Show Special kbb Birmingham 2018
Retailer round table
granted that a kitchen is going to cost them £X and they seem to accept the price. Whereas, on the bathroom side if you tell them it’s going to cost £X, they often start asking for a breakdown of individual costs and, once you do that, they start quoting internet prices at you. I think consumers have more of an idea of how much things cost in kitchens in comparison with the bathroom sector. I strongly feel that kitchens are going to be a significant growth area for our business.
Lisa Kyme: For the London showroom, 2017 started off pretty tough for the first five months, but picked up at the tail end of the year. Stamp duty, Brexit and the election all had a big impact on people buying properties in London and, therefore the market became stagnant. We were aware of these ups and downs and kept an eye on developments, but we didn’t do anything specifically different. My other three showrooms all had a very good year. Footfall remained strong and sales were good off the back of that increased footfall. As a group, Ripples has improved on our visitor conversions into orders. We also actively encourage happy customers to shout about the service they received from us on social media, which helps generate new business.
SJ: I agree with all of that. One thing I would say though, if you’re going to get involved with social media, you have to do it properly, so you need a strategy. I manage all of our social media activity so that I can put the content out that’s relevant and reflects our business. It’s a fantastic way to generate new business.
Q: How can retailers plan for growth? SJ: Make sure the suppliers you deal with are supportive of you and your business. For us, it’s not always about margins. It’s about loyalty and relationships with brands. We have a really old- school ethos; we buy from people. Obviously, we have to make margins, because we’ve got to look after our business. If we’ve got people looking after us, we make sure we look after them; just by being honest. We’re a very well-established business, so we don’t really ask brands for anything. We just want the same level of support we give them.
ML: Retailers need to be much stronger about who they deal with. Negotiate the best deals you can and manage your own business. Do your own thing and if something doesn’t fit, you’ve got to try to forget about it. And, try to stay positive. If that means not worrying about what the competition down the road or the internet dealers are doing, then so be it.
LK: My advice to any retailer who’s on the cusp of wanting to grow is to decide what it is they want from their business. If they want to take it to the next level, the first big issue is recruitment, because you cannot do it all on your own. Having good staff is essential.
ML: As Lisa says, the key to growth is finding the right people. We’re a husband-and-wife team, but we want to take the business to the next level and we can’t do it alone. But, the prospect of taking on new staff is quite scary. What if you get the wrong person? It could be really bad news for you and
the business. There’s also the added pressure of having more wages to find and finding the right amount of business to ensure you do that.
Q: How can retailers find the right staff and retain them? SJ: Growth is probably on the mind of most retailers at one time or another, but bigger isn’t always better, especially if you don’t have the right people around you. You have to consider all sorts of things when you’re looking to take on staff, because managing people can be the most challenging part of the job. My advice, before anyone even thinks about recruiting, is to work out if they’re ready to devote time and effort to training them up and, that they’re willing to let a certain part of the business go. Also, for me it’s not just about CVs and qualifications
– you have to think about characteristics and attitudes and how they’ll fit in with the rest of the team.
LK: I’ve recruited for several different roles over the March 2018 kbb Birmingham Special Edition kbbreview 55
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