RETAILER PROFILE
‘FOLK LIKE TO KNOW WHO THEY’RE DEALING WITH’
Duffy’s Home Hardware owner Mark Duffy discusses his approach to generating customer loyalty at a rebranded store in a Devonshire town
D
uffy’s Home Hardware in the Devon town of Torrington is still making its name in the locality. Formerly
the well-established Ferry’s Home Hardware, to help settle into the community, owner Mark Duffy kept the former signage for the first year after taking over.
“It let people get used to us,” he explains. “It’s quite a traditional town and folk do like to know who they’re dealing with. Two of the
14 DIY WEEK 8 SEPTEMBER 2017
previous owner’s children still work here so there is that connection.” Mark took over the business in October 2014 and ran it for a year before rebranding as Duffy’s Home Hardware in October 2015. While offering a steady hand on the tiller, Mark has introduced some new areas to the business including a stamp book encouraging regular return custom.
“It’s just a self-inking stamp and a little book and when the customer spends £10 we put a little stamp on the card,” he explains. “When they
fill a card, which is 10 stamps, we give them a £10 gift voucher. It’s a fantastic incentive for them to come back and to up their sale. If they come to the counter and it is £8 or so, they think, ‘Oh I need another couple pounds for a stamp’ so they add some bin bags or batteries. It’s been brilliant. “I have to keep phoning up to get
more printed for me.” Running a promotion with gift vouchers does present potential complications to cash flow but Mark thinks overall it has been worthwhile.
“You never know how much you give away; when you look at your vouchers at the end of the year, you think, ‘Oh we’ve given away thousands’, it’s a lot of money,” he says. “But then if you think about what a newspaper advert would cost, and you don’t know how many people that will bring in, it seems to be a better way to do it.” Carrying the right range for the locality is also an important part of the success of the business, while keeping an eye on market trends. “We still carry lots of loose nails and
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