“What we saw in 2021, as in 2020, is that with COVID-19 it’s important to be able to conduct your business in a digital way,” says Arnoud. “We showed our customers that we’re very good at that. We’ve seen a lot more visitors to our web shop and lots more sales to new customers.”

“The updated web shop, which we are continually working on improving, has been live since the end of 2020 in all Kramp countries, as is the Kramp app. Customers everywhere can now order any product we stock directly through the app, with revenue through that channel steadily increasing. Customer feedback is very good, aided by the access to MyAccount, where customers can carry out self-service, saving them having to make calls for less complex requests. A win for customers and a win for us.

“In 2022 we will continue to improve our various digital channels, as well as increasingly digitalise our customer service. We will also continue to roll out new pricing engine technology, which uses data to set prices for dealers which support them in making the best of their business. We’re looking at more unified communications channels for customers as well, to make it easier to get in contact.

“What is also critical is making even better use of our data. We are an increasingly data-driven company so we’re putting together some high value use cases for identifying more opportunities to make use of it. One example is adding recommendations to the web shop: where if a dealer orders something, they are recommended other products which would be good for their business. This is far more challenging in B2B than in B2C and requires a lot more technical insight – after all, we are knowledge partners for dealers, so our recommendations need to be right,” Arnoud concludes.

“Kramp’s approach for over 70 years has been to build good long-term partnerships,” says Etienne. “We do this with our customers, leading market players and suppliers. Around ten years ago Kramp set up a dedicated partnerships team to focus on building partnerships with big value chain players. There were two goals: creating additional value for our customers by offering things we cannot do on our own, and connecting with strategic market players to learn, adapt and jointly deal with the constant changes and disruptions the industry faces. We are better off working together than trying to tackle things on our own, and the guiding principle is an intention to create additional value for our joint customers.”

“There are three partnership areas: strengthening our assortment proposition by partnering with strategic suppliers; partnering with OEMs such as John Deere, to add value to their dealer network; and partnerships that focus on a joint proposition towards the farmer by partnering with big dealer groups, co-operatives and purchasing groups.

“All of these partnerships contribute to developments in the market. Partnering with suppliers mitigates risk against volatility by using both parties’ strengths to maintain product availability and affordable prices, optimise distribution etc. Partnering with big dealer groups and OEMs also contributes to our digitalisation strategy. Farmers are buying more and more online and our dealers need to adapt to this – but they also need guidance on this digital journey, plus support from OEMs and from Kramp in creating solutions that help them transition online.”

“Our partnership with John Deere has exceeded our joint expectations and we’re very proud of all the local teams who worked so hard to make that happen. We continued our roll-out to Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary and Poland, with more countries to come next year. We are very pleased with the excellent results we have achieved with strategic partner Vapormatic. We have also initiated new partnerships with several companies, such as Deutz AG and SIP.

“All partnerships are about adding value for the customer, while also benefiting both partners. When that balance is no longer possible, sometimes it is right to part ways. Our Agricenter partnership with SDF ended in 2021; our goals and approaches have not evolved in quite the same direction. That doesn’t mean we don’t respect each other anymore, just that we are each evaluating our priorities; there could well be a time in the future when a joint approach is right for us both.

“Looking forward to 2022,” Etienne continues, “we’ll finalise the roll-out of our John Deere partnership to the remaining countries in Europe, embarking on new partnerships, developing our partnerships model for the new markets Kramp has in scope, and bringing our value proposition in line with Maykers, aligning our partnership approach to this ambitious growth path.”

Director of Aftermarket and Customer Support John Deere

A progressive partnership
‍Kramp’s collaboration with John Deere sees two pioneering companies using their complementary strengths to make it easier for John Deere dealers to support farmers. First launched in Germany in 2016, the partnership now covers eight European countries, with more expansion planned in 2022. John Deere dealers leverage a dedicated portal, which provides direct access to a comprehensive Kramp assortment, ensuring they stock everything needed to keep farmers farming. Paul Leathem, Director of Aftermarket and Customer Support at John Deere, shares a perspective on Deere’s priorities for 2022 and beyond.

