Spain is the fourth country in the world with the most alarms in homes, with three million, only behind the United States, China and Japan. It has achieved this position despite having a much smaller population than other countries, a low level of crime, and a higher proportion of residents in flats versus single-family homes. What causes the phenomenon? The explanation lies with the business leader, Securitas Direct, a true market opening machine.
Despite the messages about squatting and home assaults, Securitas Direct itself makes one thing clear: "Spain is one of the safest countries in the world." Says Alberto de la Capilla, the director of strategic alliances of Securitas for Iberia, Italy and Latin America, a key division for the company, which has in the search for travel companions one of its pillars of success.
Crime, according to the Ministry of the Interior, has dropped in the last decade and has gone from 500 robberies per 100,000 inhabitants in 2013 to 298 in 2021. The causes are diverse, but Securitas Direct contributes its own: "Good regulation and public-private collaboration”.
Securitas Direct leads the national market with 1.8 million alarms installed that protect six million people, in addition to the 135,000 customers already captured in its new security products for the elderly. Its turnover stood at 900 million euros in 2021. It might seem enough, but there is still "great potential for growth," says De la Capilla. "The penetration level in Spain is between 10% and 12%, and it is possible to reach 20%." There is a lot of alarm to install.
The great competitor is Prosegur, alone and through its joint venture with Movistar, created in 2019 to gain ground in a business with technological derivatives. This company is growing strongly and closed the 2022 financial year with 805,000 contracts, 15% more.
When markets reach saturation point, margins typically start to erode and companies start an acquisition dance to reduce the number of entrants. This does not happen in this business, says De la Capilla. Securitas Direct's growth will continue to be organic and will be focused on innovations and diversification. “We are the ones who set the standard,” she says.
As a market sherpa, Securitas Direct is paving the way through alliances and new solutions. De la Capilla cites the agreements with Mapfre, CaixaBank and Vodafone to generate "synergies that make perfect sense from the customer's point of view". With some of these partners the relationship has already lasted more than a decade.
"We ask ourselves: where does it make sense to be offered an alarm?" Real estate and utilities, he explains, are ideal for offering an alarm, although the latter continue to resist it in Spain. “I conceive alliances as a way to go where we haven't arrived or to go further”, he indicates.
The company is also very attentive to the elderly and out-of-home security solutions with which to diversify. It has launched the Guardian Verisure, SOS, Guardian Verisure and Senior Protection systems, as well as a telemedicine solution together with HomeDoctors. He is interested in the management of medical emergencies or "total protection", concepts that go "beyond the four walls of the house".
Securitas Direct and Prosegur have their own intruders: those who come from below and from above. For little money, anyone can buy cameras with which to monitor their home, but "this low cost is not a threat." "We are in the high security sector," says De la Capilla.
The other challenge comes from above: what will happen if Amazon or Netflix decide to dedicate themselves to protecting homes? The manager doesn't lose sleep either. Security, he says, is a highly regulated business that requires alarm switchboards and a high deployment of personnel. Added to this are the specific regulations of each country, too different to allow an Amazon solution on a global scale.
