Page 25 - HW May 2022

glues, sealants & adhesives
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between how much stock you’ve got and how much you can actually sell.
“Pricing has been an issue, and we’ve taken really big hits
on margins, but we’ve just had to absorb the higher costs,” he says, adding: “Perhaps we haven’t been fast enough going to the market with price increases?
“One thing is for sure, you can’t help but feel sorry for the merchants who are being inundated with price increases. After all, no-one has a big department of people waiting to action all of these increases.”
And if Darren Newland over at Selleys had a crystal ball?
“If you could have foreseen some of the issues that we faced,
I probably would have taken a faster and more aggressive response to increasing weeks of cover of stock, and really building a buffer as much as possible, because I don’t think any of us could have seen the supply chain having so much of an impact for so long.
“Initially, we probably identified the problem but figured that it would sort itself out and unfortunately it just hasn’t. If we had had a crystal ball, we could have built ourselves a war chest and benefitted off the back of that.
DARREN NEWLAND (SELLEYS):
“I’m hoping that if we can manage our way through the next 12 months and the issues that are looming on the horizon, they shouldn’t have too much of an impact on our industry”
“And, with the costs of some raw materials going absolutely crazy, we could have built a bit more of a war chest around those as well. But, at some point, that would have run out and we would have been in the same situation.”
As for an outlook, Darren Newland is hopeful that some of the new variables start to resolve themselves.
“The situation in Ukraine is just crazy and the impact that it’s having across so many parts of the global market is huge.
“And there are indications coming through with interest rates and mortgage rates that we might be heading into a downturn.
“But, at the same time, the hardware industry is a pretty resilient one because when the economy tightens up, people are often not travelling as much, they tend to be at home more, and it reinvigorates the upgrading or refreshing of homes.
“I’m hoping that if we can manage our way through the next 12 months and the issues that are looming on the horizon, they shouldn’t have too much of an impact on our industry.
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