Pieter Morisse becomes Lecot's new Chief Executive Officer

After more than 27 years, Philippe De Veyt passes the torch to Pieter Morisse as CEO of Lecot. Since January 2023, Pieter Morisse has formed the managerial tandem with co-CEO Rik Lecot. This rejuvenation and renewal fit within the family company's vision of the future.

Five-year strategic plan

Using workshops, individual interviews with employees and customers, Lecot established 5 pillars that give the company a framework in which they want to invest over the next 5 years. This strategic plan, pulled internally by Pieter Morisse, was named "Visio 2025.

"At Lecot, the customer is central, but we want to start from the customer even more in our actions and thoughts. To this end, we are evolving as a company towards omnichannel, so that we can improve the customer experience. So we do this by giving the customer the same experience and the same information that makes them feel that we know them, regardless of the channel."

"This will contribute to increasing customer satisfaction. To achieve this, our 'marketing' and 'digital' teams will also play an important role, in addition to our previous physical sales channels in the branches, via representatives and customer service. I am firmly convinced that all this will generate additional growth," Morisse said.

Lecot exists 135 years this year, and has remained true to its family values throughout all these years. The company grew to become an established player and is known as the largest national player in the distribution of hardware, fasteners, construction hardware, tools and personal protective equipment.

Together with his management team, Philippe De Veyt ensured this since 1995, when his father-in-law Lieven Santens became the main shareholder of the Lecot company. The company then stood for 22 million euro turnover with 115 employees, from one site in Heule. "Growth is in the DNA of our firm. Because we are open to all opportunities that arise, and we seize them, because we are open-minded, we can keep up technologically. It is our will to be agile despite the size of our organization." 

De Veyt brought Rik Lecot on board back in 2000 to make those intentions a reality. "The most important moments of the collaboration with Philippe can be seen in our pioneering work," Lecot said. "In 2000, we achieved a turnover of 26 million euros with four branches. However, we were operating with old-fashioned logistics, outdated IT, with no website or online presence."

"Now, 22 years later, we are proud of our financially very healthy company. We represent 80 branches - 4 of which are in the Netherlands - and we are turning a turnover of 267 million euros, realized by about 750 employees. We have well-established modern logistics. Moreover, the share of Internet sales constitutes a large share of total sales. We are now the undisputed market leader in our industry. All this is due to excellent cooperation. And we always do it with humor," says Lecot. 

The company also showed its strongest side during the recent crises. De Veyt: "When everyone else is on the brakes, we accelerate." For example, during the corona crisis in 2021, Lecot took over the Biermans company in Breda. Despite the tension in the Belgian labor market, they managed to keep renewing Lecot and attracting young entrepreneurial employees.

Ahead with fresh eyes

"When I started in 1995, I was fortunate to be trained by Pol Lecot. A visionary man, with a fine nose for business. My father-in-law Lieven Santens - a purebred entrepreneur - gave me the fantastic opportunity to become manager. I can now pass on that confidence in young people to Pieter," says De Veyt. "Lecot will invest the next three years, among other things, in improving the automation of logistics. Although I will still oversee this process and I will remain a member of the Board of Directors, I do realize how much I will miss our people, Lecot's Criminal Gang."

According to experienced ancients De Veyt and Lecot, the importance of this rejuvenation cannot be underestimated. After all, the new generation grew up in the digital world, young people come with fresh eyes, new ideas and a new load of energy.

Morisse takes the advice of those young people to heart. Of course, there is always a focus on wanting to be open to new opportunities. "When I was approached by Lecot, there was a click with Philippe from the very first conversation. I could identify with the focus on 'growth' and the importance attached to the company's values: respect, ambition and passion. All this I also saw immediately confirmed in how Philippe spoke about the company and its employees."

However, Morisse's start at Lecot was quite unusual: his move into the empty office under construction occurred in December 2020, during a lockdown due to the corona pandemic. The first contacts with employees were through Teams. 

"Shortly after my arrival, I started closely monitoring the strategic exercise for the future. I was also immediately put in charge of 'digital,' 'marketing' and the CRM project. Later, project management and customer service were added. All this together helped me to get to know the ins & outs of the company well."