“We’ve got a stable of brands and a lot of our


partners want to now reach out into Europe, so we’re putting that infrastructure in place now to really do what we’ve done in the UK and go out to Europe and offer that same exceptional quality and unbeatable value.” RKW offers independent retailers IT


Rob Sutton “We started manufacturing air fryers, eight or


nine years ago, and the premise behind them at that time was healthy eating – it was about a tablespoon full of oil rather than the saturated fat that a deep fat fryer used. “Our marketing campaigns went live


in September and the response was just absolutely incredible – Tower was the number two SDA brand in November, which is a fantastic achievement and a real testament to the team at RKW.” Mr Sutton said that over the years, RKW has


sold “several million” air fryers. “The innovation that we bring into our fryers


is our Vortx air fryer technology, which was all designed in the UK,” he said. “We spent two years developing the way that the fan sucks the heat out of the element and ensures that it is evenly spread in the air fryer for efficient heating.” “Consumers have really embraced air


fryers and we have a Tower air fryer group on Facebook, with 85,000 followers. Consumers are saying that owning an air fryer has been life changing, not just from a health prospect, but it saves them money too.” Six months ago, RKW started a business


transformation programme, which will be completed by the end of this year. “That’s a £10 million investment into the business, which includes new IT system and automation in our distribution centres,” Mr Sutton said. “We’re putting that platform on play in place now to go into Europe and beyond.


January 2023


integration, where it offers 4,000 products from leading brands, can be delivered next day, either to the store or directly to consumers. “At the end of the day, we’re all here to maximise our sales, and the infrastructure that we’ve got we want to share that with our independents,” Mr Sutton said. “We’ve got some independents that have just done absolutely incredibly well; they’ve got the second generation that have come in, they understand the internet, they understand social media and they’ve really embraced the products.” Mr Sutton said RKW has 3,000 customers and he estimates that around 20% of those have really got behind what the company offers. “We want to reach out to those other ones


and we’ve got a sales team of 25 that are going out to the independents,” he said. From a brand perspective, Mr Sutton said


that RKW is very selective who joins the company’s stable of brands. “We want brands that complement the brands we’ve already got and not compete against them,” he said. “We work with some exceptional brands like


Smeg, Russell Hobbs, Lavazza and Numatic and they are instrumental to our business. We have product directors that look after those brands, so it’s a true partnership with our distribution brand partners.” At its head office in Stoke-on-Trent, RKW has an omnichannel call centre. Mr Sutton said: “Within the call centre each of our brands has a dedicated team ensuring all consumer needs are met. “The team actively responds to any issues,


ensuring they are resolved in a timely and efficient manner, and this has proven to significantly reduce product returns and further increase brand loyalty.” Mr Sutton said that RKW is not just about selling the box, but it’s also about the online content that the business provides. “Independents are able to take all this


knowledge in and share it with their customers, where a lot of the nationals can’t,” he said. “Covid was pivotal for independents, in that


it brought more consumers back to the High Street. Those customers really benefited, not just from the products that the independent can offer, but also the service that a local independent can bring, which is far and


beyond what any national retailer can offer. Looking ahead, Mr Sutton said that he is


“super excited” because RKW has such an extensive roadmap of new innovation coming through. “We have a very talented team of designers in the UK and China,” he said. “We’re working with some of the leading manufacturers in China to create innovative products. “We’ve got a very exciting roadmap ahead of


releasing those products and that’s not just in the small domestic category, but it’s in audio and housewares – heating and cooling has become a very important part of our business. “We’ve strengthened our sales team, at the same time as many of our competitors have been making redundancies and reducing the number of the sales team. We’ve actually increased our sales team by 20% over the last 12 months and have plans to further increase that in the coming months.” Mr Sutton said that RKW is also going to launch into new product areas too, while new brands will join the RKW stable too. “Garden is one of the areas that we see as a


real opportunity, with people spending more time at home and investing in their gardens,” he said. “We see an opportunity for products particularly in the cordless area, where we can make a difference. “We’ve been working on lithium battery


technology for the last three years and the length of charges that the batteries now hold is getting better all the time.” Mr Sutton added: “Independent electrical


retailers have been extremely successful at adding housewares products to their offering in – we have the licence for Morphy Richards on housewares. Margins on housewares are a lot better than they are in electrical.”


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