News
Retra has welcomed Andy Waller, as area representative for the North West, Midlands and Wales. He replaces Philip Potter, who has retired after 17 years with the organisation. Andy may be familiar to some
retra members having helped them to reduce their telecoms overheads while working for Uniworld Communications, retra’s telecoms partner. From there he moved into telecommunications, but eventually transferred into sales when he realised that he preferred people to circuitry and software.
Good weather winners
Although good weather didn’t help Murray to win Wimbledon, it aided the recovery of a number of product sectors, including drink chillers and beer fridges, reported market analyst GfK.
The drink chillers and beer fridges market currently stands at just under £7million (MAT July 09 – June 10) but the World Cup and summer weather have considerably boosted it. In June 2010, 22,000 units were sold which was a 46% uplift in sales compared to June 2009. However, the wine cabinets market has experienced mixed fortunes over the past year. Despite growing wine consumption in Britain, this market has not been able to avoid the impact of the economic downturn with sales volumes dropping by 17% to just below 41,000 units. In value terms the market remains flat at £9milllion but this is largely due to the 20% increase in average prices seen over the twelve months to June.
The X factor
JUDGING by the comments and emails we have received following the Independent Business Awards 2010 evening, we could say that the event was successful in identifying and endorsing products and services widely considered as the best in our market. The Awards have also brought to the industry’s attention another group of truly outstanding retail professionals who stand out from the crowd not only on account of their business acumen but also the first- hand knowledge of their customers.
The standing ovation for Bryan Lovewell, who has
devoted 45 years to the electrical industry, as he went to collect the Lifetime Achievement Award, proved what a popular choice he was. Leaving Bryan speechless at this
announcement was some achievement too.
Of course, it was nice to hear how much many of you enjoyed the industry’s annual get together, as the IER team under the direction of Andrew Castle, worked very hard since the beginning of the year to make the Awards a success.
However the momentum of
the Awards is not over yet. It’s key now that we introduce
the independent winners of IBA to the wider audience. I will shortly be travelling the width and breadth of the country to visit the winners and report on what makes them so special beyond their commercial success.
Anna Ryland, Editor
aryland@datateam.co.uk
Pure’s Evoke Mio with a difference
PURE has invited the second year textile design students of Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design to create a limited edition version of PURE’s iconic EVOKE Mio aimed at women. Entries were submitted in three categories: innovation, commercial and packaging. The competition has produced some truly innovative designs, such as those pictured opposite. Colin Crawford, PURE’s director of marketing commented on the results: “PURE has a long-standing heritage of producing iconic designs from the EVOKE-1, which most people associate with digital radio to the futuristic ‘radio for the Facebook generation’, Sensia. With this in mind, we were particularly keen to inspire young people in the arena of product design.”
6 The Independent Electrical Retailer August 2010
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