RANGE REVIEW: TILES & TILING


MOVING MOUNTAINS I


n 2017 the Sunday Times named Tile Mountain as ‘One to Watch’ in its Fast Track list, and the business monitor


wasn’t wrong, with the company’s latest acquisition of the Kettering- based Walls & Floors business – which boasts a turnover of more than £30million – securing Tile Mountain Group’s place as the UK’s largest privately-owned tile retailer. As part of the deal, Tile Mountain took ownership of Walls and Floors’ retail, distribution, and specification divisions, including trade counters in Kettering, Putney and Bristol. The move both expanded the company’s reach and market share but – following the acquisition just


six months prior of Capitol


Tile Group – it also positioned the once online-only business as multi-faceted operation now able to compete in multiple markets including e-commerce, store-based retail, wholesale and contracts. Anyone who underestimated the ambitious plans of Tile Mountain’s highly-experienced management team, which comprises


chairman


Mo Iqbal and managing director Jeremy Harris’, is probably thinking again.


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Tile Mountain has seen phenomenal growth in the past 12 months, transforming from an online tile retailer with two showrooms to a £60million business boasting a wholesale and distribution arm and four new trade counters. Fiona Garcia reports.


And, they’re not done yet. Whilst Mo admits Tile Mountain is putting a strong focus on integrating the newly-acquired businesses properly and upgrading the new trade counters the company has taken on board, there are still plans afoot to grow Tile Mountain’s showroom estate, with offers currently out on two potential sites. New additions, in locations yet to be disclosed, will join Tile Mountain’s showrooms in Stockport and in Stoke-on-Trent; both of which have proved “hugely successful”, enthuses Mo. Mo, who spent nearly 15 years


at Topps Tiles before developing rival chain Tile Giant and selling the latter to Travis Perkins, has always been clear that he wanted to find a different way to sell tiles and saw a gap in the market. His super- efficient business model, launched with former Topps’ directors Jeremy Harris and Nick Ounstead, was centered on an e-commerce shop, selling tiles at competitive prices, offering a free sample service, supported by showrooms


across


the UK, allowing consumers to see products in the flesh and consult with staff before ordering online. Naturally, that has shifted somewhat with the company’s recent acquisitions. Mo explains: “Nine months ago I did a review and survey into the UK tile market. One of the things I found was that it is ripe for consolidation. Capitol Tiles was an opportunity that came up, whilst Walls & Floors was a deal I actively pursued. I wanted to get a bit of learning about the wholesale and distribution side and I really felt there was some mileage in that side of the business.”


He continues: “I pursued the


Walls & Floors sale because I do feel, unless you’re bigger and dominant, you’re going to struggle. There are so many problems on the high street that I believe scale is the thing that will get you past it in this current climate.”


Although still early days, what exchanges have there been between Tile Mountain and its new brands? “There is so much opportunity


for synergy with the businesses,” explains Mo. “And, I also see, as we started from the bottom up [with Tile Mountain], we can bring some real digital learnings to the new businesses and roll out our IT across Capitol and Walls & Floors… These are old businesses and, it’s usual that they haven’t invested in digital strategies in the same way we have.” He adds: “We’ve invested and seen the benefits.” Taking Capitol Tiles on first helped Mo and his management team to learn the ropes of wholesale at a good pace, as it is a smaller operation compared with Walls & Floors. Mo finds the wholesale side of the tile market is still “quite old fashioned”, with very few digital advancements. As a result, Tile Mountain has already made great leaps with the changes it has implemented and hopes to shake things up going forward. “We saw that it was ready for change,” he says confidently. “We have probably invested more in that way of selling tiles in a short period of time than anybody else in recent years. I think


14 JUNE 2019 DIY WEEK 13


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