HARDWARE&SECURITY • 93
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Giving locksmiths
what they need
»»ERA, ARGUABLY THE LOCKSMITH’S
favourite lock, is having a huge year.
Earlier this year, ERA announced its
five-year deal as a primary sponsor of the
Neighbourhood Watch, signalling its clear
intention to expand on the millions of
homes in the UK already protected by ERA
hardware.
Last year, we saw ERA launch
its impressive affiliation with the
Master Locksmiths Association in the
development of the ERA home security
survey, the first hardware business to
develop a service that directly supports
the services of the local locksmith.
Stephanie Wright, editor, caught up
with ERA marketing and innovation
director, Will Butler to understand what
else ERA has planned for this year and
learn more about the relationship with the
Neighbourhood Watch.
SW: So, Will, it’s a busy time at ERA.
We’re really pleased to see ERA deliver
some grass roots level support to the
industry. Tell me what’s behind the
decision to support the Neighbourhood
Watch, will this benefit the locksmith?
WB: Absolutely Stephanie. We carried
out research earlier this year amongst
consumers to understand if they viewed
home security improvements as a ‘do
it for me’ job or a DIY job, and we were
really pleased to learn that home owners
still prefer the comfort of knowing a
professional locksmith has made their
home secure. For us, the affiliation with
the Neighbourhood Watch is very much
about giving home owners clear, practical
advice about making improvements to
their home security but guiding them
towards a professional to do the work for
them.
SW: On that note, let’s talk product.
There’s a lot of noise in the market at the
moment about 3 star euro cylinders –
we’ve seen some new players enter the
cylinder market in the last 12 months,
what’s ERA’s response to this? Do you
think consumers need to be made
more aware of the vulnerability of some
cylinders?
WB: I think if a consumer is looking for
a new front door, the security message
is very central to the overall proposition,
particularly in the composite door market.
Our Invincible cylinder, which has just
been short-listed as new product of the
year in the G17 Awards is the ultimate
in door security for the fabricator but
we recognise that we must also give the
locksmith something unique that allows
them to differentiate their cylinder from
the type of product a consumer could
simply pick up in a hardware store. The
other issue of course is ensuring that
our 3-star euro cylinder is the best in the
market.
SW: I guess with your own
UKAS Accredited Test
House you have a unique
opportunity to continually test
other cylinders and of course
develop something superior?
WB: You’re right – we
certainly know the vulnerabilities
of other 3 star cylinders in the
market. It’s this insight that has enabled
us to develop a new range of 3 star euro
cylinders that far surpasses the testing
requirements. The new range includes
three cylinders - Invincible, which
I’ve already mentioned, Professional
and Fortress. All three cylinders offer
maximum security features and far exceed
any of their nearest rivals in attack tests.
Unlike every other generic 3 star euro
cylin der on the market, the range has
been designed to offer unique features
and benefits to the window and door
industry and importantly locksmiths too.
SW: What’s unique about the 3 star
cylinder aimed at locksmiths?
WB: The Professional 3 star cylinder is
supplied with two registered keys, which
of course protects against unwanted key
duplication ensuring that additional
keys can only be supplied by a qualified
locksmith. This really does give the
home owner complete peace of mind
but ultimately gives the locksmith a
point of differentiation when it comes to
selling. We spent a lot of time last year
LOCKSMITHJOURNAL.CO.UK | SEP/OCT 2016
really understanding
the needs and wants of
locksmiths and it’s only with
this feedback can we develop
hardware that locksmiths want to work
with. We recognise that a home owner
has two choices – as I said earlier, some
are firmly in the DIY camp, but for those
seeking a professional installation, we
need to make sure that we can give the
locksmith something unique that’s not
available in DIY stores.
SW: It sounds like ERA is incredibly
busy. What’s next and how will
locksmiths continue to benefit from
ERA’s investment in initiatives like the
Neighbourhood Watch?
WB: There’s a huge job to be done to
improve the nation’s home security, it’s
partly the reason why we committed to
a five-year deal with the Neighbourhood
Watch, we knew that it would take at
least this amount of time to really make
an impact. But our contribution and
message will be very much focused
around getting a professional locksmith to
improve your home security. That’s good
news for your readers.
www.erahomesecurity.com