AkzoNobel Paints Lanka, one of the world’s largest paint and coatings company, has
introduced a series of new initiatives to help motivate and support its Dulux painter
community in Sri Lanka, while concurrently launching its own digital innovations for
customer empowerment.
As part of its ongoing proactive efforts to enhance the satisfaction, motivation, and skills
development of its over 5000 member-strong painter community in the country, Dulux
has employed a MHP –Mind, Heart and Pocket- approach for its painter engagement
journey. This involves efforts and activities towards strengthening the relationship
between painters and AkzoNobel (in the form of family gatherings, scholarship
opportunities for painters’ children, personalized greetings, etc.), skill and knowledge
enhancement (trainings, certifications, complaint handling, etc.), and continuous
rewards schemes.
“In offering more painter engagement, encouraging talent development, and by listening
to feedback, we hope to foster a more inclusive and respectful work environment for our
painters to feel valued,” said Upendra Gunawardhana, Head of Marketing at AkzoNobel
Sri Lanka. “We look out for both the professional and personal development of our
painter community, and as a result we hope to build on their loyalty to Dulux paints, so
that they are always motivated to perform at their best.”
In order to ease operational tasks, AkzoNobel has also developed novel digital
enhancements for the benefit of its professional painters – namely in significantly
improving its current mechanisms for painter registration, payments, and providing
visibility and transparency of spend to prevent paint wastage.
Additionally, the deployment of a simplified QR barcode program for painter loyalty has
empowered its painter community by first ensuring they can all participate. Among its
many features, “Dulux Connect” enables online tracking of painter purchases and
usage to develop mind, heart, and pocket programs to build loyalty and brand advocacy
with a core set of painters. Through the app, painters can also select their preferred retail outlets and in turn, retailers too can motivate painters to continuously buy from
their store.
AkzoNobel’s new digitization drive also includes the introduction of the “Painter Market
Place” App launched in February this year – an online platform that helps connect Dulux
customers from across the country with professional painters closest to them. This is
another route through which painters themselves can enhance their earnings.
While numerous online interfaces have been introduced to better serve its customers,
AkzoNobel has more notably committed to bringing ease to its customers. Those
looking to brighten up their walls can now choose colors with confidence; all from the
comfort of their own homes. Customers can log in to the easy-to-use “Dulux Preview
Service (www.duluxpreviewservice.com/sl)”, and harnessing the magic of augmented reality
technology, can view how the colors of their choice look in their actual living space.
Additionally, each look can be saved and shared with family and friends to help narrow
down selections. AkzoNobel adds its expertise too, offering suggestions for color
schemes, before the customer finally purchases the paint – all with just few clicks on
their smartphones.
About AkzoNobel Paints
Established in 1964, AkzoNobel Paints Lanka is one of the leading paint manufacturer
in Sri Lanka, offering some of the world’s top paint and decorative product brands such
as Dulux, SuperKote, AquaTech, Woodguard, and car refinish brand Sikkens. Based in
Amsterdam, the Netherlands, AkzoNobel is one of the largest global paints and coatings
company and one of the world's leading industrial companies, making and
supplying a wide range of paints, coatings and specialty chemicals across the world.
