Caple | SUPPLIER PROFILE
thing I want is for our bricks-and-mortar retailers – who are supporting and displaying the brand – to compete against someone who is not doing all those things. We have not lost control of our brand.” As we reported in our supply chain update in the November issue, Caple succeeded in maintaining good levels of supply during the pandemic, so much so that Lay says he has noticed an increase in appliance sales since the pandemic and its effect on the supply chain. He said that turnover had increased by 50% since 2019.
There’s no point. We are firmly in the mid-market and in some cases we are above that, but the features you get with our products tend to be greater than you’d get for a similarly-priced product. Our Sense Premium oven range is a premium product but not necessarily at a premium price. You open one of our premium ovens and you get sliding shelves, meat probes, you can cook at 345°C, but I am not going to charge you the earth for that.” Caple currently supplies to around 2,000 retailers, including electrical retailers. But what of online sales?
January 2023 ·
“We work with a small handful of medium-sized internet dealers. They work closely with us as we want the product to be represented properly and they need to be trained on the product. You have to be able to sell the features. But we don’t offer it to the online nationals. “We want our bricks-and-mortar retailers to make the best possible margins and by protecting the product online, they are able to make more money out of selling Caple. And the more products people display, the better terms they will achieve. The last
Lay says Caple succeeded in maintaining its deliveries to retailers by not cancelling any factory orders going into lockdown, allowing it to build up stock levels. It also doubled its warehousing capacity and sourced chips made near its factories rather than going to the typical countries where chips are made. Caple clams to be a major supplier of wine coolers in the UK. Lay elaborates: “I think we created a market for affordable built-under wine cabinets. A lot of people start with our wine cabinets and then move on to the other products in the Caple range. Certainly we have one of the widest ranges on the market and we will be introducing more next year. We have wine cabinets in stainless steel, gunmetal and black, including products that match our oven ranges. We also have models you can apply your furniture door to.” On sinks and taps, Lay adds: “We are a significant supplier to the trade on sinks and taps. We tend to innovate and we were one of the first suppliers of PVD sinks and taps in the UK.”
So, what is Caple looking for in, and offering its,
kitchen studios. “We are looking for a long-term relationship,” Lay says. “We have a big sales team out there and they are attentive and create relationships. Traditionally, you can’t sell to a kitchen retailer. You’re not going in and taking an order. You are creating a relationship so that they learn to trust you over a long period of time and that’s what we are trying to do with our customer base.”
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