Boosting Online cross-border Sales for furniture and household SMEs Erasmus Project

General information for the Boosting Online cross-border Sales for furniture and household SMEs Erasmus Project

Boosting Online cross-border Sales for furniture and household SMEs Erasmus Project
July 7, 2020 12:00 am
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Project Title

Boosting Online cross-border Sales for furniture and household SMEs

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Enterprise, industry and SMEs (incl. entrepreneurship); ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

BOSS4SME – Boosting Online cross-border Sales for furniture and household SMEs

CONTEXT

The furniture sector is relevant for the European economy (120.000 companies, 1.000.000 jobs, 98% SMEs, 100 billion turnover). The crisis of 2007 caused a 35% drop in the turnover and the loss of 300.000 jobs. Digitization, in this case related to sales, represents a great opportunity for SMEs to increase their sales and create jobs.

SUMMARY

BOSS4SME (www.boss4sme.com) aims to improve the competitiveness of furniture and habitat companies by developing the “Online Sales Manager” professional profile. This professional will be able to implement e-Commerce strategies to increase transnational online sales. The project has lasted 2 years (2017-18) and has been financed by the SEPIE Spanish agency through the Erasmus+ program (Ref. 2016-1-ES01-KA202-025724).

OBJECTIVES

BOSS4SME targets furniture and habitat SMEs – manufacturers and retailers -. In Spain and Italy, it is a very dynamic sector and with a significant number of workers. The main objectives of the project were:

1.- Develop a complete online course for the “Online Sales Manager” occupational profile.
2.- Improve the training offer for the furniture and habitat sector in e-Commerce.
3.- Improve the skills of furniture and habitat SMEs in online sales.
4.- Increase sales of SMEs through transnational e-Commerce strategies.

PARTNERSHIP

The consortium involved 6 entities from 4 countries: Spain, Greece, Italy and Poland. CENFIM – Catalan Furnishings Cluster and Innovation Hub, as project coordinator; the furniture business associations AMIC and AMUEBLA; the educational software developer CRYSTAL CLEAR SOFT; the training quality expert EUROCREA MERCHANT and the e-learning developer DANMAR COMPUTERS.

CENFIM – Coordinator and VET provider / Spain / www.cenfim.org
AMIC – Furniture Business association / Spain / www.amicmoble.org
AMUEBLA – Furniture Business association / Spain / www.amueblacooperacion.es
CRYSTAL CLEAR SOFT – Expert in digital media / Greece / www.ccseducation.com
EUROCREA MERCHANT – Expert in quality / Italy / www.eurocreamerchant.it
DANMAR COMPUTERS – E-learning developer / Poland / www.danmar-computers.com.pl

ACTIVITIES AND RESULTS

Analysis of e-Commerce current practices in the participating countries (ES, IT, PL and GR) and comparison with the e-Commerce winning strategies in leading European countries.

Identification of the knowledge, skills and competencies needed by the “Online Sales Manager” to successfully implement winning strategies in e-Commerce. Verification and validation of the competencies with 52 furniture and habitat SMEs.

Preparation of the training contents to allow the “Online Sales Manager” acquiring the needed skills. Preparation of the 42 training pills, totally adapted to the furniture and habitat sector, in 5 languages – EN, ES, IT, GR, PL -.

Design of the joint curriculum for the “Online Sales Manager” in accordance with ECVET system. Preparation and signing of a MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) among partners.

Implementation of the training material in an e-learning platform called “BOSS4SME Genie”. The platform supports the “Online Sales Manager” to create a personalized e-Commerce strategy considering the specific characteristics of his/her business. Creation on the project web of the student support service: “ACADEMY”.

Dissemination of the results among the target groups. Organization of 7 multiplier events in the 4 partners countries to present and validate the project results (305 participants).

IMPACT

The main target group has been: “Furniture and habitat companies”. Partners have 8.000 contacts in the sector and 4.000 in others. All these contacts have received the project results (through emailing, newsletters, videos, brochures, presentations, news, posts, etc.). In the validation phase, 52 SMEs were involved. Seven multiplier events were organized in 4 countries (ES, GR, IT, PL), with a total of 305 participants. Pilot course: 53 participants.

Project results were sent to the 3 European federations of the sector (UEA, EFIC and EFBWW). These entities have disseminated the results among their national and regional members.

BOSS4SME has appeared 50 times in the press. It has been presented in 33 events (3.160 participants). The web (www.boss4sme.com) is available in 5 languages – EN, ES, IT, GR, PL – and it contains the project public results, including the BOSS4SME Genie – “Online Sales Manager” course.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 176386 Eur

Project Coordinator

CENTRE DE DIFUSIO TECNOLOGICA DE LA FUSTA I DEL MOBLE DE CATALUNYA & Country: ES

Project Partners

  • Danmar Computers sp z o.o.
  • CRYSTALCLEARSOFT ANONYMOS ETAIREIA PAROCHIS YPIRESION LOGISMIKOU
  • EUROCREA MERCHANT SRL
  • AGRUPACION EMPRESARIAL INNOVADORA DE FABRICANTES DE MUEBLES Y AFINES DE LA REGION DE MURCIA
  • Associacio Agrupacio Moble Innovador de Catalunya