Phil Beechinor: ‘Everything was done on a Saturday in the showroom’
To round out kbbreview's 40th anniversary celebrations, Phil Beechinor, managing director of Alexander, walks us through some of the biggest changes he's seen across his career.
Q: How did you come to enter the industry?
A: Back in 1984 I started working for a kitchen manufacturer down in the South Coast. I started working off in the factory and then progressed from there.
Q: Is there anything that the industry does differently now that it used to be better at?
A: It’s been spoken about a lot already, but there’s definitely a shortage of good labour and good installers now. As years have gone on it’s harder and harder to find good plumbers and electricians too. We’ve brought young people on, they stay with you, they move on, they might move out of industry or they decide to go self-employed. It doesn’t seem to be a job for life anymore. They want to be into marketing or influencing or law or into recruitment. So from the youngsters’ point of view, it’s not necessarily seen as an attractive industry for them.
Q: Have you noticed any difference in terms of stock levels now? Did stock used to be easier or harder to get your hands on?
A: 30 years ago or more, everything used to be stocked. And there was less choice because the doors were all stacked in a factory somewhere, whereas now, everything seems to be more made to order. If you go back to 30 or 40 years ago, there were really probably only sort of four or five styles of doors that were the popular ones, whereas now it seems they’re infinite.
Q: Do you think customer expectations have changed since the halcyon days of the 1980s?
A: Yes and no. I think ultimately they’ve always wanted a good, reliable service and good quality products. I think that the way that we do business has changed. It used to be everything was done on a Saturday in the showroom. It always very, very busy at the weekends. Not necessarily the expectations have changed, but I do think that the way that we do business. You have to be on call 24/7 sitting in your office waiting for someone to contact you. Once presentations have been done in the showroom, everything is quite digital, know, emailing, planning, designs, answering questions.
Listen to the full interview with Phil, as well as other retailers, on an upcoming episode of The kbbreview Podcast.