IN-STORE AT DICKINSON’S HEXHAM
from the furniture, flooring and soft furnishings departments. Rather than a project being simply passed over we can see it through and it’s never just left to someone else.”
Interior Designer, Catherine Louisa Griffin says that each client may begin the design process differently. Some might look at sofas and style first, though she always advises not to fall too deeply in love with one product. “I always try to find out what a clients personality is like. I start by asking what they find appealing about the item and build on that. Sometimes it’s not the item that they love, but the style and it all depends on what items work when you put them together.”
Unlike other designers who ask clients to choose from photographs, the Dickinson’s team is able pull everything together for the client to try, touch and feel thereby giving a more realistic representation of the finished look.
Sales Insight
Flooring Manager Tony Skeen gives us a heads up on sales insights and season predictions.
What’s your best-selling product?
We’re doing an awful lot with Mohawk. Traditionally we’ve always been very much a wool-based business due in part to where we are situated; in a rural area. But over the last couple of years we have taken our blinkers off, and polypropylene and bleach cleaning products have just completely taken over.
What colours and tetures are moving
well at the moment? Earthy beiges are definitely big at the moment. People seem to be buying neutral flooring to allow them to go crazy with colour everywhere else. Texture is also seeing a big comeback and customers are moving away from laminates to carpets again, or they’re upgrading to real wood if they can afford it.
What are your predictions for net season? The Right Fit
As well as having experts in store, Dickinson’s also employs a team of fitters specialised in their field, from carpets to wood flooring, Marmoleum, Amtico and Karndean and even specialist floors, like aluminium and rubber. There’s one fitter who concentrates purely on floor preparation, grinding floors and laying resin.
Dickinson’s also provide a contract flooring division catering to local businesses and hotels and has even provided flooring to a hotel in the south of France. Though, the company does tend to stay closer to home concentrating on the new build sector. The interior design team works with Story Homes to create fresh and contemporary show homes, which reflect the local area where they are situated. For example, Catherine explains that they will provide a modern look in rural areas but can go quite edgy in more urban areas.
If the client cannot find what they’re looking for in-store, then they are able to have bespoke flooring commissioned. Carpet can be designed on a computer, sent off to manufacturers such as Whitestone and Axminster of Devon, and then made up into two samples with different colourways for the customer to choose from. This service is available to members of the public as well as to the B2B market, and applies not only to flooring, but also to wallpapers and fabrics.
20 | Winter 2015 Tomorrow’s Retail Floors
I do think that we will see colour making a big impact, we’re all a bit tired of beige now. We’re being asked for a lot of plaids, tartans and checks at the moment and I think smaller designs will become more popular.
Is Dickinson’s on social media?
We are on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. We only started using social media about a year ago but it’s helping to create sales leads and interest in the products, which are hitting the floors. It’s working very well for us.
What is the cornerstone to
Dickinson’s success? As well as being able to move with the times, service plays a huge part and it always has. We’ve never professed to be the cheapest, but it’s not always about price. From somebody coming in-store to the installation and the after- service, we are passionate about what we do and genuinely care about our clients.
This bespoke niche is another feature, which separates Dickinson’s from other furnishings providers.
“There’s nothing worse than seeing your wallpaper in your friend’s loo,” says Charlotte. “And that’s what tends to happen when you shop on the high street.”
www.dickinsonsfurnishers.com
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