the first week or so to see what happened and within three days, I had them all back in because it went mental as soon as we reopened,” he says. “There was all this pent-up demand from people who refused to buy over the phone or online because they wanted to see the products; other than going in and out of various lockdowns, we haven’t really looked back. I can only reflect that COVID has very positive for my business as I’m sure it has been for many other independents, although I felt sorry for pub owners and restaurateurs who couldn’t adapt like we did.” AF Thomas Electrical is a member of CIH and


Andrew is deputy chairman of the buying and marketing group. “When it all went back to ‘normal’, we kind of


sat here waiting for the trade to drop off, but it didn’t,” Andrew says. “I see the Euronics figures as a whole and


that’s been growing hugely, and it pretty much reflects how my business has increased. We’re all a similar boat and we just keep waiting for this bubble to burst, but it doesn’t seem to want to. “There was a little dip in February and I know


there was a definite shift to shop local and I think that’s still in the forefront of people’s minds.” With shops in Abergavenny and Newport,


Andrew says that the business tends to service the entire area between the two. “We get the occasional order for something


we just happen to have, that no one else has got,” he says. “For example, we delivered a rangecooker in Swansea not so long ago, because we had one and the customer couldn’t get it from anywhere else.” Andrew highlights that stock shortages was


a real problem for members, but has settled down with the majority of suppliers. He says: “We do massively benefit from


having the Euronics warehousing – Euronics has just bought a new 125,000 square foot warehouse up in Tankersley, South Yorkshire, which doesn’t affect me as a business, but I know it helps because we’ve got far greater storage options as a business, so we’re able to get a bigger depth and breadth of stock. “A lot of the members rely on the stock being


available at the warehouses. I have to say, if I was wholly relying on dealing direct with all of my manufacturers, I don’t think I’d be anywhere near the position I’m in.” AF Thomas Electricals gets three deliveries a


week and he heralds the efforts being made by the CIH team in Andover to ensure that stock is available. The business employs 16 staff and operates three delivery vans. The business sells Hanak kitchens from the


March/April 2022


Czech Republic, and Andrew says the move has been good – he’s sold kitchens from £12,000 to £46,000 – but concedes that it’s been a steep learning curve. Andrew says that he has always been


interested in CAD design, which he acknowledges has been a “massive help” in the process. “About 15 years ago, my wife bought me a CAD software package for Christmas,” Andrew says. “When I was shown the CAD system that Hanak uses, which is called KitchenDraw, I took to it like a duck to water.” During the pandemic, Andrew says that


kitchen sales were affected in a negative way. “You can’t sell a kitchen over the phone,” he


says. “We didn’t see any kitchen business during lockdowns, but we have seen a big spike in it since reopening. “We’re always looking to develop a kitchen side because the margins and the amount of money that you can take off a customer, it just makes sense to do that.” Looking ahead, Andrew is working on the


next update of the company’s website. “I think it’s fair to say that if lockdown has taught us independent retailers anything it’s that we all wished we had a much better website,” he says. “I was, perhaps, one of the more fortunate independents in as much as we have a website with all the products that I sell in stock on it, and it transacts – there’s a lot of members that don’t have that.” AF Thomas Electricals is moving now to a


system integrating into Tradeplace, where it’s looking to get every product it can get onto the website with pricing and delivery information. “My analogy that I say to people is 80-85% of all domestic appliance sales are researched online first, even though only 45% of the business is transacted online,” Andrew says. “If somebody walks into my shop at 10am


and says to one of my staff, can you get, for example, a 38cm Neff built-in microwave, we’ll check the price of it and if it’s available, we’ll sell it to them. “If somebody goes onto my website at 10am and looks for the same product, and it’s not there, do they then ring the store, or do they bounce. In my opinion, a lot of people will bounce.” Andrew says that he needs to make sure that


everything that is available to his business is online with pretty pictures and videos and all the information that the customer wants sat in their living room, so that they can consider his business as someone who can supply it. “We’re halfway through a test at the moment with a couple of brands in the background,” he says.


“If customers want to buy it there and then


from their sofa, that’s fine; if they would rather come in knowing that we have it and talk to someone about it, then obviously they can, but I don’t think we’re doing ourselves any favours by not having the whole catalogue of all the brands we deal with on our website. “There’s such a strong link with kitchens and appliance sales. Of all the kitchens we’ve sold to date, 80% have been led by the customer coming in looking for appliances. They don’t come in looking for kitchens, they come in looking for appliances for a kitchen they’re thinking about, and then they see that you do kitchens, and then that’s where it starts.” Andrew reports that the business is looking


to expand, and he says the strength of the business is around the service level is offers. “I’m not afraid to take a risk,” he says. “It really


is exciting times and I’m very positive about the future.”


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