Plumbing Africa Plumblink's first hundred stores | Page 8

or postponed. McFarlane admits the
company may indeed have lost some
market share here, “But we are conscious
of this and working on a solution.” He says
it was a choice between possibly losing
some market share in the segment, or have
its bad debts possibly worsen. “Companies
were not being paid – or paid late – and
in turn not paying their supplier. We have
strict credit rules and so did not suffer
unduly, but although we have detracted
somewhat in the contract market, we’ve
made it up in the commercial side of the
business which has also improved our
cash-to-credit ratio and cash flow.”
Plumblink is also a major supplier to the
insurance industry and government, and
notwithstanding the oft-reported difficulties
of being paid by government, McFarlane
says they have a dedicated team for
these sectors and manage payments to
the extent that late and bad debts are
negligible. “We’re pretty close to the public
sector market, and it does occasionally
take time for payment, but that side of the
books is not as bad as one would expect,
and indeed there is still a long way to go in
6
installing toilets, running water and plumbing
in rural areas and schools as example.”
The company is simultaneously looking at
southern Africa, it aims to look cautiously at
opportunities in addition to its single outlet
in Namibia. “I think there are possibilities
for us – whether we do it in a different
model such as a franchise system or joint
ventures in these countries. Bidvest has
very recently asked us to investigate such
possibilities, and we have established a
team for this purpose,” McFarlane explains.
Another aspect of its growth strategy is
educating its current clientele on new
business opportunities. “We encourage
plumbers to carry some spare stock in
their vehicles so they can assist residential
customers in fixing additional plumbing
problems, say a damaged toilet seat,
which may not be the actual reason they
were called out – but adds some value
to their customer while they’re on site
and observe potential additional work
opportunities while saving the customer
a subsequent call out fee. The plumber,
at the end of the day, is our main focus
Your local plumbing store
customer, even if the location of our stores
is also encouraging more and more DIY
and retail business.”
Over the last five years, Plumblink has
steadily added a home brand (Plumline)
to its product offering. A wide range of
taps and mixers, sanitary-ware, general
plumbing and accessories are only a few
of the product categories they concentrate
on. “The idea is to give all our clients a
quality product at a decent price and of
course give some variety of choice and
pricing points.”
Over 100 stores and growing
“I attribute our growth to 100-plus stores
to our people, who are very passionate
about what they do as staff in store and as
regional teams, and who all listen intently
to what customers have so say. When we
get feedback as to where customers would
like a store, or any suggested changes, we
do a survey, and if we determine there is
a market, we make the change or identify
a new store location, as the case may be.
We’re careful not to open a store for the
sake of opening a store.
Plumblink - Proudly Bidvest
www.plumblink.co.za