With the industry continuing to face significant challenges on numerous fronts, NMBS held roundtable discussions within its Heavyside and Lightside committee meetings to dig deeper into the issues.
With key challenges confront the sector in relation to skills and recruitment, and supply and inflation-led high materials prices, NMBS was keen to survey the feelings of its members and “find out more about current industry thinking on progress (and) how businesses can support each other.”
Discussions centred on three main questions covering the barriers for 2023, the prime areas for focus, and what businesses were most positive about for this year. It found that merchants within both committees will be looking to retain a competitive advantage, while placing high-quality customer feedback front-and-centre for success.
Recruitment
Recruitment was revealed to be “one of the main barriers” that Heavyside and Lightside committee merchants face in 2023.
Heavyside committee merchants Leicester Doors & Timber T/A Build Yard, Joseph Parr, George Tufts & Son and Henshaws Roofing & Building Supplies, for example, all highlighted staff recruitment and retainment as a major issue. They reported finding and hiring dedicated employees as a challenge because of the wage they are currently able to give them.
Fortunately, apprenticeships were “earmarked as a good way to find, train and retain employees because recruits are encouraged to stay in the business through their apprenticeship.”
Lightside committee merchants, such as Windsor Bathrooms, Hickman Supplies, Terratruck Limited, Gardner & Scardifield and QS Supplies, explained that as “unemployment is at an all-time low (they) are struggling to recruit the right people in an employee’s recruitment market.”
“Discussions centred on three main questions covering the barriers for 2023, the prime areas for focus, and what businesses were most positive about for this year.”
This was said to be the case across all roles, from warehouse workers to IT specialists.
Furthermore, both committees highlighted the challenge of retaining staff amid inflation rises. Businesses able to increase salaries to combat price inflation reported being able to retain and recruit better than their competitors, but were also aware of considering the long-term impact of higher fixed costs on their business.
Putting customers first
Fundamentally, merchants “would advise their sector to put customers first to help get ahead of any future recessions.”
Asking customers “for their honest opinions” was viewed as a “sure way to understand their needs better.” For instance, automating texts that ask for feedback was described as a simple way in which Heavyside merchants are getting useful customer insights to help with developing their businesses.
Moreover, training customer-facing employees with product knowledge helps reduce the work and research customers do make before making a purchase. Accordingly, making the customer “feel supported throughout the buying process is a good way to ensure return business and satisfied customers in the long term.”
For Lightside merchants, “understanding their customer base better will encourage long-term customer loyalty.” Similar to their Heavyside counterparts, getting the customer-facing staff trained “helps businesses upsell and find the product gaps they are missing.”
Within the discussions, adding new product lines or having certain products more available in showrooms was considered a simple way to make the customer journey as simple as possible.
Lightside committee merchant contributors added that “high-quality customer service is their main selling point when competing with larger national businesses” and making customers feel valued from start to finish of their buying journey is key.
Further conversation included the point that “investing in new showrooms will make the buying experience better and encourage additional purchases as customers find new products.” Indeed, many are investing in high-level training for all customer-facing staff to add value to customers’ experience through personal engagement.
Invest in the future
One simple measure was with both Lightside and Heavyside merchants reporting boosting sales training for customer-facing employees by encouraging them to take down customer details. This allows sales lead follow ups with information about discounts on products they are interested in.
Another area covered related to the point that Lightside merchants have many costly and small products, and are combating the risk of theft by securing warehouses and showrooms. The discussions encouraged there to be “wider awareness from businesses of the fact that insurance firms may not pay out if the site is poorly secured or product stocks are clearly visible to the general public.”
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