Page 24 - HW FEBRUARY 2022

sales & merchandising agents
JON BARRELL –
“The challenges of finding good people to deliver for our clients will remain. And the expectations of our customers and clients will only increase”
Reading between the lines, does Stephen Edlin believe some retailers have lost some of those basic retailing tricks of the trade? “I think they have,” he states.
From the consumer perspective however, Tony Puppyn, Director and Acting General Manager of Storelink, is firm in his belief that hardware remains “an exciting retail proposition.”
“If you think about what’s going on in other channels at the moment, they are becoming commercially pretty brutal and, from a consumer perspective, choices are being taken away.
“And then you look at what’s going on in the hardware channel – it’s exciting, it’s refreshing. It’s a whole consumer experience. There’s lots of innovation.”
Strikeforce New Zealand Country Manager Jon Barrell is equally positive: “The great thing about hardware is that a lot of discretionary spend has been clearly diverted into the channel, so most of our clients are seeing some fantastic results.
“Anytime the doors are closed isn’t good. But, when the doors are open and shoppers are in and spending, it’s very positive.
“Our clients are still very, very keen to be represented in-store.”
And in terms of that representation during these interesting times, sales agents have been playing an even more crucial role.
“One of my key take-outs is that we’ve been a key voice back
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to our clients in the past year,” says Jon Barrell, “whether it’s Australian clients who have been unable to travel and therefore wanting the New Zealand view or local clients whose team can’t get into store.”
KEY CHANGES TO ROLES
With the odd exception, the hardware channel has proven over the last two years that it has become adept at adapting to changing circumstances and sales agents are no exception.
With supply chain and commercial pressures and a tightening labour market, Tony Puppyn and Storelink for example are happy that “A lot of businesses are currently reviewing their business model and whether it’s still appropriate given the disruption we’ve seen in the last two years.”
One viable option may be to consider an outsourced retail service solution, says Tony without hesitation.
Back to Jon Barrell and Strikeforce, who agrees: “There is no question that the pace and quantum of change has caused us all to be a bit lighter on our feet – we’ve got to be able to respond to what different customers are saying.”
For example, although in terms of the hardware channel Strikeforce is quite merch-focused, the project side of the business has been growing apace in response to new store openings and relays.
“I think the key thing is to show value back to your clients,” says Jon.
“There’s always a need to perform.
“You need to be able to show that your presence in-store, knowledge of the category and customer contacts in the aisle are still there and that you are able to bring value back to the client, whether they’re local or otherwise.”
IT’S ALL ABOUT PEOPLE
Derek van der Vossen, owner and CEO of VRM, doesn’t want to convey a bleak outlook when I talk to him, but he is certainly concerned about the ongoing levels of uncertainty facing Kiwis.
Even VRM’s formerly simple day to day tasks – moving around the country, ensuring physical distancing, and simply doing right by store staff – have become more difficult and time consuming.
On top of which VRM, along with many other companies, has grown used to addressing the “Big Quit” as it’s called: “Lots of people are assessing where they’re at in their lives, assessing the health versus lifestyle, business, work and income and weighing all of that up,” says Derek.
As a result, he says: “Our main focus has been around keeping our team safe and making sure they’re safe and keeping well.”
And in terms of growing the VRM team, he says: “Finding people is our biggest constraint. And I can’t see that being resolved quickly any time while we’ve got very, very low unemployment.”
Continued on page 24 8 MORE AT www.hardwarejournal.co.nz