Rouven Besseling-Fischer has been with Nagel-Group for six years. Initially, he held the position of Department Manager before finally taking on the role of Director Sales Denmark. He has held the positions of Operations Manager, Head of Operations and Head of Operational Solutions where he has managed the “area of tension” between Operations and Sales and developed both operational solutions. As Director Sales Denmark he is responsible for the entire sales area of Nagel Danmark and is in close contact with customers in Denmark.
You have been through many stages within Nagel Danmark, from which do you draw the most and most formative insights and why?
That is a difficult question, as I have enjoyed each stage and each has also helped me in its own way to be where and who I am today.
However, there is one thing that has stood out to me equally in each stage and has naturally influenced me: My colleagues! The willingness to make things happen, to go through difficult times together and to occasionally make very difficult and unpleasant decisions is unique in Denmark. Each of the colleagues in Denmark shows an immense interest in the success of the company and is extremely focused on doing their part. For me, as a former team athlete, this is of course very inspiring.
As Director Sales Denmark, you know what the customers are currently thinking about. What topics, questions or even problems do they have? What moves the customers in Scandinavia or Denmark?
In sales, the tasks and discussions this year have naturally been very challenging. The consequences of more than two years with various Corona lockdowns, Brexit, war and constantly rising costs are a big burden not only for us, but also for our customers. Unfortunately, this means that customers are focusing more and more on their logistics costs and these are taking on a much higher weighting.
Our customers in the trade are already noticing that we as end consumers are changing our buying patterns and adapting them to the cost situation. Of course, this does not only pose a great challenge to the trade, but also to our producing customers, who not only lose their own margins within a very short time, but also have to adjust their entire production with the corresponding inflow of raw materials.
Since our customers have to adjust their production accordingly, but still want to achieve their sustainability goals, there will be a greater demand for CO2-reducing measures in logistics as well as a correct presentation of emissions in our services.
What makes our Nordic locations special? Are there differences to other location regions?
Denmark is the gateway to Scandinavia for most people. From here it is very short distances to Norway, Sweden and even Finland, as the infrastructure is simply very good. But the UK can also be reached within a very short time by ferry from Esbjerg.
But also the core of Europe as well as our colleagues in CEE or the Baltic countries are logistically very easy to reach from Denmark – it sometimes feels like Denmark is much more centrally located than it really is.
But other topics, such as sustainable energy, also have a high priority in the Nordic countries. Surrounded by water as well as “a stiff breeze from the northeast”, the Scandinavians invested in both hydro and wind power early on and naturally have this – along with pigs, milk, cattle and fish – as a strong source of income.
However, our locations in Denmark stand out because they provide the perfect mix of network density and direct distribution. Where most of our market competitors can operate with just one location, we have managed to build a network that allows us to offer Danish customers high quality and stability as well as short transit times, regardless of the size of the consignment. Through the ever-growing connectivity and the rest of the group network, as well as our partner network STEF, we also have unique opportunities there.
Scandinavia in particular is home to fish and crustaceans, is this also reflected in our warehouses? Can you identify a sector focus?
Surprisingly, our focus is not on seafood. On the contrary, on the transport side we can rely on 3 larger sub-sectors: BeLog for the trade, Meat, Diary.
At the same time, these are still the largest industries in Denmark – despite a lot of outsourcing in production. In the area of contract logistics, we are currently expanding our locations so that we can now focus on our TC customers and offer them a one-stop-shop solution. We did not have this before.
Thanks to the combination and the high proportion of BeLog, we are not quite as exposed to volume fluctuations as some of our competitors. People always eat and the food is mainly bought in stores. This allows us a certain amount of volume stability. However, we have of course also been strongly influenced by the volume shifts due to the lockdowns from HoReCa to retail and can see slight shifts again now. The HoReCa sector has not yet fully recovered and is of course now having to “bleed” again due to the global political situation.
At the same time, however, our customers’ branded products are being increasingly deselected and converted into private labels for the trade. However, we are not yet seeing too much black, as for the upcoming Christmas season everything points to the fact that we all want to have a very good time and enjoy high-quality food and celebrations. The warehouses are still well stocked, but as expected they will be significantly emptied by Christmas – and hopefully afterwards they will again show a similar utilisation as we know it from the “good old days”.
How do you spend your free time? Do you have hobbies that you pursue or clubs in which you are active?
At the moment, my free time is limited to spending it with my wife and my 2 sons (2 years and almost 5 years). However, since I used to be very active and played handball (more or less successfully) for almost 20 years – no, not with the SG Flensburg-Handewitt, but in Danish minority clubs in Germany – I still try to find time to be active in sports on a regular basis. I also constantly try to further my education and, when my 1st child was born, I resolved that, just like him, I should learn something new every week. In retrospect, this resolution was very ambitious, but it has led to me not only engaging in professional development, but also meditation, yoga, kitesurfing, etc., and generally reading a lot.
But there’s absolutely nothing like building Lego with the boys or just jumping around in puddles – the three of us can actually spend hours doing that.
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