Serving the Teesside Business Community | 65
SUPPLY & DEMAND
MI Supplies managing director Alex Ingham
(right) with (left to right) business manager
Russ Lock, accounts manager Sue Blythman,
warehouse supervisor Bill Watson, stock
manager Gary Devlin, admin manager Sheryl
Butters and web manager Neil Shepherd.
Workwear supplies firm set for new sales
record despite contract set-back
A
Teesside workwear supplies business
is set for a 13th consecutive record
year of sales – and that’s after losing a
£2.4m contract.
MI Supplies, based at Teesside Industrial
Estate in Thornaby, was dealt a blow earlier
this year after being told their largest
customer wasn’t renewing a three-year deal
worth £800,000 annually.
But a surge in online sales means the firm,
founded by managing director Alex Ingham
in 2005, is still set for its best year yet, with
turnover set to hit £3m by the end of 2018,
up from £2.35m in 2017.
Rather than focusing on the negatives of
such a big contract loss, Ingham says it has
been a valuable lesson, with MI Supplies
now in a stronger position to hit an ambitious
target of reaching £10m turnover by 2020.
“At one point a few years ago this contract
made up about 70-80% of our business, so
we put a lot of plans in place five years ago
to get it to under a third of the business,”
said Ingham.
“Now we’ve managed to do that, it isn’t
as much of an impact and, in fact, I think has
worked in our favour. Website sales have
already taken up the slack of the loss, and
online sales should hit our target of £2m per
annum this year.
“It has actually been a really good lesson
for a business owner – and a reminder to
never rest on your laurels and think you have
a contract for life.”
MI Supplies has in recent months put
a new management structure in place,
including business manager Russ Lock,
accounts manager Sue Blythman, warehouse
supervisor Bill Watson, stock manager Gary
Devlin, admin manager Sheryl Butters and
web manager Neil Shepherd.
MI Supplies is already one
of the UK’s biggest suppliers
of brands such as Carhartt,
Snickers, CAT and Portwest
and is looking to add to its
high-end brand portfolio.
The firm is enjoying online year-on-year
growth of 110%, and during the recent Black
Friday weekend doubled last year’s figures,
with 440 orders totalling £34,430 over the
three days.
Ingham added: “It almost feels like we’re
starting as a new business, with a new lease
of life, but with a standing start of £3m a year
in sales and a good infrastructure in place.
“We’ve done a lot of work online, plus
redesigning our site. We’re now the biggest
Carhartt dealer in the UK, and a few other
By Martin Walker
brands we’re in the top five UK suppliers.
“We have a stronger management
structure so we now have people in all the
key positions, which means the majority of
things don’t need to flow through me now.
“We’ve installed a new bespoke high-
speed broadband system which means
our internet is now 40 times faster, which
will speed things up in terms of processing
sales and accommodate a new automated
scanning-picking system, which we think will
gain us an extra 60 hours a week.
“So despite the setback of losing a great,
long-term customer, we’re actually in great
shape. In October alone we achieved overall
company sales of £400,000 – our biggest
month prior to that was £298,000 – so I see
no reason we can’t grow total sales next year
to £4-5m.”
MI Supplies is already one of the UK’s
biggest suppliers of brands such as Carhartt,
Snickers, CAT and Portwest and is looking to
add to its high-end brand portfolio.
The firm, which launched in 2005 and
moved from 3,000 sq ft units to a new
8,000 sq ft unit at Willows Court on Teesside
Industrial Estate in February 2015, now has
a growing client base consisting of more
than 250 business customers, including the
fire brigade, local councils, engineering firms
and charities, and has supplied over 130,000
orders to clients worldwide.