32 | Sector Focus: Decking & Garden Products
which help the buyer to customise a relatively standardised and robust product. The sheds are manufactured as a modularised product, which is then delivered to the customer for building. The modular units allow for a very simple build process which is easy to understand, resilient, and also cost-competitive for the quality that customers actually get.
The modularised product then allows the sheds to be assembled in many different variations – the doors and windows can be put on any side, which the customer can choose as they are assembling it. We have 400 products but there are then thousands more when you consider variations and configurations. This allows our sheds to suit any garden. And being modular, all of this is possible from the manufacture of just 50 components. This makes our process incredibly scalable as we grow… and this is unique in the world of sheds.
◄ shed manufacturer who can do this with the whole of the range.
Our brand has become synonymous with a much simpler approach for both purchasing and customising a shed, which allows for both versatility as well as assurances on a high quality and functional end-product. While many of our most prominent competitors pride themselves in a million and one ways a shed can be customised, we found our niche in doing the exact opposite. Although choice can be valuable, we found large numbers of customers getting bogged down in the enormity of choices available for sheds which, when coupled with a general understanding of what’s best for a robust unit, has led to the end customers’ decreased levels of confidence. We overcome this by minimising the level of customisation to a handful of key decisions
The shed industry is massive. More people are spending time at home so the market is growing. Some 1.5 million sheds are bought each year in the UK alone and yet there is no manufacturer with a larger than 5% market share. With the industry having no well- known brand we wanted the most powerful brand possible – ‘Power’. This brand is trademarked throughout Europe, and soon the US, and is on Amazon’s brand registry – www.
amazon.co.uk/power is our Amazon store. It is becoming a brand term well searched for and remembered.
The company was started with no loans, no venture capital, no angel investors, no crowd funding. It was simply the money that Simon and I had managed to save up, which was used to lease a 10,000ft2
manufacturing
unit, to purchase all the necessary machinery, and to build a website. Turnover in year one was £1m and expected turnover in year two is £5m.
Top: The company has already expanded its manufacturing capabilities
Above: Some of the Palletline delivery vehicles are branded ‘Power’
Right: The modular sheds are delivered to customers for home assembly
Opposite: The company won the eBay Award for Innovation last year
TTJ: WHAT IS YOUR MANUFACTURING SET UP? HOW MANY PEOPLE DO YOU EMPLOY? JS: In the two years we have been in existence, we have grown from just the two of us to now having 36 members of staff. We are planning to increase this to 80 within the next six months. We are recruiting heavily from the local area but also through the Kickstart scheme, which is part funded by the government with the direct creation of high quality jobs for young people at the highest risk of long-term unemployment. It will give young people the chance to build their confidence and skills in the workplace, and to gain experience that will improve their chances of going on to find long-term, sustainable work. We believe this will not only help us bring in great staff who we hope will be here for the long term, but we’re also doing our bit to
TTJ | March/April 2021 |
www.ttjonline.com
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