IRONMONGERY & SECURITY
EXPANDING THE PORTFOLIO
Anjali Sooknanan spoke to Mark Lewis, ironmongery product manager at TIMCO about the business’ expansion of its ironmongery offering.
F
ollowing its 50th anniversary year, TIMCO has committed to launching 1,000 new product lines. As part of its product portfolio expansion, Simon Midwood, managing director at TIMCO, wanted to put a renewed focus on the entire Ironmongery category. Midwood enlisted the expertise of Mark Lewis, ironmongery product manager at TIMCO, who has now been in the role for 12 months and has undertaken a complete range review. “Simon felt it was a natural progression for TIMCO to add ironmongery to its portfolio. I’ve been in the ironmongery industry for around 40 years, and following a conversation, it was agreed that I join the company and expand the range,” he says.
The selection process When expanding the ironmongery offering, Lewis and his team followed a rigorous selection process. “The initial stages are about talking to customers, finding areas where we can add value and identify areas where others are underperforming. Ironmongery is a very traditional product and many of the products haven’t changed over the years. Door furniture is probably the item most driven by trends, colours have changed and you’ll notice the introduction of a matt black finish even in the traditional styles. Additions to the range include front door and window furniture in a variety of finishes including brass, chrome, satin chrome, matt black, as well as a new range of UKCA-rated locks and hinges. In addition, we’ve added a range of accessories to go with Satin Anodised Aluminium (SAA) door furniture for the contractor,” he says.
A tailored range
Whether it’s the North of Scotland, Central London or the South West, the TIMCO ironmongery range can been tailored to suit every individual need and requirement. Charles Du Pre, head of marketing, says “Ironmongery tends to be very area specific.
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With regard to each new range, there’s always a suggested profile which can be adapted and personalised. That profile comes with the option of stands, navigational point of sale and in some cases specific stands to display products such as door handles. In addition, TIMCO has a team of over 20 regional business consultants and four merchandisers on the road, and they can work with an existing or prospective customer to build a profile that is bespoke to them.”
Improved packaging A key focus for TIMCO was making the new range easy to purchase. “We identified straight away that a lot of our existing products were not available in our TIMPACK packaging meaning they were not displayable in stores. With the way the marketing team have designed the packaging, it is a step up on the competition in terms of the quality and the design. At the moment it is leading the way for how packaging should look, incorporating
important product information to aid selection. When you see the product, it certainly stands out from the crowd, it’s good quality and its packaged well. We’ve recently had a trip abroad to have a look at our factories and part of that was to make sure they’re using the right materials. Our aim is to make our packaging fully-recyclable and made in excess of 35% of recycled material even when using plastics,” says Lewis. “With the TIMCO name on it, you know you’re getting the quality you deserve. We can put the product range together for the customer, merchandise it, service it and review it on a regular basis. We pretty much manage the stock for them,” he adds. “From my perspective, this is a full- range review and what we hope is a comprehensive full-range across internal and external ironmongery. For me the opportunity to join a company as progressive as TIMCO has been fantastic. I’ve been allowed to get on and develop the range,” he says. BMJ
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net December 2022
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