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Managing director Ian Church, Finance director Adam Cray and Operations director Craig Willoughby
moving lines,” he says. “They get the benefit of the products they need when they need them, in the quantities that work for them and we get the benefit of the whole of the trade for that particular customer. We will deliver, and deliver frequently, in quantities that work for our customers. That is our business model moving forward.”
As well as new product lines that will be brought into the mix, there is an ongoing consolidation of inventory that Snows inherited that just don’t sit well with the new direction or are duplicated or surplus to requirements. “We found that we had a lot of product lines that effectively were the same thing with minor differences, but we treated them as completely separate product lines,” Willoughby explains.
“As part of a merchant group, Snows did develop the sort of mentality that if a customer said they needed something, Snows would offer it. That’s a very merchant way of approaching things and is just the sort of service that you would want and expect from a merchant. Not so much from a distributor with national ambitions. So there will be a rationalisation and consolidation of some of the products to identify all duplications There are a number of benefits in doing this, namely that fewer SKUs mean it’s easier for us to get things right and make sure they are in stock and it also reduces your inventory which is good from a cash management perspective. But it’s also easier for our sales team as well.
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We will deliver, and deliver frequently, in quantities that work for our customers. That is our business model moving forward.
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The most important thing for us is doing the job right first time for the customers and this will help us to achieve that.”
Snows’ core service area currently excludes Cornwall, Devon and Somerset for 12 months under the terms of the deal with Sydenham’s. In essence that means that the Andover depot is covering the south of the country and Mansfield is covering the north. “Mansfield is very much the hub of our business moving forward,” he adds. “It’s a great location just a mile or so off the M1 junction 28, great location for getting down to London if we need to, or up to Leeds, across to Manchester or down to Birmingham and even Bristol. That’s our network and is what we are pushing forward with.”
Following the buy-out, Snows’ target customer base has increased, as Church explains. “So many potential customers couldn’t or wouldn’t buy from us because,
June 2019
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net
as part of Bradfords, we were effectively part of one of their competitors. So the buyout has removed that element of barrier. Also, as Bradfords were in the H&B buying group, it made it hard for us to trade with any of the others, so that’s a further barrier that has been removed.” Not being attached to a builder’s merchant brand gives Snows the independence and flexibility to deal with a far wider range of customers than before, he adds. “Our independence is a big selling point for us.”
Future signs
Looking to the future, the team believes that there are still a lot of positive signs in the construction sector. Church says: “There are some issues with construction numbers particularly in London and the south east but, by and large, there is still going to be a strong market for our material. One of the things that we are very positive about in Snows is that there is still a lot of market share that we can go after without necessarily making too big a dent in any one of our competitors.
“There is a strong market out there - Brexit not withstanding - there is a view that a lot of timber has been imported into the UK in anticipation of a No Deal scenario. If that doesn’t happen there may be a little spike in supply and therefore a reaction in the marketplace but, for us as a business, we believe that there is a great market out there and really strong opportunities to grow our brand within the sector as an independent business.” BMJ
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