contents


Welcome to the Winter issue of IER, and what a year 2023 has been


T EDITORIAL


Managing Editor: Simon King sking@datateam.co.uk


SALES


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he cost-of-living crisis is having an


eff ect on business, but independent electrical retailers are full of innovative ideas and, as I’ve said many times


before, I’ve been a fan of independent retailers long before I started working in this sector.


While 2023 has been a challenging year,


I’m delighted that independent retailers have looked to invest in their businesses and two such retailers are featured in this issue of IER. Rob Moore, the owner and managing


director of Crampton & Moore, showed me around his amazing new superstore, in Rotherham, and it was so good to see CE, MDA and SDA, but one of the most striking areas of display was the kitchens from another Yorkshire supplier, Symphony. As Rob says in the interview I did with him on


p18, “the store needed something more than rows of TVs and appliances”.


REGULARS 4 News


10 Comment: Paul Hide, chief executive, AMDEA


12 Comment: Paul Laville, owner, T21 Group


14 Review of Retra Conference 2023


16 Editor’s Interview: Simon King speaks to Symphony Group’s Robert Williamson


18 Retailer Profi le: Crampton & Moore in Rotherham


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FEATURES 20 Mitchell & Brown on the TV market 22 Q&A with Matt Glynn from Hisense


24 The latest trends and developments in the cooking category


28 Small, but beautifully formed: The SDA category


Winter 2023/24 28 www.ierdaily.co.uk | 3 24 18 14 AF Thomas Electricals has also opened a new


store, in Monmouth, a beautiful market town, down here in South Wales. This store, in the quaint town centre, looks great and, like Rob’s store, was opened just in time for Christmas. I’d also like to take this opportunity to remind


you that you can now enter the IER Awards 2024. All the details are on p23 and I look forward to meeting the fi nalists at the awards ceremony, which will take place on July 5, at the Park Plaza London Riverbank – good luck! This is the last issue of IER in 2023 – we’ll be back in January. On behalf of the team behind the magazine, we hope you have a great Christmas. Thank you to all readers that have contacted me this year and if have a story to tell, please let me know, as retailers love to read about other retailers. IER is your magazine and I’d very much like to hear from both retailers and manufacturers.


Simon King Managing Editor sking@datateam.co.uk


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