Trade Journal for House Technology - RAS-Online
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RAS
Trade Journal for
House Technology
As the name suggests, RAS-Internatio nal is read
in many countries, we will therefore be including
a few stories from around the globe.
I N T E R N AT I O N A L W W W. R A S - O N L I N E . C O M
FEST Field Trip 2019, London
Corporate Courage Creates Success
Toolstation
Toolstation offers its customers
– such as professional installers
or experienced DIY-enthusiasts
– high-quality tools and all types
of building products. As one of
the fastest growing multi-chan-
nel companies in the construc-
tion and DIY-sector in Europe,
the choice on offer includes over
10,000 products. The product
range also includes professional
brands like Bosch, Makita, Heco,
Fischer, Wiha, Gardena, Uponor,
Spax and Stanley. In addition to
products from the sectors (elec-
tric-) power tools, ironmongery,
garden and patio as well as
workwear, customers at Toolbox
can also purchase a wide variety
of accessories for power tools,
fixing materials, car accessories
and other installation materials.
Within the overall UK market,
Every two years, General Director Sue Knight, An interested audience the channel mix has changed,
tours Toolstation. as different models have
acting on behalf of FEST, joins forces with a emerged and customer prefer-
member organization and the Association ences have changed away from
Approximately 30 participants DIY to an increased willingness
Management Company Kellen, to organize a from European wholesale com- to use trade professionals or
field trip. This year’s trip – after the Czech panies were not meant to an- DIFM, ‘Do it for me’ solutions.
ticipate routine insights into Toolstation, like its main com-
Republic and France – was to Great Britain, or
these companies’ strategies and petitor Screwfix, has prospered
more precisely Greater London. The organizers day-to-day trade. The group set with its relatively new business
off on the tour of the companies model by offering customers en-
had dreamed up something unique for this
from the Canary Riverside Plaza hanced propositions, including
location: visits to companies that captured the Hotel. extended hours and extensive
market with innovative ideas and disruptive We have summarised the key ranges with high availability and
points of the firms’ strategies competitive fixed pricing. In De-
approaches. below. cember 2018 Travis Perkins out-
www.ras-online.com 12 2019 | RAS International 77
Trade Journal for House Technology
The FEST field group in London.
lined plans for its future direc- station is now regarded as a ma- the UK, the development of the tion centre with capacity for 500
tion under two key themes: to jority trade business with ap- newer European businesses and stores, plus they plan to open
focus on trade customers proximately 70% of its sales go- continuous improvement of the up to 60 further stores in 2019.
through advantaged businesses ing to trade customers. However, proposition. It is committed to They are also working to im-
and to simplify the Group. One whether the purchase is for a allocating capital to Toolstation’s prove the proposition, increase
of the key drivers of this change trade or private customer, there bespoke IT platform that is cen- the extended range available
in strategy was the consistent is no price differential. Travis tral to its successful model, online and the number of trade
contribution delivered by the Perkins sees digital as an un- where customer needs are well brands stocked in store. Multi-
Group’s contract merchanting tapped opportunity in the trade understood and are met by a channel transactions increased
division and Toolstation. Histor- markets: offering potential to leading proposition based on by over 30%, with strong
ically reported as part of Travis differentiate. Given that Toolsta- value and availability. growth in click and collect. Tool-
Perkins Consumer Division, Tool- tion is a business, which best fits station Europe continued with
the revised strategy and delivers Focused on Europe 12 stores opened in the Nether-
attractive returns, Travis Perkins lands, taking the total to 32, and
Photos of the various locations will continue to invest in Tool- In 2018, Toolstation UK opens supported by a new distribution
on the whistle stop tour. station’s network expansion in its 335th store, a third distribu- centre. Growth characteristics
78 RAS International | 12 2019 www.ras-online.com
for both stores and online are bathroom retailer in terms of prof-
extremely encouraging. A further it, turnover and service, a goal
5 stores were added to the net- partly facilitated following the re-
work around Lyon in France, cent demise of Bathstore, another
bringing the trial up to 8 in total major competitor. The firm claims
and developing brand recogni- that TV remains the most impor-
tion with the trade customers. tant medium for brand awareness,
The Belgium website continues with Victorian Plumbing adverts
to develop well and some trial generating more than 400m
stores will be added in 2019, to brand impressions. It has also ex-
be serviced from the Dutch dis- panded marketing activity through
tribution centre. Toolstation is various high-profile partnerships,
now also present in Germany including exclusive collaborations
with a branch in Cologne. with renowned fashion designers
and a partnership with Fox Studios
Victorian Plumbing for the release of the film Dead-
pool 2.
