Plumbing Africa Plumblink's first hundred stores | Page 17
saying he has had probably ten
approaches in the past ten years to open
a franchise store. Alternative financial
options remain on the table, he says,
though there would be many issues to
work through before there was any move
in that direction. “Consistency of quality,
product and price remain the pillars of our
success, and franchising holds the risk of
dragging our brand down unless actively
and continually managed.”
The Plumblink model aims to answer a
specific market need, and Chandler says
this primarily has to do with availability of
stock. “The challenge is to have the full
range of stock available at all times. The
biggest complaints we get are seldom
around price, but having stock available.
This often stems from a teething problem
with a new store or a store in a region
where we are new to the market and trying
to understand the local idiosyncrasies.
Sometimes it happens that we move into a
town where a pipe system has been widely
used, so we simply have to stock that even
though it’s not part of our range. We have
85% of customers’ needs covered 90%
of the time. We admit to not being perfect,
however we will continually strive to be
better than the rest.
“The second need is a fair price.
Customers still expect us to be
comparatively well-priced because
we’re the ‘biggest merchant’, also, they
want to know that if there’s a problem
with a product bought from us, they
have recourse.”
Being a 100-plus store group can affect its
willingness to try new ideas or products,
as the implication of the decision has to
be multiplied 100 times. “We’re probably
not going to be the first to try some new
product or retail idea. If there’s demand for
an item we will generally recognise it, and
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for this we rely on feedback from clients,
branch and regional managers to give us
such market information. We will then check
the quality of the product because we get
repeat business by standing by the quality
of a product and dependability of supply.”
Plumbing is a conservative business, with
plumbers generally and rightly so, content
to continue using tried and tested products
and methodologies, rather than being at
the cutting edge of technology. It took
the industry a long time to change from
a galvanised pipe to a copper pipe for
domestic installations as example.
“I wouldn’t stock and sell anything I wouldn’t
install in my own house. We wouldn’t put
our name on a product that’s going to
fail – it would come straight back, so it’s a
personal thing for me,” says Chandler.
Regulations matter
“We have long-standing relationships
with most of our suppliers for which
dependability of supply and after-sales
service are the major criteria. Many
plumbing products look the same at face
value,” says Chandler. “You have to take
them apart to see what’s really inside to
determine the quality. I have seen products
sold as brass, but are simply chrome-
plated – coated over – and when I take
it apart its actually zinc. This is why it is
crucial to approve each product’s quality
and its continuity of supply for the quantity
we are going to require throughout our
group and therefore our clients and our
own peace of mind.”
“
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This was made real to Chandler when
he installed a shower arm in his home
many years ago. After around 12 months
it crumbled and fell apart because it
was made of zinc, not brass. “When we
physically verify products ourselves as a
Plumblink product, we have certainty as
to the quality of what we’re selling.” This
was a generic product that was available
from perhaps ten different suppliers, but
with a variance in cost price of as much
as 50%, it simply couldn’t be the same
quality – even though the appearance
was identical. Merchants may sell it
because of price (though Plumblink won’t
knowingly), and consumers may buy it,
but Chandler says there are reputational
issues at stake. “If a zinc angle valve
fails over the weekend, a customer may
return home to find his home flooded,”
he says. “We strive to procure, stock and
sell a product of decent and certifiable
quality throughout our product range, we
are very proud of this as we believe this
is a differentiator between Plumblink and
other competition.”
Plumblink also verifies a supplier’s legality
with regard to paying VAT and other legal
prerequisites, including BEE status. “We
work hard at our own BEE status, but
it is difficult work as the vast majority
of suppliers are wholly-owned foreign
companies. We only import about 10% of
our total stock, but even ‘local’ suppliers
are commonly European companies, they
dominate the local market and don’t feel
the pressure to achieve high BEE status.
Most of the management level ‘has grown up with
the company’. Unrecognised talent was given the
opportunity to grow, and external appointments were
made over time.”
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