EDITOR’S COMMENT Jack Cheeseman
July/August 2022
ertonline.co.uk
The feel-good factor W 8
elcome to the August edition of ERT, and I hope you’re all having a brilliant Summer so far! Haven’t we been blessed with some amazingly sunny weather? At times, perhaps a little too much! But it will certainly be interesting to see the effect this heatwave has had on consumer spending. Early indications suggest that July sales were actually boosted by the unusually stonking weather, especially for those selling fans and other cooling products! And despite consumer polls suggesting confidence is at an all-time low, this doesn’t appear to be reflected in sales figures for most markets. So I am sure that retailers will be hoping the feel-good factor continues until the end of the season... at least! There is of course the cost of living crisis to contend with, however, coupled with talk of a recession around
the corner as well. It’s expected that inflation will increase further when energy bills rise again and this will impact already struggling households, leaving people with no choice but to prioritise only essential purchases and holding off on more indulgent ones. What this means for electrical retail in real terms is anybody’s guess. But truly understanding individual customer buying patterns and putting your business forward as THE go-to place for everyone in your community (and beyond) will certainly not do any harm in the long run as everyone looks to navigate a potentially tough period ahead.
On a slightly lighter note, and talking of retail stores, you will notice in this month’s edition of ERT that Take A Town is back! We redeployed our mystery shopping team once again – this time to Suffolk – to
test and scrutinise the sales skills and store presentation of electrical retailers. I know many of our readers enjoy seeing what other dealers are up to and how they fare in the overall scores! And you can read this month’s report from page 32.
And on a similar topic still, you will hopefully already know that the finalists for the ERT Awards have been announced, and retailers will meet with manufacturers and suppliers once again later this year when the winners will be revealed! The ERT Awards judging panel had another tough job again deliberating and deciding on this year’s retailer winners; the quality of entries was exceptional, they remarked. Our judges have a very important role behind the scenes and I’d like to thank each of them for their help in this year’s selection process.
Some blurry – and utterly shameless – pictures with some of this year’s celebs!
Back in July I was lucky enough to attend the TRIC Awards in London. It was another star-studded event celebrating the nation’s favourite TV and radio programmes and personalities; you can read all about this year’s winners over the page. The TRIC Awards is always a wonderfully unique occasion when so many people from the broadcast industry come together, but also so many colleagues from electrical retail brands as well. The day was so well supported once again, not least
with Euronics as the headline sponsor, but with a whole host of big names showing their support for this historic, infamous, celeb-filled awards bash! For me, it is an excellent opportunity to catch up with friends from across the
industry and I’m very fortunate that ERT is a trade media partner with TRIC – a connection that was first established many years ago, but one that I hope continues so we can help support TRIC’s charities and good causes.
Email the editor at
jackcheeseman@ertonline.co.uk What do you think ?
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