Optima's challenge: "Internet, electricity, gas and telephone in a single bill"

A new player is entering the Italian utility consumer market. This is Optima, a company founded in 1999 in Naples and active up to now in business services, with a turnover of 150 million in 2015 and over 180 corporate customers. The particularity of the group is Optima VitaMia, the integrated offer that proposes electricity, gas, telephone and internet in a single solution, which from 25 September will also be available for families, after an initial pilot project phase. 

We talked about this landing on a market that promises to be increasingly free with Francesco Caliendo, director of Marketing and Sales of Optima.

After the entry of the Alpha fund with a 20% stake, Optima – which is already active in the supply of electricity and gas to businesses – has started a run-in period and will now enter the household market. With what offers?

Our offer includes electricity, gas, telephone and internet with a single fee, customized for each type of family. Our idea is to tailor an offer to the individual customer, guaranteeing him a bill with less stress and more savings. It is an innovative offer within a market, if I pass the word, "obsolete".

In addition to the supply of gas electricity with separate bills but also in a single invoice, you can expect a telephone and Internet offer. The combination with telephones and internet is already offered by utilities in Spain but in Italy it would be the first time ever. Will it be possible to have a single bill for four services?

Not only that, you can have a single fee for all services. With regard to the discourse of novelty it is absolutely so. It is a first time in Italy, and we are sure that our offer will be well interpreted by the market, because there is a growing need to interface with a single interlocutor, bypassing all the others.

Sorgenia, to mention the last in order of arrival, but above all the large operators such as ENI, Enel, A2A, Hera, Acea have launched rather "aggressive" campaigns to win over customers on the free market in view of the next expansion of liberalization expected for 2018. Is there still room for new operators in Italy and what are your targets?

Our target is very broad, from this point of view. We cater to small households as well as large families. Our goal is to reach everyone without distinction, through a customized offer that allows us, if possible, to offer the customer a product that is consistent with his wishes.

As for competition, I believe that there will always be room for innovative operators, because we, for example, have gone to seize the spaces of such a large market. Furthermore, the big players are not competitors because they have a different offer. From this point of view we are facing a blue ocean, because nobody does what we do. There is "a price war" on individual services. We have competitors in individual areas of your business, but no full frontal competitor offering the same range of services as we do.

How will your offers be accessed, only online or also through traditional commercial channels? 

Obviously the possibility is to access through different channels. The online sales channel is supported by traditional channels, made up of local agency networks. We have 35 stations in the most important shopping centers in Italy. Between December 2016 and January 2017 the Optima Points will be born, our network of direct stores, in addition to the inbound channel.

What investments have you planned to give strength to your challenge?

In two days, for the launch of the offer for families, we will be on air with the first media advertisement on Mediaset, for a campaign in which we have invested 2,5 million. In addition, again for the advertising campaign, we have put 8 million euros in the pipeline for the first months of 2017, for a total budget of 10,5 million euros, which can be expanded depending on the response from the public and the results we will collect.