Victorian Plumbing was founded The company also said running
by Mark Radcliffe in 2000, along promotional campaigns on so-
with his brother Neil and mother cial media for partners such as
Carole. It is now the UK’s most Grohe and Mira boosted en-
dominant online retailer in the gagement with its target mar-
bathroom sector, (not to be con- ket.
fused with its main rival, Victoria Marc Radcliffe’s story as a busi-
Plum which is backed by private nessman is also exciting: he has
equity firm TPG). In 2018 sales worked his way up to become a
turnover increased 12% to successful entrepreneur, making
£118m with pre-tax profits of his first million-pound selling
£3.5m, after paying a hefty mobile phone accessories over Established in 1937 by a South needs that have not been ful-
£1.75m court settlement to Vic- the internet from a shed in his London builder, Charles Percival filled in the bathroom industry.
toria Plum in a competitive bid- parents’ back garden. During Hart, and subsequently run by Their success lies in offering ex-
ding battle over Google Ad- the recession and the devalua- his two sons through depres- clusive items that no one else
words. In contrast, the latter re- tion of the pound, Mark realised sion, war, and post-war austerity, has. To do this, they source prod-
ported a pre-tax profit of just it was not viable to make a profit C.P. Hart now has a turnover of ucts directly from Europe and
£200K / £200,000 for the 12 from accessories so he moved over £43m. With an unrivalled adapt them in their own work-
months ending February 2018. into bathrooms, opening a ware- reputation for service and ex- shop to make them compatible
Victorian Plumbing’s turnover in house in Formby, near Liverpool. pertise, Charles opened five with UK standards. C.P. Hart has
2019 is expected to reach He subsequently bought a larger stores along the old London a talent for recognising the
£145m for the year to Septem- warehouse in Skelmersdale and Road, intended for plumbers same passion in companies
ber, representing double-digit then Birmingham. and builders, but eventually abroad that they possess them-
growth. favoured by all kinds of profes- selves – they only work with
Mark Radcliffe, owner and Man- C.P. Hart sional and retail clients. people who truly believe in what
aging Director, explained to the Kevin Ohle, Chairman of C.P. they create. C.P. Hart are experts
FEST Field Group that he is con- The next stop was at the com- Hart, describes the company’s in challenging perceptions and
fident he can become the UK’s top pany C.P. Hart. strategy: C.P. Hart identifies creating new concepts for those
www.ras-online.com 12 2019 | RAS International 79
Trade Journal for House Technology
fore its demise earlier site development, BOXT steers
this year. Founded in consumers through the decision-
the late 1990s by making process and also allows
Patrick Riley, Bathroom them to select the boiler brand,
Brands has grown to delivery and installation date.
