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talking shop


Monday February 4 2019 THE NATIONAL MOTORCYCLE MUSEUM, BIRMINGHAM


ProCook plans to expand


New stores and strong online sales are boosting revenue for retailer ProCook, says founder and owner Daniel O’Neill


story. Aside from our UK website and marketplaces, we’re selling to seven European countries on Amazon now - that’s been a great move. The ecommerce side of the business has been building in earnest since 2008, with huge growth in the past five years. It was a clear decision to move online with our own website but Amazon has also been highly successful, and now accounts for a large portion of our overall web sales.” Daniel notes: “We recently won the Direct


P


roCook claims to be the first company to sell cookware sets by direct mail in the UK.


Headquartered in Gloucester, the business was founded by owner Daniel O’Neill in 1996. Since then, it has grown into a multi- channel specialist retailer with a nationwide chain of stores. And what started as a range of cookware has


grown to around 1,200 products across the cookware, kitchen knives, tableware and kitchen accessories categories, with many set combinations. Nearly everything is own-brand and exclusive to ProCook. The brand’s pricing policy is to save


customers up to 50% compared with other leading brands. It explains: ‘We do this by cutting out the middleman. This means that by not using import agents and UK distributors, our costs are less as we bring our products direct from the manufacturers.’ ProCook operates 35 shops (typically 1,500- 1,700sq ft in size), from Livingston in the north to Brighton in the south. The newest store opened inside Rivendell Nottcutts Garden Centre at Widnes in Cheshire on August 16. Daniel says: “In 2008 we consolidated our business and stripped our stores back to a core eight in the major destinations such as the McArthurGlen [Designer Outlet] centres. Since then we’ve slowly built up our offering, and we’re all over the UK now. We’ve grown particularly quickly in the last two years [opening seven stores alone in 2017], and we’re looking at another eight by the end of 2018.” He adds: “Our online ‘stores’ are another big


34 | housewareslive.net


Commerce award for Best Multichannel Retailer (with annual sales of £15 million - £30 million B2C) for the third year running. It was a great achievement and I’m really proud of he team for keeping the momentum year- on-year.” ProCook scooped the prize in June at the ECMOD Direct Commerce Awards 2018, organised by Direct Commerce magazine to celebrate the achievements of businesses engaged in direct-to-customer retailing. At the time of the win, ProCook said the award followed a successful year, ‘boosted by strong online sales and a continued consumer appetite for high quality cookware’. ProCook’s overall sales for the financial year 2017/18 rose 20% to over £25 million.


What's your background? I started out in software development, a long time ago now. I worked for a software house developing software and providing training for larger companies. The skills I developed provided a great basis for the business that I eventually set up.


Describe your working week. I’m very involved in the day-to-day at ProCook, so [my week] has a regular format. On Mondays, we analyse trade and prepare for the week. Tuesdays are for promo and new product. Wednesdays and Thursdays, I’m out and about visiting our stores, new sites and other retailers. On Fridays, I’m usually back in the office, mopping up and checking in! We spend a month every year in the Far East on buying trips.


What’s keeping you busy? New product and developing the brand - brand reach is a real focus right now. Also on the agenda are lots of new locations and meetings with land owners, as we are expanding.


What’s the most rewarding aspect of your job? Definitely product design: it’s my favourite part of the job. I love seeing a new product line through from inception to hitting the shelves. It’s also been rewarding watching the company develop and grow. We’ve been through a lot of change recently, taking on loads of new people and waiting for the dust to settle.


And the most challenging? Like-for-like retail growth. And recruitment.


During your time in the housewares industry, what products and retailers have impressed you most and why? Products? Silicone (before that we had Bakelite, which cracked), the move to induction, Tri-ply in the early 2000s. Retailers? Steamer Trading Cookshop, John Lewis, Lakeland.


What’s the biggest challenge - and opportunity - facing retailers? Standing out and being unique - having a unique offering.


What’s the biggest change you’ve seen since you joined the housewares industry? Obviously the internet. Our business looks like and operates entirely differently than it did in the beginning. But within that, Amazon has been the biggest change.


What one change would you like to see in the housewares industry? It’s not really specific to housewares retailers but I’d like to see a level playing for retailers on the high street. For the housewares industry to grow, the high street needs to address their rates.


What advice would you give to someone starting out in housewares retailing? Design, manufacture and sell your own product direct to the customer


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July/August 2018


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