February 2024 ertonline.co.uk


Q&A


Q: Although the company’s history lies in the coffee machine segment, how have you have expanded over the years? Blake Green: We offer a really unique service where we handle the whole returns and repairs process for most of our brands. For example, working with Domestic & General we fix all kinds of appliances within SDA; coffee machines are our core but we also repair things like air fryers and food mixers as well as vacuum cleaners and other items. This generates a huge knowledge base for our engineers across so many different product categories; they gain so much valuable experience that we can present to new brands looking to work with us. We have segregated parts of the repair


centre which we repair different appliances in, because as a multi-brand repair centre we can’t allow any cross-contamination; obviously with food-grade products we have to keep them separate as we are audited by huge companies like Nestlé and we have to abide by extremely strict regulations.


Q: How does your business help the industry be more sustainable? BG: Every company nowadays has got an obligation to be kinder to the environment. And because we are joined up with the industry’s biggest compliance schemes we can now say that 100 per cent of our appliances do not end up in landfill. And we achieve that through various waste management options. Firstly, machines are returned to us where they might only have a minor defect; we’ll test them vigorously to see what parts are still working and fully compliant, and we’ll harvest those parts and store them with full asset management


for future use. For example,


we might be able to get 10 parts from one machine that can be used in other machines, which is a massive saving. From there the rest of the material can be sent to the compliance scheme for WEEE straight to recycling. On the other hand, if a product comes in


that meets refurbishment criteria, we can handle the full process and from there it can be a repair swap-out or sold back through the brand’s sales channels.


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It’s a win-win because everyone wants to


recycle and do their bit for the environment, but it’s not always easy to do. That’s where we come in. Sustainability is so important to us, so whether we’re reusing machine parts, recycling through the compliance scheme, or refurbishing product to be re-sold, we are saving e-waste going to landfill and that is the complete one- stop-shop that we are aiming to offer.


Q: Do you think refurbishment will continue to grow as more consumers look for pre-owned appliances in the future? BG: Definitely. Appliances are getting more and more expensive these days so I


think


that people who are new to the market may buy a re-used product to begin with because it will be exactly the same as the brand new equivalent but they’d pay less for it. There are different grades of refurbished


products that consumers should be aware of; for example, a grade ‘C’ might have cosmetic damage or a minor fault, but if you’re looking at grade ‘A’ you’d never tell the difference. For us as a company it’s about having a solid returns management process


and efficient


– if we are refurbishing, repairing or reusing product we’ve got to monitor the whole process so carefully to ensure the revenue can be recouped for everyone involved.


Q: Do you think online shopping and easy returns processes have contributed to increased e-waste and put strain on electrical brands and retailers? BG: I think so. Obviously there’s the 30-day returns period as a standard legal requirement, but consumers can take product back for literally anything. They might use their coffee machine once, taste the coffee and decide they don’t like it and take it back. And that can’t be sold again very easily. Many manufacturers also experience issues when their products are refurbished because of tracking the serial numbers and other crucial information. All refurbishment information needs to remain with that specific product; this also allows the brand to track its future status.


Q: What are your goals for the year ahead? BG: We would like to strengthen our existing relationships further and of course we are aiming to try and gain more partners within the industry to increase the sustainability of brands and expand our repair network. We’ve got the skills and the infrastructure to help so many brands and retailers in the market and we’ve got a really attractive proposition and a great business model for the whole after-sales process, but it’s just getting ourselves out there and letting people know what we’re about.


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