become the market BOXT’s business model does
leader in traditional away with salesmen, surveyors
bathroom products in and call centres. Orders taken
the UK, with sales of via the website are dispatched
over £40m. Over the via the merchant directly to the
years, Bathroom Brands customer with everything the in-
developed a range of staller needs boxed in one self-
other industry-recog- contained package. “Our guys
nised brands, such as are like Uber,” says Butler. “We
Britton for contempo- have a database of about 250
rary sanitary ware, and qualified engineers, who we’ve
Clearwater for free- checked out. They can ‘put the
standing baths. It sub- light on’ to say they are available
sequently acquired to work and the customer can
willing to take a fresh look at phisticated infrastructure, de- Crosswater, one of the UK’s then see what slots are available
bathroom design. In order to signed around its customers’ leading brassware brands, taking to them for installation.” The en-
demonstrate this to customers, evolving needs. It has the most the turnover in 2018 to £90m. gineers are rated from Trustpilot
their unique showroom under experienced, understanding and Today the business operates pre- reviews, so those with the high-
the arches in Waterloo has be- highly-trained design and sales dominantly in the retail show- est reviews get the jobs first. As
come a compelling tool since team in the industry, offering the room sector and internet market, the engineers don’t have to pick
1975. technical expertise to help plan with some contract business in up the boiler from the mer-
Their subsequent move to the every aspect of a project. From the London new-build and bou- chant’s counter in the morning,
arches in Waterloo provided water pressure and plumbing tique hotel markets (Victorian they can arrive earlier to install
them with the vast space they through to understanding what Plumbing and C.P. Hart are key the boiler. “That’s one of the big
so badly needed. The brothers materials work together and the customers of Bathroom Brands). wins for the customer, along
could now hold enough stock to ultimate finishing touches, C.P. In many ways, Bathroom Brands with price,” Butler remarks.
make C.P. Hart a ‘one-stop shop’ Hart draws on over 75 years of could be viewed as a market dis- The company, which is currently
– builders could get everything bathroom knowledge to assist ruptor since their route to mar- part owned by Bosch, fits 50 to
they needed in one trip, making consumer and trade customers ket is through regional distribu- 80 boilers a day and has big
it a convenient trade hub. One alike. tor partners, rather than the na- plans to expand its products and
arch was the plumbers’ mer- Hence their appeal. Although tional merchant chains, such as services. Whilst a few people
chants, another provided stor- C.P. Hart has since changed Travis Perkins and Wolseley. have tried to copy them nobody
age, and the rest was trans- hands – most recently to Charco At the end of the first day of the else has invested so heavily in
formed into a consumer-focused – Charles’ sons remain closely Fest Field Trip the participants the IT platform or built out the
showroom stocking unique associated with the company. enjoyed dinner at Watermen’s back-office to make the cus-
products that simply couldn’t be The variations of products de- Hall. tomer journey as smooth as pos-
bought anywhere else. This signed by John and Tom are still sible.
large, unique space has enabled some of the best sellers to this BOXT Butler’s next game-changer tac-
them to indulge their passion for day. The difference now is that tic is to launch same-day delivery
design, giving them the room to these items are displayed in 15 The day of departure began with for customers who order before
collate their impressive portfolio showrooms nationwide – a fact another interesting appointment 10am. He also plans to increase
of products. From John Hart’s in- that would have made the orig- in the morning at BOXT. the number of products on the
novative Waterloo shower valve inal C.P. Hart extremely proud. BOXT is an online boiler instal- website and is already branching
in 1992, which went on to be- lation business founded in out into smart technology and
come the biggest selling valve Bathroom Brands March 2017 delivering a air-conditioning installations.
of the decade, through to our turnover of £18m in its first trad-
most popular classic collection, Patrick Riley was the original ing year. Chief Executive, Mel The next key date for FEST mem-
the London range, C.P. Hart un- founder of Bathstore, along with Butler, and his colleagues de- bers is the congress in October
derstands the needs of the bath- Nico De Beer. They subsequently vised an online process aimed 2020. Vice President, Johan
room market like no other. sold the successful chain of retail at disrupting the traditional boil- Stevens, will host the event
What’s more, C.P. Hart prides it- bathroom shops to Wolseley, er renewal market which had scheduled for 01.–03. October
self on its high standard of ser- who then went on to sell it to been in existence for over 40 in Lisbon.
vice, which is supported by a so- private equity firm Endless be- years. By investing £4m in web- https://festassociation.eu/
80 RAS International | 12 2019 www.ras-online.com
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