Most lists of retail marketing examples show campaigns, window displays and loyalty programmes. This one shows a less visible lever: a brand that trains the people who sell its products, including the shops it does not own. In my podcast Digital Marketing Mentality, Isabelle Avenel, Training Manager at L’Erbolario, explains the case of effective retail marketing behind this choice.
The episode comes from a collaboration I had in 2023 with L’Erbolario: a training programme I created to develop the use of digital tools for the benefit of two actors that are fundamental for the company:
independent stores
the end customer.
During the programme I gave independent shop owners the skills they need to attract consumers through digital and social channels.
Retail marketing examples: the topics of the interview
These are the points we analysed:
Why L’Erbolario chose to extend training to independent stores instead of concentrating only on its own network
Which objectives motivated the creation of the L’Erbolario digital training network, and how it integrates with webinars
Which advantages and added value the digital strategy introduced for L’Erbolario and for independent stores
Which significant changes in omnichannel training emerged in the relationship with independent stores
Why a brand trains also the stores it does not own
Isabelle Avenel’s answer starts from the history of the company. L’Erbolario was founded in 1978 as a small artisan herbalist’s shop in Lodi by Franco Bergamaschi and Daniela Villa, and it grew because its products started to be sold in nearby shops.
The independent channel is therefore at the origin of the brand, before the single-brand network.
Today distribution is varied. According to the figures Avenel cites in the episode, recorded in 2023, L’Erbolario counts 182 franchised stores (single-brand stores run by third parties under the company’s brand) and more than 4,800 independent stores among pharmacies, parapharmacies and herbalist’s shops. From this follows the question that started the project: how do you reach, with the same quality, the people who sell your product without belonging to your network?
The independent store as the brand’s shop window
For the end customer, the sales assistant in an independent herbalist’s shop speaks in the name of the brand as much as the one in a single-brand store. If her product knowledge is weaker, the buying experience gets worse and the brand pays the cost. For this reason training independent stores becomes a marketing decision, beyond a service to the network.
From classroom training to a platform
Until a few years earlier, L’Erbolario’s training was traditional: two residential weeks in the historic Lodi store for some people, and for the rest of the network travelling courses of four or five hours in hotels in 40-50 cities. The limit, Avenel says, was time: during a product launch it was difficult to reach the whole national network in the same period.
On 1 January 2022 the Accademia L’Erbolario was launched: the digital training platform that combines self-paced modules with webinars (live online seminars).
What changed in the stores
The figures Avenel reports in the episode measure the adoption: 100% of franchised stores and 100% of independent single-brand herbalist’s shops take part in the platform, plus more than 2,200 people from the independent network. The offer includes more than 40 hours of interactive training and more than 90 hours of webinars, and participants have used 16,800 hours of it.
The benefit Avenel puts first, however, is another one: those who sell know the product better and know how to present it better, and the customer finds a more competent buying experience in the store.
The three levers that made the platform work
Flexibility: asynchronous training (to follow at any moment, from any device) respects the time of people working in the store.
Personalisation: each channel (franchising, herbalist’s shop, pharmacy) receives content designed for its own work.
Engagement: short, interactive modules with quizzes, points and levels that reward participants with promotional items or dedicated courses.
Local presence and digital channels
The course on digital levers I delivered in 2023 was one of those rewards, reserved for the independent herbalist’s shops that had followed the platform during the year. The topic was how to use digital and social channels to bring the customer into the store and make their life simpler.
At the end of the programme Avenel and I observed an effect beyond the single store: the network spoke with one voice. The consumer perceives that consistency as a value.
What a retail chain can replicate
The case applies to every network of stores, owned or franchised, that also distributes through independent shops:
treat as your own training also the training of people who sell your product outside your network, because for the customer they speak in the name of the brand;
design the platform around the store’s time, and leave the head office’s time aside;
differentiate content by channel instead of producing a single course;
give participants a reason to return, with practical content and recognition;
use training to teach also local digital levers, which bring the customer from the online search to the shelf.
The service: consulting and training for retail networks
The programme with L’Erbolario is the type of work I do with retail chains: identify where the network loses consistency between head office and store, and build the training that restores it. If you lead a network of stores and want to define where to start, consulting for retail networks begins with a conversation about your priorities: see the services and write to me about your network.
Frequently asked questions
How can a brand support independent stores with digital marketing?
One example is the training programme I created in 2023 with L’Erbolario to develop the use of digital tools for two actors that are fundamental for the company: independent stores and the end customer. During the programme I gave independent shop owners the skills to attract consumers through digital and social channels.
Why did L'Erbolario train independent stores and not only its affiliated network?
In the interview, Isabelle Avenel, Training Manager at L’Erbolario, explains the many reasons for this choice: instead of cultivating only its internal network of affiliated stores, the company decided to extend training and support independent stores in using digital marketing.
Which topics does the interview with Isabelle Avenel of L'Erbolario cover?
The interview covers why L’Erbolario extended training to independent stores, which objectives motivated its digital training network and how it integrates with webinars, which advantages the digital strategy brought to the company and to the stores, and which changes omnichannel training produced.
