In order to find out about the state of art on monastic products, the SKIVRE partnership implemented a survey in 2019 that brought valuable input for the training modules. 20 monasteries participated in our survey: 9 monasteries from Germany, 4 monasteries from Bulgaria, 3 monasteries from Greece, 4 monasteries from other European countries. These are the most important results of the survey in terms of lack of knowledge and training needs:
The respondents identified a lack of knowledge in
- How to sell the products (55 %)
- How to use internet/social media to support sales (40%)
- What products to sell (35%)
- How to find the right price for a product (35%)
- How to label a product and develop a brand name (30%)
- How to present a monastery shop to local and regional partners (30%)
- How to collaborate beyond regional borders (30%)
- How to collaborate with sales supporters (25%)
- How to improve marketing and public relations
Accordingly, they identified their training needs in:
- Categorisation of product portfolio (45%)
- Creating a strong brand (45%)
- Use local/regional networks (45%)
- Marketing Instruments (marketing communication, marketing plan) (45 %)
- Benefits of using social media (45%)
- Distribution alternatives (different ways of selling monastic products) (30%)
- Use of (trans)national networks (30%)
- Communication planning (20%)
The whole outcome of the survey can be found here.
The outcome of the survey was considered in the training content of the SKIVRE training scheme.