LANDSCAPING PLANNING FOR THE PATIO
Talasey Group has gone into overdrive importing paving and other materials from around the world in preparation for next year’s patio season. The company talks to BMJ about how the company readies itself so that it can provide fast, responsive support to merchants.
T
he end of monsoon season in India sees the resumption of production at quarries that produce an extensive range of flagstones, block paving, walling, kerbs, edgings and accessories for us. During the monsoons, the quarries tend to flood; by September time, they’ve dried out and our supplier has resumed full production. Talasey group sales and marketing director Malcolm Gough says this marks the start of a very busy period, even though patio season for the landscaping industry (and consumers) doesn’t kick in until the following Easter.
What should we import? “The key in knowing what products to order and in what volumes comes down to the strength of the relationships we have with the merchants we supply across the UK”, Gough says.
“We drill down into our own data and gather as much wider industry intelligence as possible to give us an accurate picture, but, as we move into autumn, the dialogue with our customers intensifies.
“Some merchants are happy to share chapter and verse data with us so that we have a very accurate picture of overall sales and a breakdown of the product mix. Other merchants place pre-season orders based on negotiations on prices, ranges and volumes. Others are more guarded about their potential purchases with us, which means that we take an educated estimate of what product lines and amounts they will need.” Although, they are moving into their 16th year of trading, Gough believes every year has had its challenges. “It’s great to be in a position where the strength of the relationships we have with merchants means that we’re on the front foot at this time of year and able to forecast at least six months ahead.
“I’ll also add in at this point that there’s another dimension to the process of estimation: the issue of predicting future landscaping trends. We can partly drive this as we look to introduce brand new products or refresh and enhance existing collections.
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Increasing the volumes of the landscaping products we import into the UK and the stockholding required is a challenge for any business, but it is part and parcel of what we do.
We also respond to market demands around colours, styles and sizes, such as the size of paving. For example, grey will continue to be an ‘in-vogue’ colour – but flamed finishes are coming to the fore and we’ll be introducing three new flamed products in 2020.”
are preparing to launch Piranha, a new brand in January 2020. Piranha is our new range of composite decking and fencing products.”
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What are we importing? Of the six core product brands, Gough thinks that by far the largest is the Natural Paving collection of high-quality, ethically sourced, natural stone landscaping materials, including paving, block paving, walling, copings, cobbles, kerbs and edgings, and stepping stones. “The vast majority of our stock comes from our main supplier in India – that way, we can maintain quality and the ethical nature of production.
“We also source materials from around the world for brands including Vitripiazza (a range of vitrified Italian porcelain paving), Baksteen (clay bricks and pavers that are handcrafted by artisans and tumbled to reveal a weathered look), Resiscape (a collection of resin- bound aggregates), Luxigraze (high- quality artificial grass products) and Pavetuf (a range of products to aid the installation, maintenance and protection of hard landscaping). This time of year is extra busy for us, as we
Where do we put it all? Imports come into one of the three ports in the UK, with the five-acre site at Tilbury in Essex being by far the largest, Gough says, as well as in Doncaster and at docks in Southampton and Grangemouth. “We have 250 containers per week coming into the UK – and while our stockholding does increase, a proportion of the stock goes straight out, destined for merchants that have the capacity to hold stock of their own.A team of eight at Tilbury manages the stock we hold and conduct sregular inspections, checking the stock’s packaging, integrity, quality and labelling, including CE Mark details.”
Preparing for patio season Increasing the volumes of the landscaping products we import into the UK and the stockholding required is a challenge for any business, but it is part of what we do, says Gough. “As we continue to grow and strengthen our position as a leading independent suppliers of landscaping solutions, our relationships with merchants become ever more important in the yearly patio season cycle. It is essential that we are able to forecast correctly so that our merchants are always able to meet their customers’ demands.” BMJ
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net January 2020
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