My visit to Newark Interiors in Nottinghamshire gets off to a slightly confusing start. The staff are nowhere to be seen (a deliberate ploy it turns out) and the only customers are an elderly couple who, for some reason, assume I’m the owner.
For a second I think I’m going to have to start showing them round, but once they’ve finally spotted the bell to ring for assistance it’s not long before owner Tim Forsey arrives and explains why he takes such a laid back approach to his passing trade.
“We like to let people wander round on their own,” he says. “When I worked for Magnet, we found if you had a desk that was too near the front door, footfall dropped. So we moved the desks into the corners and people weren’t as scared to come in. Most customers are frightened to be sold to. They like to have a play around with the different kitchens and find out what they like. They wouldn’t do that if we were sitting here watching them.”
Newark Interiors opened just under seven years ago and offers the full gamut of kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms. A family firm, Forsey’s wife Vicki and daughter Laura also work in the store along with an installation specialist.
There are two main sections - the 750 sq ft kitchen area on the busy high street and a 1000 sq ft bathroom and office section across the car park at the rear. One big advantage for the business is that furniture is sourced from a local company - Easy Kitchens Co. - partly owned by Forsey. It allows them to offer a bespoke design service using their own carcases alongside door fronts from Uform and PWS. Kitchen appliances, meanwhile, come mainly from De Dietrich, Bosch and Franke.
The store has room for 10 kitchen displays although Forsey admits it still has its limitations. “I’m resticted,” he says, “so one thing I don’t show is a big bespoke display. I’d want it to be the size of four of the current ones. But then people would think they couldn’t afford it so they wouldn’t come in. You have to make yourself look welcoming.”
The store has quickly learnt what works and what doesn’t. “When we first opened we put in what we thought the people of Newark wanted but very quickly realised we’d got it wrong,” Forsey admits. “We had range cookers for example but the swing has gone back to towers, even two banks of them with a coffee machine for example. On the furniture side it’s natural woods like oak and ash. Cream gloss is also popular.”
Ahead of the game
Turnover at the store is an estimated £1.3m, significant for a studio of this size. Average order value on the kitchen side is around £13,000 and on bathrooms £8000-£9000. The bespoke element to the business, Forsey claims, helps give the store a genuine edge over its competitors. “The sheds are upping their game but if they want to introduce a new colour carcase it will take them a year,” he says. “By the time it’s on display we’ve moved away. We can show flexibility in terms of height, width and depth. We can offer variation. If other stores can’t do that, it’s their fault. They’re walking around with their eyes shut. It’s important to keep your showroom up-to-date.”
To this end, the store went through a refit two years ago and has just undergone another costing around £17,000. In some cases, suppliers have also been unceremoniously ditched. Blanco, for example has been replaced by Franke and Vitra by Roca. “I can’t knock Blanco but support wise it was dropping a little,” Forsey explains. “Franke took the time to come in here on a direct basis and although we have to buy through a distributor they give us margin support. They’ve given us far better terms than Blanco and preferential positioning on their website. We’re also a Bosch VIP on their site.”
Though Forsey is open to visits from potential new suppliers he’s critical of those who try to push their way into the store unannounced. “Reps are the scourge of this business,” he says. “I couldn’t just knock on doors like they do. It’s because they’re not very well trained. The reps we deal with would never come in without making an appointment.”
That said, he admits the switch from Vitra to Roca was mainly down to the different attitudes of the two suppliers. “We told the Vitra rep at Expo that we were doing up the showroom and he said he’d be in touch but we never heard from him,” he explains. “But Roca were on me like a ton of bricks at the same show and I’ve now got a showroom full of their products. It proves exhibitions work as long as the rep follows it up.”
The company restricts the amount of brands it stocks as a clear business strategy. About 85% of its bill payments go to five suppliers, which amounts to about 90% of turnover. “It’s a piece of advice I’d give to any retailer,” Forsey continues. “The point is we don’t want to give ten companies a bit of business here and there; we give a few companies good volume. That means we’re on top terms with all of them. What happens with a lot of retailers is they spread their credit, buy from all and sundry and end up not being important to any of their suppliers.”
Forsey suggests that in a tight market, some showrooms are employing a risky strategy. “They’re too slow paying their bills. Their order value is probably £7000-8000, less than ours, but they do five kitchens a week. They have a big showroom but their turnover is not much bigger than mine. Something’s not right in cases like that. They’re going to find it tougher.”
Warm welcome
But setting up a good showroom is also about getting the simple things right. “Another thing people make a mistake with is heating,” Forsey says. “Some have only got a calor gas heater. You need to feel like you’ve gone indoors; it makes a huge difference. If they have to take their coat off it means they’re staying.
One big headache, he says, is that a showroom can’t choose its footfall. That makes it frustrating when several customers come into the showroom at once. “The one that comes in first is the one least likely to give you any business and the one most likely to is the one stood around huffing and puffing. It’s always the same on a Saturday but I don’t like taking on weekend staff because all they tend to be able to do is take messages.”
The situation isn’t helped by the fact that there’s a completely separate building for the bathroom side of the business, meaning customers are sometimes waiting on their own. However this is partly remedied by a section at the back of the kitchen store where customers can be offered drinks from a working American fridge freezer or a coffee machine. There’s also a desk area here where designs can be presented using Easyquote.
Forsey ends my tour by walking me across the car park to the bathroom showroom. Tile displays are on the right hand side as you walk in and Roca sanitaryware on the left. The walls are painted in a light, neutral colours and the displays lit by fluorescent strip lights. Apparently these are more reliable than spots and halogen which are too directional and tend to blow. “We used to tile the displays but every time you want to change one you’ve got major problems,” he explains. “The main suppliers don’t bother tiling their showrooms so we thought we’d go the same way. We can change it very easily. I just need to fill a few holes in the mdf and put magnolia over the top.”
Ultimately, Forsey suggests a company lives and dies on its reputation. “Trust is huge,” he says. “We employ a core of fitters, our vans have the livery of Newark Interiors, everything is done through a contract. Trust and value are the two things people buy on and if you can give them a bit of both you shouldn’t go far wrong.”