“Farmers are being asked to do more with less, for the good of their business and the environment,” says Paul. “Farmers have always been great custodians of the land and now face increasing challenges to feed a growing population. Less available land and skilled labor, more unpredictable weather and climate change, variations in soil quality, increased weed and pest pressure, together with fluctuations in prices – of grain and milk, for instance – all while input costs have increased. There’s a fine balance to be achieved, of productivity, environmental stewardship and profitability.”

“Our challenge is to help them achieve that balance, with creative solutions that work for the betterment of the planet and the people living on it. Our equipment is built to last, and we support our customers throughout the active product lifecycle. We routinely supply parts for machines that were built in the 1960s and even older. We believe farmers should be able to get the right part, at the right time, at the right price, with a highly trained technician at their local dealership to maintain that product, regardless of its age.

“The relationship with Kramp helps us do that,” he continues. “At John Deere we focus on our core equipment, parts and solutions. Kramp enables John Deere dealers to support farmers with a portfolio that covers every other aspect of a farmer’s business. Kramp also shares our philosophy on quality and ethical procurement policies. They have the scale to offer good value to our dealers and customers, and their extensive range means dealers can reduce the number of suppliers they work with, which streamlines operations.”

“We’re committed to helping farmers make better, data-driven decisions and leverage technology to be more productive and more sustainable,” Paul explains. “For example, we’ve already automated most on-board functions of a tractor, and our first fully autonomous tractor capable of executing a high-quality tillage job will go into production in 2022. Running a tractor when the field conditions are right, even when labour is not available, can positively impact yield while boosting productivity and efficiency.

“2022 will also see more progress with our next generation See and Spray technology for ultra-precise, plant-level chemical application. Traditionally, a farmer might choose to spray every part of his field to secure yields. In the future, John Deere technology will allow farmers to detect and treat individual weeds. Plant-level selective spraying should reduce chemical use by up to 90%. It can improve yields, will be better for the environment and offer significant financial savings for our customers.

“All of this is supported by our Operations Center, which is free for customers and open for data exchange with other software companies. It allows farmers to safely store and share their data. They can analyze their data to drive better farming outcomes, plan their work, even push jobs to a specific machine in their fleet. And of course, they decide who can see the data and share it where they need to: with their agronomists and advisers. “All these developments - from the Kramp partnership to data collection to greater automation - are designed to help farmers do their job more efficiently and make decisions that are good for their land, our environment and their business.”

“What we have seen over recent years is how rapidly digitalisation is happening in the market,” says Katrien. “This is something that we are looking at carefully: what does digitalisation mean for the market and for Donaldson? Of course, we were already becoming more digital in our approach before COVID-19, but the need to adapt has accelerated. It’s certainly an area where we will be investing a lot of effort in the coming years.

Our partnership with Kramp has involved a number of digital activities. Our collaboration is key; we want to help more customers, but we need the support of the people who make sure a filter ends up in the hands of the end user! We value good communication and clarity about who is doing what – the more open we are when working together, the more successful we can be.”

“If we look at the last two years, the main issues have been supply chain related. And this is another area where communication with partners like Kramp is so important. The more we can share information – on what is working well, where we have challenges, stock levels, etc – the better we can work together as partners. In Kramp we have a partner that is open-minded and inventive and that’s really positive for us.”

“We are always looking to develop new products and in 2022 we are particularly investing in product development for hydraulics. We want to raise awareness that this is an area where we are innovating, and Kramp has an important role to play in making that message heard. The digital journey for customers is another area we will be focusing on and where we will need support from our distributors.

“Both Donaldson and Kramp have been growing over the years and I think the key is that we are open towards each other, we understand each other’s mission and vision, our strategies and focal points, and we look for common ways to move forward together.”