October/November 2024
housewareslive.net
PEOPLE A Briefer Encounter
Tony Holland, UK Retail Sales Manager at Aquaphor UK, shares his Housewares journey and his career highlights.
What is your current role and how long have you been doing it? I am UK Retail Sales Manager for Aquaphor UK – and have been employed in this role since March of this year.
What does your role entail? My job is to increase the distribution of Aquaphor Water Filters, Jugs and Bottle in the UK and Ireland – but it’s rarely that simple. I get involved in a wide range of business functions beyond sales development and planning – forecasting, customer service, product management, – and I’m our in-house IT and Excel expert as well.
How did you get started in the industry? My current boss has employed me twice now. Once while he was Managing Director of a competitor and once again now. I’ve now been
What roles were you doing before and how did they prepare you for this one? I’ve had various roles over a 30+ year career. I’ve been involved in large medium term contract sales, high ticket furniture sales, equipment rental sales, and FMCG / small domestic appliance sales – selling into both small owner operators and Global conglomerates. I’ve had UK roles, European
roles and Global roles – and have travelled extensively with work – something which has previously been very enjoyable.
What would you like to achieve in this role? We will achieve our short-term target of becoming number two business this year – by some measures we’re already there – but our long term target is to become number one.
What has been the highlight of your career so far? I think my proudest moment was coaching, and leading a team who radically increased the output and turnover of an already successful factory in Macedonia – winning several listings in Carrefour France along the way.
W a f t
What do you see as the main issues for retailers and the industry at the moment? It’s become cliched to herald the advance of online sales – but it’s still advancing.. For traditional retailers – footfall and rate of sale will continue to be an increasing issue – for online, the constant struggle to keep advertising costs in line with sales. The consumer market is increasingly conducted online – and as an industry, we have to acknowledge this – and shift our attention to aspects which are maybe more traditionally the realm of the retailer.
What one piece of advice would you give yourself at the start of your career?
around 30 years old, when he returned to work 18 months afterwards. The advice was to keep things in perspective, it’s rare that a situation
is really life and death – your own health and wellbeing is, just about, more important than your next sale.
What keeps you busy at the weekends? Family and the house – in that order – I gave up all personal hobbies once children arrived – in the hope that one day I’ll get them back…
If you’re at the bar, what are you drinking? Diet coke ... sorry …
than is probably healthy – as well as the comedy of Shaun Locke and Stuart Lee.
why?
This is an odd one – I think I’d like to meet up with Lucy – the oldest human ancestor we’ve ever found. I’d like to share with her what her children have been up – the good, and maybe some of the bad.
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