MERCHANT FOCUS: TIPPERS
make any money selling something that you don’t actually have, Tippers have been taking advantage of opportunities to acquire excess brick stock where it becomes available. Brick stocks, however, need room, hence the 2.83 acre site. Having acquired the site, it became apparent that there were other opportunities around that this site would be perfect for, namely aggregates.
“We have cleared the yard and are re- developing it. Ashbourne is 12 miles from our existing branch at Uttoxeter and while we had a lot of customers from the Uttoxeter branch in the Ashbourne area they were delivery customers; it’s that bit too far for collected business. So opening up Ashbourne will build up our collected business in that area, while allowing Uttoxeter to focus more on its other customers and developing new areas,” he says. The plan is to operate out of the existing premises whilst a purpose built branch is due to open in the spring.
Customers are kept away from the specialist concrete and aggregates yard, just down the road from the Lichfield head office, which is only for deliveries
“This site has really evolved since we acquired it”, director Bill Tipper says. “Originally, we needed a volume storage area for products – mainly bricks.” On the grounds that you can’t
Although all the branches have aggregate bagging plants, having a dedicated bagging plant and the wide range of aggregate bays off site allows the company to offer a broader profile of decorative aggregates through the branches. Tipper says: “The margin in decorative aggregates isn’t great as a rule, but bringing in our own, 30 tonnes at a time, to one central location at first, does go a long way to improving that. Having the bagging operation also gives us a real flexibility of supply for all the branches and we could also look at third party branding if the demand was there.” Another major benefit of the site has been on the volumetric cement supply side. Changes in operator legislation on volumetrics from the 1st of September means that any operator using volumetric mixers will need to apply for an Operator’s Licence and ensure that they comply with tachograph rules and working time directive. Bill Tipper says: “we made a guess that this would happen and we planned accordingly. Since then we have seen competitors to Tippers Precision Concrete moving out of the sector as they were unwilling to comply with the new legislation. That’s been a big bonus for us and an opportunity that we’ve been making the most of. We are now working hard to keep pace with demand, so it was definitely a good direction to move in.” A new branch in Stoke-on-Trent is also underway. The result of another opportunity seized, the branch is currently operating out of a temporary yard while a brand new depot is being built on a two acre site. It will be similar in layout and structure to the Rugeley branch, Joe Tipper says, offering building materials and plumbing materials with a similar feel and scale. “We usually like to operate in the smaller market towns in the Midlands, towns that suit our family service ethic,” he says. “The sort of areas where the population values what we
can bring which is a commitment to knowing our customers understanding their needs and providing a great service.”
He adds that he believes Tippers’ strength is their regional focus and that the company doesn’t want to lose that by expanding too far. That said, there is still plenty of scope for the business to continue to expand through Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire the West Midlands and down into the top of the Cotswolds. “Our strength lies in knowing what we do and doing it well,” he says. Over the last few years the mixture of customers has changed slightly, with fewer bulk deliveries and direct to sites, with a deliberate backing away from typical contractor and developer sector and more focus on the core business where Tipper says they have good relationships with the customers. “We spend time getting to know our customers and finding out wat they need. It’s important to us that our customers know they can come and talk to us if they have any issues. There are lots of people in the merchant sector so it’s important that we make ourselves stand out,” he says. Local charities have always been incredibly important to the business and Tippers are sponsoring a “Tippers” respite nurse for St Giles hospice this year and are also staunch supporters of Acorns Children’s Hospice. “We believe we offer something unique because we are such a diverse business - the concrete and volumetrics, our plumbing offer, tool hire, the building materials the showrooms, our own imported tiles and the online offering. “Our core merchant business is at the heart of what we do and we’re determined to do it well. We are constantly reviewing what we do, asking ourselves whether we are doing enough, doing it well enough, whether we could do something better, whether that’s stock profile or stock holding, the IT platform or the staffing levels
“The business environment we operate in is changing all the time and we have to keep up with that whilst not changing just for the sake of it. We do constantly challenge ourselves, by asking ourselves whether we need to improve what we do and by identifying what the market wants and making sure we are offering it. And that’s what we will continue to do.”
December 2018
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net
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