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RANGE REVIEW: TILES & TILING


it’s because we were looking from the outside, whilst some businesses that have been doing it for a long time tend to get stuck in their ways.” Tile Mountain


has created a


digital home portal for its wholesale customers where they can go online and see what products are in stock, print out statements, and even place orders. “It sounds really simple,” says Mo. “But just being able to check stock whenever they want – even at weekends, when most traditional wholesalers would be closed – is a huge help for them. Also placing orders this way is much more efficient.”


He adds: “I’m surprised we were the first to do it. There are wholesalers who are still picking off paper sheets and have not got a decent warehouse management system in place. There are no big corporate animals in the tile wholesale market, so it has been under invested for a while.”


Considered investment Tile Mountain has big plans for its new acquisitions but the team are taking things one step at a time to make sure big decisions are not rushed. However, Mo recognises that certain investments can’t wait. “Something I realised is, when you take over a business, if you want to get a good buy-in from staff, you need to do something quickly. You’re going to spend the money anyway sooner or later. For example, the warehouse manager at Walls & Floors had been asking for a new shrink-wrapping machine for four or five years, so the first thing I did was


to get one installed. It was a £35,000 investment but it was important to do that straight away.” There has also been some work to “tidy up” the trade counters it has inherited as part of the two deals but major work to bring these in line with Mo’s vision for a bricks-and- mortar retail outlet will be a gradual process. Mo is very particular about how Tile Mountain’s showrooms should look and the


experience


customers receive when they visit. It is little wonder, then, to hear that people drive from miles around to visit one of the retailer’s branches, which don’t hold any stock but simply serve to act as a hub for inspiration and advice. Physical showrooms will continue to play a big part in Tile Mountain’s strategy for the future, as Mo firmly believes they form an important part of the shopper journey but these outlets have key criteria to meet in order to fit the company model. “The consumer, for the next 10-15 years, will want to go to visit a location,” Mo explains. “We want to have that environment in place for them but it has to be completely linked into our digital offer. Nobody has got it right in the tile sector, so far. I’m hoping to be the first!”


Detailing his wishlist for the perfect showroom, he says: “You’ve got to have the right location; the right costings, and the margins have tto be right, as you’ve got to be able to sell at the same price as online – you can’t have different prices.” The business uses data to select locations, looking at hot spots for tile


Tile Mountain, HQ, Stoke-on-Trent


sample requests, but the design of the building is also crucial. “People now look at the outside of a building and, if it is big, with lots of glass, and easy to get to, it makes a good impression,” says Mo. “Time is valuable and we have to make it easy to access with lots of car parking. The two we’ve done are completely different and have great displays without carrying any stock.” Keen not to open new sites in


haste for the sake of expanding Tile Mountain’s portfolio, Mo says of his strict selection process: “A location has got to stand out or I will pass on it. There are lots of buildings out there but I’m fussy. It costs a lot of money to fit out these stores, so we want to get it right and we want to see an uplift. You look at Topps Tiles, which has opened something like 100 news stores but turnover is still exactly the same. When we open a store, we measure the change we see in the business. When we opened Stockport, we saw our web interaction jump 20% and there was a real halo effect around the showroom and Stockport area.”


Consumer insight


Mo spends a lot of time in Tile Mountain’s showrooms and expects his team to do the same . “That’s when they will get the greatest insights from the customer,” he explains. “You won’t hear it anywhere else. I am probably learning more now than in my whole career.” He is also taking pointers from consumer behaviour a bit closer to home. “It’s interesting watching the journey of my son and his wife, as they are now in a home and looking to do work in there,” he says. “Their habits don’t change.


For example,


I know they buy five items online from ASOS, only to send four of them back. That’s why we are so focused on our sample service.” Tile Mountain is extremely active


on social media as it works to engage with and inspire consumers of all ages. The business also uses data and search trends on its website to shape its offer. “We are much better at unusual tiles now and have a new range, Swing, which is a heavy geometric wall tile. There is no way, five years ago, that I would have bought that but it has been borne


14 DIY WEEK 14 JUNE 2019


out of what we are seeing trending online. In the past I would have gone to a supplier and bought tiles I thought would do well. Now our buying is driven by searches on our website, so if 20,000 people are searching for a particular item, we need to be stocking it.”


But, whilst inspiration is important, Mo is also very realistic about the key drivers behind customers purchasing decisions. “We’re not in a position where we have millions to spend on marketing. We want to target that new consumer and we know that you can build a great brand, have great marketing, great photography but, for a lot of consumers it comes down to price. “There is no loyalty. If someone is selling something £1 cheaper, then they will buy it from them. So, in turn, we must totally focus on price. Of course, we want to offer more and we are working to do that but we also see other competitors who don’t do all the things we do but who offer really low prices and they are doing really well.”


One of the things Mo loves about


running a digital business is that it is possible to operate multiple websites and test out a number of different propositions at any one time. “We have another site, Tons of Tiles, which we are trying a few different things through,” he explains. “It is more upmarket and focuses on the fancier and weird and wonderful products we wouldn’t do on Tile Mountain. Then, we have a budget website, which is completely different. We want to offer lots of different things to meet demands and asses what the consumer wants. We are constantly researching the market.” It’s been a busy 12 months for Tile Mountain and the next year has more in store, with a strategy to further integrate new acquisitions, develop USPs, and continue to expand and enhance the company’s offer. “We are keen to make sure our businesses remain different in the market and with their offer,” says Mo. “On the wholesale side, we are going to look at how we can integrate more but also have a different product range, so we are not competing with other retailers and selling the same lines. Then, we will tackle the bricks-and- mortar format.”


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