How Independents Can Control the Market………

[Penguin45]

A little bit of late night rambling which you might like to ponder……..

15 years ago, independent engineers went round with vans full of cheap stock (mainly Hoover and Hotpoint – they were the big 2, after all). We happily milked the “cash cow” which was these simple, cheap and, if we’re honest, not really very good, machines. There are towns and cities around the country where, back then, finding an independent who would fix a Bosch or an AEG (God help you if you had a Candy!) was extremely difficult. An attitude of “German machines – difficult – expensive” was very common, so finding an engineer to take on a repair was difficult. It influenced the market as well……

A great number of people will still buy an appliance on the engineers say so – back then, we probably even told people to get rid of the excessively expensive German stuff and buy something you can afford to have fixed……… Well, I suggest that that was a double edged sword, if ever there was one. With the passage of time, I still have a van stuffed full of Hoover and Hotpoint spares. And Bosch, AEG, Zanussi, Indesit and all the major stuff.

The point is, we probably (quite markedly) influenced the buying pattern of the public to suit our own perceived needs. I would suggest that we are now reaping what we have sown…. The “easy fix” brands we loved all those years ago have descended to a level where they are not economically viable to repair due to the initial purchase costs, not too mention the cost of spares. And they’re no longer simple either. Sure, we can point some of the blame at the continuous cost cutting policies of the sheds in order to shift another white box out of the door for a £30 profit, but we must shoulder some of the blame.

Reading through a slew of recent posts suggests that there’s not much that we really like by way of product any more. Public enquiries as to “What should I buy?” are met with Bosch, Seimens, Miele. Given that the great majority of site members are now fixing these brands, one is forced to asked “why?”. I suggest that we are now trying to force the public back into a position where they buy a product worth repairing………

There are perhaps 1000 trade members of the site, and they’re not all repairers (although there is documented proof that kwatt has repaired two appliances this year 😀 ) – that leaves another 30,000 odd around the country who are not receiving the benefits of UKW. Here in Leeds, there’s a whole 4 of us – and Ivan, who’s a mate and I try and keep him up to date – so the other 40 odd are probably still saying stupid things like “Buy a Hotpoint” to their customers; thereby helping us to our own demise.

We have the opportunity to push things our way, if we work together as we do at the moment. ISE is a boon to me, I have a cost effective quality product I can push with confidence. Bosch – well, overall I still have confidence, Gorenje – like it for the money. Zanussi – OK…… Whirlpool, I can deal with it, SMEG – like the product, not the spares prices – not much else I’d put into your home and leave with a clear conscience.

I am still repairing lots of Hotpoint 95’s and WM’s – getting to the stage where customers are asking “What should I buy next?”. I have to reply, “Don’t buy another Hotpoint, whatever you do”. At this point, we get to the crux of the matter. I can’t in all honesty recommend anything under £300 – I’ve outlined a few of my favourites above, so what do we want to promote for the future? And it is our future at stake – if we don’t promote value for money, repairable product now, there may be nothing left that we can turn a profit on fixing in the future.

I don’t intend this to be a negative post, more of a “Let’s push while we can” – for our mutual benefit.

Better mention LG before I go – I do keep the handle kit on the van.

Thanks for reading – been a while since I went off on one, but 6k posts seemed a valid excuse.

Chris.
:p45:

[admin]

Re: How Independents Can Control the Market………

An interesting view of things Chris.

I would suggest we don’t control the market at all. With 1.4 million washers sold in the UK, millions ££££’s spent on marketing and advertising by the manufacturers we are but a part of the big picture.

I agree that we can and do infuence some customers buying trends, but not significantly to control any part of the market.
As you suggest, you are able to promote ISE and build value and longevity into your own business, but much of that is down to YOU and your approach to this business. ISE is a platform for you because you make it so.

