MSC Cruises
Expertise
Cruises
Website
msccruises.com
The Company
With a total turnover of €2.7 billion, MSC Cruises is recognised as one of the largest cruise companies in the world with a fleet of 17 cruise ships that welcomed around 2.4 million customers in 2018. They have over 30,000 employees across 45 different countries. To offer the finest dining experiences while aboard, MSC Cruises’ purchases a wide range of food and beverages in brand and private label to offer their customers each year.
Learn more about MSC Cruises here.
The Challenge
With a commitment to providing enticing snacks and quality dining to their passengers, MSC Cruises is on a continuous search to find new food and drink products. This year, they were specifically looking for grocery food, desserts and dairy-free products.
However, finding the right suppliers was a time-consuming task for MSC Cruises. It was challenging to find and get in contact with suppliers that met their requirements. After a few years of chaotic trade shows and endless email exchanges, MSC Cruises was ready to find a more efficient way to meet new suppliers.
The Strategy
In order to work more efficiently, MSC Cruises took the decision to partner with Wabel, a company that puts buyers in contact with quality suppliers. Together, MSC Cruises and Wabel carried out the following plan:
1. Identify target suppliers
Wabel took on the responsibility of finding ideal suppliers for MSC Cruises. Out of the hundreds of suppliers in the Wabel community, Wabel was able to narrow down the best-fit groups for MSC Cruises based on their needs of groceries and dairy-free products. Wabel ended up identifying 41 suppliers that met the requests of MSC Cruises.
2. Set up a meeting with the target suppliers
Next, Wabel arranged times for MSC Cruises to be able to meet with their targeted suppliers. All the meetings would take place in a span of 2 days at the Wabel Summit in Paris. MSC Cruises would be at their booth, and the suppliers would come by during pre-planned, 30-minute B2B meeting times.
3. Meet the suppliers face-to-face
At the Wabel Summit, MSC Cruises then met individually with each of their target suppliers. MSC Cruises buyers were able to taste the products and speak with the various suppliers during their one on one meetings. The meetings were particularly productive because each party was already familiar with the other and had time to prepare.
Results & Future Plans
MSC Cruises is seeing positive results from their exchanges at the Summit. They plan on signing several deals with suppliers they met at the Summit. The 30-minute meetings gave MSC Cruises solid relational foundations with the suppliers, which made it easier to continue their conversation in the future.
"Wabel’s formula is extremely positive for market networking and finding products in our buying category"
MSC Cruises will continue their mission to source exceptional products for their cruise ships, and plans on returning to the Wabel Summit next year.
If you are a buyer and would like to discover our Wabel-approved suppliers, contact us for more information. If you are a supplier and would like to meet buyers during B2B meetings, register today for one of our upcoming summits.