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Ask The Manufacturer


Anthony says that “as Brits, we’re fairly cynical;” he’s always amazed how people are so surprised at the “simple fact” that they do what they say they will, and deliver when they say they say they’ll deliver


According to Anthony, the experience has highlighted weaknesses in supply


right across the industry - and, as he found out from research with potential B2B clients, the ramifications of this on site can have major implications on entire projects. The pandemic has then worsened this greatly in his view, with many suppliers left unable to keep commitments or gain the moment necessary to get projects back on track - even outside of appliances, a chink in the chain at any point can hold up the entire show. He tells me that working through such times has not been easy, but the


lessons that this has taught him have been “invaluable,” and it is these lessons he hopes to share.


CHINKS IN THE CHAIN Anthony first explains that after discussions with housebuilders, developers, housing professionals and landlords, the company truly began to unravel the extent to which projects rely on speedy supply (even pre-pandemic) - especially when it comes to the products he knows best. “Appliances are probably the last thing to go in,” he explains. “While anything


can happen during the period from start to completion - and anything will - the one thing that’s immovable is the completion date.” This rings true for landlords just as much as builders, he adds: “If there are tenants due to move in, it’s essential that the appliances promised are specified and delivered on time.” A common issue here that was reported to AO was other suppliers’ inability


to be in every postcode every day - it could be a week before the product they need arrives, which means a week’s delay on site. “What you’ve got to remember is that a house unfinished - missing


something as simple as a cooker hood - can hold up the completion of a project that’s worth many hundreds of thousands of pounds,” says Anthony. “And, if a landlord’s got a tenant with a broken appliance, how much rent is at risk while they wait for the appliance to turn up?” Anthony says that “as Brits, we’re fairly cynical;” he’s always amazed how


people are so surprised at the “simple fact” that they do what they say they will, and deliver when they say they say they’ll deliver. He suggests that this is something that may come from experience in other supply chains - noting that of course the pandemic has again introduced even greater problems here, with companies folding or suddenly being unable to keep commitments they’d made pre-lockdown. One of the biggest challenges for businesses is when there are chinks in their


supply chains, Anthony argues. He tells me that when Covid hit there were a huge number of companies who had made commitments they couldn’t make, or had inbound products that they simply couldn’t receive - especially b2b providers who’s customers were suddenly put on hold. “If your world is just b2b supplying - housebuilders, landlords, whatever -


and suddenly lockdown hits, you’re in a position where it’s hard to justify staying open,” laments the managing director. “Because of that, we have seen a number of distressed customers that have come to us out of the blue because they need supplies now, and their existing supplier isn’t back up and running yet.”


CHANGING THE FACE OF WHITE GOODS Anthony went on to explain how the company came to be in this position, and the steps it took to offer such stability to both B2B and B2C customers: “20 years on, selling appliances on the internet isn’t such a big deal, but people forget that when John Roberts (CEO and Founder of AO.COM) first came up with the idea, Amazon was still only selling books on the internet through dial up connections.” He continues: “Back in 2000, when John basically decided to go and change the face of the white goods industry, there’s no question about it - it was a hugely


bold statement.” Anthony remembers how most people would go into an appliance store,


make an order, and receive it at least 7 days later. “John’s attitude was different, however,” he says. “To give customers what they really wanted, we needed to do more.” “He decided that for us to become a differentiator, and to give true customer


service, the only way to do that was to own our own logistics business,” says the MD. AO purchased Expert Logistics from Iceland which, according to Anthony


was an “inspired” decision: “About three of four years ago I was at a round table discussion within the industry, and I was chatting to this person who said he sometimes wonders if John realised at the time how significant that was, or was he just lucky.” “He knew,” says the MD. “Truly, he did.” With “probably the best two man delivery fleet in the country” - so much so


that other companies are now utilizing it - the retailer is able to cover all its own deliveries and be in “every postcode, everyday” as the customers were demanding. This means that buyers can get whatever they want from the company’s over-a-million-square foot of warehousing the very next day - from individuals, to landlords, to large scale developers. This control over the chain is so important to AO’s ethos that the company


even launched its own facility to collect and recycle old appliances - including the largest fridge recycling facility in the country, which covers more than just its own products. “Why?” he asks, “because we wanted to make sure it was done properly.”


A JOURNEY Taking things back to the present pandemic, Anthony tells me that this approach to bringing more and more of the supply chain under the same umbrella has been a “huge help” towards its stability during these uncertain


www.housingmmonline.co.uk | HMM October/November 2020 | 25


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