June 2021 ertonline.co.uk


All online So how much of Ruislip Appliances’ business is online? “About 100 per cent over the past 12 months!” jokes Mr Mooney. “Now, anybody who hasn’t got a website is


missing a trick. We have customers who live a mile away and who are on our website looking at products and they can spend 20 minutes on the phone with us. We say to them: ‘You’re only two minutes away, why don’t you come down and see us?’ But they say they’d rather do it over the phone. “Our website assists us with our goals all the time.


If you haven’t got that to assist, you’re missing out. I think our website has a hand in probably 75 to 95 per cent of our sales. You really need that ‘shop window’ and the past 12 months have really shown us that.” Talking about the challenges of adapting the


business to cope with the early days of the COVID- 19 pandemic, Mr Mooney says: “It was pretty apparent that we couldn’t trade in the normal way – but people were still phoning up. A large number of customers couldn’t believe we weren’t an ‘essential’ retailer. Where do you draw the line? Somebody will say their haircut is essential. You’ve got to respect the Government’s decision. “The local council put grants in place to help us


and we followed all the guidelines. Last year, we had people whose fridge had packed up and they had their insulin in it, or a nurse whose washing machine had broken down, or someone who cooks dinners for their next-door neighbour had their oven go wrong; all those people needed help and we were here – although the doors were locked and we had furloughed some staff.” He adds: “It was a struggle for the first couple of


months, but myself and my colleague Dan did the best we could – we made the deliveries in a socially- distanced fashion. We were busy, we did the turnover, we kept ourselves relevant, we were at the end of the phone – and it worked. We tried to make sensible


decisions – like delivering fridges to local people who needed them. We did have one customer who was incredulous because we wouldn’t deliver a vacuum cleaner to Mayfair in central London.”


Loyal customer base Ruislip Appliances, which employs six staff, has a loyal longstanding customer base and is also enjoying business from second and third generations of families who’ve traditionally shopped there. “We’re lucky – we get people who say: ‘My mum


used to bring me here when I was a kid and our washing machine broke down – now ours has broken down and we’re coming back’,” says Mr Mooney. “We get that muscle memory from being here as long as we have.” He adds: “It’s tough trying to educate the newer,


younger generation who are buying online with the likes of Amazon, AO and Currys, but, about five years ago, we took the decision to price match. Our system automatically scans their websites – we change our prices three times a day and the


customer can see that we’re the same price as the cheapest of the others.” Mr Mooney offers free next-day delivery using his


small fleet of vans on the road. “A lady bought an item on our website and chose


next-day delivery, but I called her after seeing her order and I was round her house within 30 minutes. That’s probably a personal best for delivery!” he says. “She looked at me and said: ‘You lot are faster than Amazon.’ As long as the green vans [AO] don’t get the business, we’re happy.” Looking at future plans for Ruislip Appliances, Mr


Mooney tells ERT: “I want to get repairs and gas servicing back in-house and ramp up our kitchens business.” He’s also confident for the year ahead and plans to


work more closely with local estate agents and councils to increase the commercial side of the business. “Our local CIH group is London and Southend – it’s


recently amalgamated. We have a WhatsApp group where we share ideas and best practices with other members – it’s quite helpful. Since the Coronavirus, we’ve been connecting more, and we’ve been doing bi-monthly CIH meetings on Zoom.”


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