What should we recommend, you ask.
Having had a Hotpoint W/Dryer for 10 years followed by a Bosch auto for 10 years I now have an ISE. I had to fix both the Hotpoint and the Bosch during their life spans and honestly can’t say one was better than the other, both washed the clothes. Ok the Bosch ramped into spin better than the Hotpoints suicidal method, but thats it.
The real problem is there are too many manufacturers cutting costs whilst maximising profit, right across the board. Material, technical, service and spares.
So how can you recommend anything when they (the maker) totally will not support the independent. Ok some support their own networks of independents, but shun the rest of it.
Therfore I recommend appliances I can get support on, that rules out AEG, Bosch, Merloni products, Whirlpool, De Dietrich, Samsung, LG, Daewoo….and on and on and on.

Kevin
Who got so fed up with manufacturers antics, conceived the ISE appliance with 3 other like minded repairers.

[wilf]

Re: How Independents Can Control the Market………

15 years ago a bog standard 800 would cost you not short of 300 quid. H.M. gov decided prices were fixed too high and stepped in to the delight of the big boys who thought they could see a killing. now, you can buy a “good” machine (i.e. AW1001) for not much more than 200 quid
the result in my own town is independants from eight to two big boys gone ,well, out of town sheds now. a modern generation of customers that expect prices to continue to fall and use that well worn opening line “whats your cheapest……………”

oh the good old days wilf

[kwatt]

Re: How Independents Can Control the Market………

When we set up ISE and effectively ambushed a certain Mr Hopwood he said at the time that ISE, whilst expensive, was an extremely appealing consumer proposition (marketing speak for a good deal all round) and it had the most powerful argument of all as one of it’s main strengths on price, “You get what you pay for and if you want to buy cheap then…”

I don’t much go on about ISE on here, I don’t see the need as the people that are smart enough will get it and sell them with little trouble and a good many have proven me right. The people that don’t, well in all honesty I just don’t bother with them and let them do what they’ve always done. But if you don’t try something new nothing will ever change.

Kevin and I along with Sean and Dave got so hacked off with the notion that we were not allowed to repair anything we sold that Kev and I didn’t sell at all, it wasn’t worth the bother. Sean and Dave did, promoting what they were also agents for even if it wasn’t too great at least they got the back-end work on it and could (hopefully) support their customers in the future.

The situation was a joke frankly, utterly laughable in many ways and so unlike most other industries with which you could draw a comparison.

The whole thing is about customer retention. That’s where the real problem lies.

Your customers are being pinched by glossy sales tactics making promises that cannot be delivered, or come with a catch, in regards to products. I find some of the advertising hillarious to say the least, bordering on lies in many cases.

You see work being corralled by British Gas and who knows who else selling insurance policies to retain the customer not only to sell that service but others as well. It’s guesstimated that BG have 3 million customers on policies now, that’s 3 million customers we won’t see unless they have an issue with BG.

British Gas is only one company, there are others.

On top of that what allegience do you get from most companies these days? Three months termination (har har) and very often slow payments as well as no guarantee beyond the next fax or email you get.

We see on contract work the costs being shunted onto the repairer, recalls that aren’t recalls, 28 day warranties on the whole machine which is desperately unfair and a slew of other terms that, were it not for the lack of work many would tell them to place where the sun never reaches.

Much of that I would agree, we bring on ourselves for accepting.

Do we influence the market, probably we do, by how much I’ve no idea and it would be extremely difficult to measure but I suspect that the results could be surprising.

How much do we affect our own market though? Massively.

So we brought you ISE to enable you to retain your customers for as long as possible, the hope being that you also retain the other appliances for repair with that customer. You retain your own database of customers which, we hope, will build some value into your business when it comes time to retire or move on. We dont’ want to sell cheap as that would encourage replacement rather then a repair.

Show me another manufacturer with that attitude.

We have still more to bring you, we might have something to tell you about in a couple of weeks, on the morning of Friday 22nd in fact in Manchester. Our work is far from done.

The point is that you can either work to save yourself and try to secure a future or you can sit back on the fence relying instead on others making sure you’re alright. A long time ago I stopped relying on others in this industry as most of them are out to screw you for what they can get from you.

UK Whitegoods and ISE are not about that at all, but we will attempt to give you the tools and as much help as we can with which to help yourself.

K.

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