04 | Smart Parking

Innovation and sustainability

Innovation and sustainability

Digitalizing the car park

We are witnessing a new technological reality that is driving Saba, with more than 50 years of experience in the management of car parks, to offer better service quality and new products. The company is moving forward in this regard, focusing on measures that enhance new business formulas, especially in the digital field, as well as boosting innovation and the development of new technologies applied to car parks to improve customer satisfaction.

SABA.ES IN 2018

MILLION
VISITS

+63 %
0

TRANSACTIONS

+58 %
0

In 2018, Saba continued to work towards the digitalization of its business, promoting the sale of products that are 100% digital and taking the new e-commerce web model outside Spain. At the end of 2018, the new websites sabait.it, in Italia, and saba.pt, in Portugal, were launched online. These websites not only have the same look & feel as saba.es launched in 2016, but they are already fully operational platforms for selling products. In Chile, saba-chile.cl was redesigned in 2018, adapting it to the new Saba standards to offer a uniform look across all the Group’s websites.

In Spain, saba.es continued to demonstrate its growth potential in 2018. Visits increased by 63% compared to 2017, reaching 1.3 million. Similarly, transactions grew by 58%, which led to a 49% increase in income. Saba’s e-commerce in Spain is already the main product sales channel for the entire Group, a landmark for a company in the car park sector.

Despite the effort to digitalize its business, Saba continues to offer a catalogue of products that are always adapted to the needs of its customers. The company is committed to commercially exploiting its facilities, in order for the company to cater to the demands of different customer segments, with new products, and to adapt the commercial offering to new consumer habits, while also contributing to improving mobility management.

As well as the marketing campaigns carried out with large accounts such as the Adif Network car parks or in the signing of agreements to allow car park reservation through renfe.com (transactional sales), there were countless other campaigns in the car parks that the company operates in the different countries where it is present.

For example, in 2018, campaigns were carried out to attract subscribers in more than 60 car parks with fantastic results in terms of invoicing, along with other marketing efforts aimed at smaller target groups, such as those related to Saba Tempo products, implemented in about 90 car parks. Saba’s product range aims to provide a solution for every single group, whether B2B or B2C, and with that in mind it has redesigned different promotional materials for hotels, shops, companies, hospitals, entertainment and residential areas in every Saba country.

Firmly committed to Social Media

In February 2018, Saba set up its profiles on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and WhatsApp.The main objective of these was to interact with different target groups using the same channels with which they communicate on a regular basis, adapting the message and tone according to the channel, thus offering a new Customer Support and Communication platform. In short, Saba wanted to be present in this new environment having taken a digital leap with its new e-commerce website, understanding that the profile of its customers had also changed.

The commitment and dedication of the different departments of the company have made it possible to achieve significant milestones in the digital field. On Facebook, Saba has established the largest community in the sector in Europe with nearly 10,700 fans, to whom it has directed more than 200 publications. Twitter, for its part, serves as an important Customer Support tool with more than 100 comments responded to in these first months of operation. On LinkedIn, the platform designed for Saba’s internal audience and also for those people interested in the company’s news, a high level of engagement has been achieved thanks to corporate publications on Saba’s institutional events, information on the environment and Corporate Social Responsibility and others that reinforce Saba’s role as an employer. Finally, we should mention WhatsApp, a 100% customer support tool in which Saba has a corporate profile. This messaging network has received more than 1,400 requests for information and is growing every month.

Saba’s Social Media journey has only just begun and we are convinced that it is an essential tool to improve our customer service. In this regard, these channels will be opened in other Saba countries while the company’s presence on other platforms, such as Google Maps —where Saba’s car parks have obtained more than 1,000 reviews— or Trip Advisor, continues to be reinforced.

Facebook

  • >10.000 fans
  • The largest community in the sector in Europe

Twitter

  • 175 publications
  • Customer Support Channel

Linkedin

  • 700 followers
  • Institutional communication and engagement

WhatsApp

  • >1,400 messages
  • Exponential growth

Car parks as sustainable service hubs

Saba’s proposal for urban mobility can be gleaned from its vision in this area: the idea of a car park as much more than just a car park. We conceive it as a service hub that makes the most of strategic locations and of facilities which are open 24 hours a day to serve the city, functioning as an agent that is fully integrated into the policy and the chain of mobility of the city and coordinated with all other means of transport. We believe it can contribute to the progressive disappearance of vehicles parked on public roads which would then only contain vehicles in transit, thus reducing heavy traffic.

  • Electric vehicle

    Convinced of the strategic importance of electric mobility, Saba has installed 144 electric charging stations in 36 car parks throughout Spain, which will be managed by Endesa.

  • 3G Mobile coverage

    Saba will provide more than 40 car parks in Spain with a 3G connection —scalable to 5G— with a solution available to all market operators, to boost customer service and the expansion of existing added-value services.

  • Carsharing services

    Saba has agreements with the main carsharing operators in different cities in Spain and Italy. This shared mobility ecosystem will be extended to other means of individual transport such as bicycles, motorcycles and electric scooters.

  • PUDO (Pick Up, Drop Off) e-commerce lockers

    Available in about 20 Saba car parks, these allow customers to collect or return purchases made over the Internet, taking advantage of the unbeatable locations of the car parks. The service reduces traffic in the city centre and pollution.

  • Microdistribution

    In Barcelona, several car parks serve as small warehouses which enable the distribution of small goods using unipersonal means of transport. This so-called “last mile distribution” provides benefits to mobility and the environment.

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