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“ It’s a season exceeding all our expectations. We’re extremely satisfied, we’re going even beyond our lofty budgets” –Â says Francesca Farina, Marketing Manager of FNI – Forniture Nautiche Italiane– a company seated in Cecina (Italy) specialised in boating accessories distribution.
Positive words for a company focused on customers “Our customer-oriented service is one of our strengths, we work in order to ensure a stable constant presence. For example, we’re open even in August. In summer, too, we’ve 95% of products available on stock”.
FNI has faced the dark years of crisis by adapting itself to the new market needs. ” Before crisis, we received fewer orders but they were more substantial; yards, shops, everyone had a warehouse. Now, we receive many small orders because shops buy only what they sell. What they require now is a fast delivery. And we are able to deliver our goods within 24 hours”. In order to manage this new situation, in 2013, FNI moved to a bigger seat, provided with a larger modern automated warehouse: ” We manage our orders on line. We receive them from our on-line shop that we are just renovating, or by e-mail. In the warehouse, our staff prepares orders with a PDA, they move amongst corridors and shelves where goods is arranged like in Ikea warehouses”
FNI was born in 1983 in Cecina, the hometown of the two founders, Nenella Montanari and Sandro Farina. At that time, Cecina was an important boating production region hosting many iconic Italian shipyards, like Calafuria and Cantieri Intermare.
Their activity targets boating experts, they aren’t retailers ” Our customers are yards, shops, charter companies, nautical clubs, anyone with a VAT number connected to boating”.
Their product list includes about 12000 items. In addition to the traditional catalogue, they’ve a “cata-news” including all the news of the year, “ so that the customer can see news easily“, and a “cata-list” gathering the accessories updated prices; ” prices often change, this is why we have this list; moreover, this way, our customers can make comparisons in an easier way”. Then, there are the catalogues of all the brands which include: Plastimo, Barton, Aqua Signal, Raritan, Gebo.
FNI is also the producer of Sentinel, a switch which activates the bilge pump when necessary through some specific sensors.
