the BIG interview
ears, he and Su – who worked on reception there – decided to leave the service agent and set up in business themselves. They managed to buy some stock. “We had £200,” said Su. “We hired a van – Rob was out selling and I was out delivering. We stored some stock at home, at my parents’ home and on my uncle’s farm – in his old barn. “We were 22 – there were no mobile phones,
we had to go to call boxes and call my mum and she would pass messages on to each of us. Rob would say ‘tell Su to go to A, B and C and deliver to X, Y and Z’. Looking back, I just don’t think you could do it today!” They ran the business like this for 12 months,
with Su’s dad helping her on deliveries, then they hired a driver. Many of their early suppliers they still deal with today. “They were part of us establishing ourselves,” said Su. “They trusted us to have stock on credit with a ‘pay us when you can’. We never let them down and have never forgotten the support they gave us” Family is hugely important. Su’s parents didn’t
have any money to help them run the business but were there in support – as we’ve heard, relaying messages and helping with deliveries, but providing meals if they worked late or – as they quite often did – through the night. “We were lucky – Rob was in the right place at the right time to get good deals. We took big risks and nine times out of ten they paid off . We always remember where we came from – we were just two kids who left school with nothing… and we’ve worked hard for it; there was no
‘‘ Our job is to ensure that
products not only meet their own customers’ expectations in terms of quality but that the independents can off er the products at a very competitive price compared to the rest of the market
silver spoon. That’s what you never forget. We have lots of staff here and we say to all of them that we are a family fi rm.” In those early years, the focus of the business
was very much dealing with electrical brands whose manufacturing base was in the UK. “We were also buying a stove top kettle manufactured down the road from us in Wolverhampton,” said Rob. “It was getting very competitive in the market, so the manufacturer was looking to get
Left: The early days of RKW included storing stock in Su’s uncle’s barn
Below: RKW warehousing now encompasses 750,000sq ft of space across three distribution centres including this one in Staff ordshire
Left: Tower was the fi rst brand acquisition, back in 2013, and continues to innovate with exciting products like the Tower Cavaletto range, new for second half
it made in China. He was one of the fi rst to go over there. He located a factory and I asked him if he could easily put in an element to turn it into an electric kettle. He said, come over and have a look for yourself! So I jumped on a plane, found a factory and they started manufacturing an electric kettle for us – the fi rst factory in China to do that. That was our Signature range – our fi rst own brand. We started to develop further in China, opening our own offi ces in Hong Kong and on the mainland and more recently a 15,000sq ft showroom in Guangzhou.” They started to import more from the Far East and pick up further distribution partnerships including SDAs from Breville, Morphy Richards and Russell Hobbs . By 2000, they had added Swan, Vax and Hoover to the line-up and had also recognised the growing importance of the internet. In recent years they have invested “several millions” into a proprietary drop ship IT system as well as continued investment in NPI and brand acquisitions. The warehousing landscape has also changed – from barn to three distribution sites in the UK with the capacity to hold £25m of stock, for next day delivery. The next area in their sights is Europe, with plans underway to open an offi ce and showroom, while a route into the US has been identifi ed. The heritage appeal of brands like Tower is working well there. The UK remains the key focus for RKW – and
ensuring independents can maintain their margins and sell competitively. “We have a team regularly calling on the independents,” says Rob. “we add great value to our distribution partners given them a reach to over 2,000 customers and whilst a lot of our competitors have reduced the number of sales people calling on independents, we have invested further and have one of the strongest sales teams in the business – with a collective experience of over 500 years! “We see ourselves as the guardians of the independent retailer. Being selective with the brands we stock ensures we have the right distribution partnerships and the right products to help independents. In the past, it was looking at the Comet price index in the national papers or the Argos catalogue to compare prices. Now with the likes of Amazon and online retailers it’s a lot more challenging for the independents – our job is to ensure that products not only meet their own customers’ expectations in terms of quality but that the independents can off er the products at a very competitive price compared to the rest of the market. If we aren’t already dealing with you, then please get in touch.”
September 2020
www.innovativeelectricalretailing.co.uk | 11
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