MERCHANT FOCUS: ALLTYPE ROOFING SUPPLIES
KNOWLEDGE, SERVICE, DATA
Fiona Russell Horne finds out how one south London roofing merchant is gradually growing its influence.
L
ike many roofing merchants, Alltype Roofing Supplies was set up when managing director Vince Bick, whose father and uncle were roofing
contractors, believed there was an opportunity to fill apparent gaps in the roofing merchant market in south east London.
The first branch was in Plumstead, and the business has steadily grown across London, with branches in: Orpington, Bromley, Shirley, Plumstead Dulwich, Mitcham and Woolwich. “When we started we never wanted to be the biggest roofing merchant, but we wanted to build a reputation, and be known for being the best, a specialist with high service levels,” says director Adam Bick. “That hasn’t really changed, we’ve never looked at growth for growth’s sake, it’s always been to focus on the things that matter. Getting the customers the right products for their job, meeting their requirements.”
Orpington is the Alltype flagship branch, because as Bick says, the set-up of it reflects everything that the company believes a roofing merchant should be. “Very high on the agenda is accurate and clean stocks,” he says. “As a company we are very data driven.
Everything we stock is based on sales data: what sells, when it sells, why it sells, what colours sell. We use all that to inform us how much stock we should carry per line. We put a lot of emphasis on click and collect: customers can go to the website and easily see what is in stock at which branch, and they can see their costs. We are relativity open with pricing, that was a real gear shift for us as there weren’t really others in roofing doing that.” Bick says that there can be a general attitude that you shouldn’t let other people know what you have in stock, or what your prices are. “Yet we are in business to make it easier for people to buy our products. Knowing how much we have, what price it is and where it is available does just that . Since we have started offering more transparent information to customers, we have been able to push our service to higher levels. We have more informed conversations with our customers”.
Alltype’s core customers include walk-in trade counter customers, as well as key account contractors. Bick says the breadth of customer is something that the company prides itself on: “We have a small and medium
contractor customer base all the way through to local and regional housebuilders. We do work with the national housebuilders within London and the Home Counties too.” The company likes to promote and develop its people, and many of them, particularly those based at the head office in Orpington, have been with the company for several years. Bick says. “Our sales director Simon Haldane started with Vince at Plumstead. Simon moved through the ranks to open what was our second branch at the time in Dulwich because he was the best person for the job, at the time it was a big challenge for him. Today he is our sales director. He sets such a positive example within the company. It really highlights that with the right work ethic and the right attitude you can progress all the way to the very top within the business.”
Four years ago the company set up a sister company, Alltype Group based in East and West London, adding another five branches. “We partnered with Tony Wright and Nigel Chapman who had both been in the industry for many years, and took the brand into Romford, Woking, Slough, Southall and Croydon,” Bick says. “Working with Tony
20
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net June 2024
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78
