G FEATURE TW
There’s plenty of room at the new headquarters!
With these basics in place, the only thing left is to increase sales.
Going for growth Bob continued: “After 40 years we have one of the most expansive customer bases in the gun and countryside trades. “T ese people trust us and
deal with us regularly, with some customers buying from us twice a week. If we distribute a product it is immediately available for sale to the widest possible market. “On top of this we work
not simple, it’s very hard work, with constant reinvestment and adaptation over years and decades, working with customers and suppliers to try to fi nd most of the opportunities available. “T ere are no quick answers
in this trade; every product line is diff erent and so are most of our customers. “Take Opinel knives…
distribution in the UK is dominated by Whitby & Co, which does a fantastic job. It is foolish to try to compete against
“Working with Air Arms, we
moved the UK sales through ourselves, leaving the airgun team to concentrate on worldwide distribution and advancing its production. Again, this has worked well for everyone concerned and Air Arms remains the market leader in PCP air rifl es.” T en there are the great
relationships with brands like H&N, Cometa, FAIR, Birchwood Casey, MTM Case-Gard, Croots and many others, all with a common denominator –
that we can improve its distribution and that there is a benefi t for us and the supplier.
We don’t take a brand on unless we know
with a few wholesalers that sell to diff erent levels of our or other trades. With these allies there are few people who we cannot reach with a particular product line. “T e best example of our
capabilities came a few years ago when we took over a product line from a wholesaler who had good distribution within its fi eld. “T e brand supplier and
wholesaler were both ‘comfortable’ with the level of sales over the years but within 12 months we had shown a 400 per cent increase in UK sales, which rose another 20 per cent in the second year, and we have maintained that level ever since. “We never changed the price
or marketing but we did make it more convenient for the trade and, because of that, they bought, stocked and sold the product line much more.” It sounds so simple to be so successful… “Simple? It’s
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such a good distribution, but by working with Whitby and buying our Opinel products from them we increase the opportunities for trade sales. Retailers, ourselves, Whitby and Opinel all gain from this and everyone is happy. “T en there are great brands
like Barnett, which we distribute in the UK and some European countries. We have worked with Barnett for more than 25 years. When it moved its headquarters to the US we worked with David and Mike there to integrate with its production to schedule full 40ft containers to us for stock and distribution to other markets. “It means Barnett and John
Rothery can make the most of the UK and the retailers have constant supply as and when they need it. “T en we have one of our
biggest suppliers, Air Arms. T is is an unusual situation because most UK manufacturers do their own distribution in their own country.
‘mutual benefi t’ in market share, distribution and profi t.
Bisley and beyond So how does Rothery’s own Bisley brand work? Surely there’s a confl ict there? “When we approach a market
we look at the leading brand and try to secure some form of distribution. If this is not possible or there is no distinct market leader then we can use Bisley. “Recent events have enhanced
the value of our own brand and this is something we will be increasing but only when we cannot fi nd cooperation with an existing brand distributor.” T e extra space aff orded by the
move will allow John Rothery to increase drop shipments from suppliers and help each product to achieve its best possible sales. T e new offi ces and
infrastructure will also play their part, as the fi rm readily admits it
needs more staff in several areas. It also means that it can
completely update its systems. Bob explained: “We have
completely renewed all the IT cabling, sockets and hubs for the new building. A larger server is being added to the system alongside enhanced phone systems and programming. “T e system we have is very
good and it was important for us to enhance rather than change the way we do things. We will be increasing each of our sales, marketing and IT teams alongside making the most of the technological possibilities available.” Initially the Rothery showroom
– always a popular feature with dealers – will be moved into the sales department to enhance product training and familiarity with any new items and product ranges. Clearly John Rothery – a name
with such a tradition in the gun trade – has more than one eye on moving forward. Bob concluded: “We have just
sent out a written survey to all our customers asking what they would like us to do. If a product line or brand is clearly requested we will be pursuing that line in an eff ort to accommodate it. It’s always been part of our background and history – but it’s also the key to our future.”
GTW
John Rothery Wholesale T: +44 1730 268011 E:
sales@bisley-uk.com W:
www.bisley-uk.com
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