Ask The Manufacturer
times. Of course, AO did not go wholly untouched during these troubles, but the MD believes it has actually strengthened the company’s position in some respects. “There have been a lot of changes, and it's been a really interesting journey -
I’ve been blown away by how people have coped and what they’ve done,” he says. “But, while it's been challenging and thought-provoking, it’s really been one of those proud moments - just the fact that we’ve been open for customers has been really positive for us as a business.” He tells me how in three days the company immobilised all its offices to
home working, including call centres aftercare, “everything,” and introduced all the necessary social distancing measures in its warehouses - even opening new warehouse space in order to accommodate these rules. In doing so, he believes the company has provided an “essential lifeline” to the sector in such times of uncertainty. Another strengthening the online retailer has found during the pandemic is
the general move away from the storefront he has seen: “As John has said, there has been 5 years of market change in 5 weeks - this huge migration from the retail store to internet based solutions. I suspect that now people know how easy and trouble free it is, people will continue to buy on the internet.” He continues: “I can’t predict the future, but it’s hard to deny that people have
changed their shopping habits. When was the last time you went anywhere except the local shop?” “It takes 66 days to make a habit,” Anthony adds, “and we’re well past that
now.”
MESSAGE TO THE INDUSTRY Bringing the conversation to a close, AO’s managing director says that looking back he is “very proud” of the company’s approach to these times, celebrating its “can do” attitude. He explains how this attitude has helped define AO Business, and what it
AO’s managing director says that looking back he is “very proud” of the company’s approach to these times, celebrating its “can do” attitude.
offers over other routes: “Intrinsically, we are selling the same product, but a very different service - a washing machine is a washing machine - but in the business market, what people want to know is that you’ll meet your promises and deliver when you say you will. And, in 20 years, we’ve met all our promises, and we always deliver when we say we will.” He provides me with a great example of this in action - another matter the
company discussed with builders, where in order to meet social distancing measures and spread out their workforces, companies were changing a five day working week into a seven day working week. “What does that mean for AO?” says Anthony. “Well it’s not a problem, because we deliver on Saturday and Sunday anyway; there are so many advantages in working in this retail-esque way of working.” “Saturdays and Sundays are some of our most popular days in the consumer
market, so if a developer wants the same, it’s not a problem.” The managing director concludes with a message to the industry that, while
throughout the purchasing space there are “all sorts of issues like this” with supply currently, from where you can get hold of your brick to your cement, “you can spend your time worrying about that, but when it comes to the appliances you want delivered, there’s no need to worry - we’ve been doing it for 20 years.”
26 | HMM October/November 2020 |
www.housingmmonline.co.uk
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