalogue, which features five different families of services – customer relations, facilities management, vehicle fleet management, security and quality of life -, was launched in 2015 and gained 121 new subscriptions in 2016, i.e. more than double the first year, resulting in a penetration rate of more than 10%. Some 170 services are now offered via the catalogue, including fibre optic connection, equipment supplies and maintenance services.

Customer relations

The appeal of Rungis lies notably in how it is perceived among the professionals that purchase their supplies there. In this respect, the Rungis Accueil reception desk is SEMMARIS’s spearhead. From special partnerships and business-specific commercial transactions to the year-round welcoming point of contact it provides, there is no shortage of traffic-boosting initiatives here! Then, of course, there is the dedicated myrungis.com online platform, connections to which increased by nearly 33% in 2016, encouraging members to renew their cards online and create buyer records. As a result, all of the indicators are positive, with buyer visitor numbers up 1.03% to over 1.25 million individual visits (including an increase of over 10% for international customers) and growth of 6.46% in new buyer’s cards (3,892 in 2016, with a resurgence in retail in stores) and 6.92% in card renewals (7,013 in total). Rungis has a total of nearly 22,000 active customers visiting its physical market.

It should also be pointed out that SEMMARIS launched the ‘Rungis Discovery Pass’ in 2016 to encourage prospective customers in the catering and hospitality professions to come and explore the market for a day free of charge… and to purchase anything they might need whilst there. Passes were issued in a targeted manner, by email and using flyers, and naturally invited the recipient to create a buyer account, which over a third of those using their passes did.

Innovation

This dynamism is also the result of SEMMARIS’s continuous innovation policy aimed at keeping sufficient levels of traffic flowing efficiently through the Market. In addition to now-standard initiatives such as the publication of Qui fait quoi à Rungis (‘Who does what at Rungis’) and the ‘Sticker’ initiative, whereby traders and restaurateurs can display a window sticker showing that they support the Rungis quality standard, there are also now various online initiatives – a sign of the gradual digitisation of the Market, as demonstrated by its targeted email (aimed at restaurateurs, organic buyers, etc.) and mobile geomarketing campaigns.

Digitisation is, of course, at the heart of discussions regarding the future development of Rungis Market. A number of major advances have, for example, been made with regard to the Marketplace project, which is expected to be completed in 2017. E-commerce is, after all, about more than general public consumption alone; indeed, it is estimated that

businesses in general, regardless of the products or services they offer, make 20% of their purchases through this channel, a figure that is expected to reach 33% by 2020, in just three years’ time! All that remains is to introduce BtoB marketplaces that are perfectly adapted to the specific nature of the BtoB food trade with a view to bringing buyers and sellers together. This represents an opportunity for Rungis Market to further expand its scope, offering new possibilities for trade, with controlled customer risk, pooled logistical operations and the potential to branch into new geographical areas.

Because, these discussions pertain to the specific situation of Rungis, i.e. its extremely important position in the gastronomic universe, which was suitably proven by a new book “Au Cœur de Rungis, un jour dans le plus grand marché du monde”, published by Éditions Gallimard in 2015. Another prestigious showcase: the participation of Rungis Market in the Milan World Expo as the official supplier of the French Hall and its restaurant products. Also, other such indicators are the several planning projects launched in 2015 by the Heritage Division and the 113,241 square metres of commercial space, which helped achieve an unprecedented record occupation rate of 95.18%.

Urban distribution

The emergence of new urban distribution solutions represents another potential avenue of development. As such, SEMMARIS has contributed to discussions within the Île-de-France region on a number of different projects. It has also, notably, submitted an application to operate the Espace Logistique Urbain des Halles urban logistics hub aimed at creating a delivery service hub at the heart of Paris – its own birthplace – by providing a platform for the pooling of deliveries from wholesalers operating at Rungis in one place, before 7am, to then be distributed across the very commercially dense region of Montorgueil using clean, energy-efficient vehicles. Furthermore, SEMMARIS has been approached with regard to lending its expertise in matters relating to storage problems and the issues associated with delivering fresh produce in the urban environment to various projects in the Île-de-France and Parisian regions.