Shopfloor PROFILE: WHO?


February 2 Live!


Starting with TVs in 1966 and audio products from the early 1980s, the business always operated in separate shops, but now everything is under one roof


March 2019 ertonline.co.uk


We have always had good showrooms but we have expanded on that and incorporated elements from outside of our marketplace


have and the areas that we excel in, but to win two of the biggest Awards, including Domestic Appliances Showroom of the Year, was great – we’ve expanded and invested


into


domestic appliances and that’s where we moved the business towards. “We have a big team and it was


a real boost and a nod towards all their hard efforts. We’ve made big investments in the last few years – into our store, our brands and staff training – so to get the nod from our industry on that was superb and it was great to be recognised.” The Peter Tyson website homepage includes pictures and logos of the ERT Awards 2018, highlighting the individual awards that the company won; as well as this, it is also promoted amongst Peter Tyson’s marketing material and in local press and the trophies themselves are also displayed in-store. Mr Tyson adds: “We’ve pushed it because it shows that what we’ve done has been heeded by the industry and we’re heading in the right direction. The amount of suppliers that we’ve spoken to and who have mentioned it to us – it has been a great boost in that respect and it gets our business name in people’s minds that we are


progressive and forward-thinking.”


Everything under one roof The Peter Tyson business invested around £1.5 million and re-located in late 2017 to a bigger, more appropriate building that offers parking and is only a short walk from the city centre. It allows the business to offer an enhanced retail experience – a destination store – bringing the best brands together under one roof – from espresso machines to high-end hi-fi. After opening the new store, Peter


Tyson held open weekends with manufacturer involvement to create a buzz and encourage people to visit Talking of the move, Mr Tyson says it is something he has always known they have needed to do; starting with TVs in 1966 and moving onto audio products in the early 1980s, the business always operated in separate shops, but now, having everything under one roof brings it all together. In addition, with a growing online business, warehousing also played a big factor in the need for bigger premises. “We spent two to three years planning and we looked at various retail outlets from within and outside the industry for ideas,” explains Mr


Tyson. “Outside of the UK there are some superb electricals stores selling similar goods to us, and there was a lot to learn from all sides of retail. I think people can have quite a closed perception of what a TV or hi-fi shop should be, but if you go beyond that you look at using the space in a different way and it really can work. “We have always had good


showrooms but we have expanded and built on that and incorporated elements from outside of our marketplace,” he continues. “We have new experiences in the shop and we have fantastic displays. On top of that, the staff that we have are fantastic; we spent a lot of time getting the right people into the right positions – having a great shop is one thing but without having the advice and the right people facing the customers it’s all for nothing. You have to have the combination of the two, whether it’s for CE or domestic appliances, a good experience in-store goes hand-in-hand with great, well-trained staff.” Peter Tyson has invested heavily in its new store, with a home automation apartment on the upper mezzanine level, several product demonstration rooms, a fully built-in kitchen and cooking demonstration area and the


company holds many coffee and wine tasting as well as local produce events. Mr Tyson says he is now far better equipped to entertain people and to add a great deal of theatre and experience to the store. However, he says that in some


respects the “older days” of selling are still relevant. “If someone’s washing machine goes down they’ll come in and look for a new one because they need it, but if they want to browse new machines, the retailer has to be better – they might also want the matching tumble dryer. Either way, you want the consumer to wander around the store and be amazed; you have to sell up and sell through.” Mr Tyson adds that those in the independent channel are perceived as the experts and they have to be a step above the multiples with enthusiastic staff delivering a top-notch service. “It’s a very competitive marketplace and if you’re not excelling at both, you may struggle,” he warns. “The most important thing is having a little bit of initiative in doing something different. Mailing product information and prices out to people gets boring but interacting between brands and the consumer in-store is what independents are all about.”


35


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44