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Retail therapy
Technology Reseller
talks
to Carl Oxley, managing
director of Westcoast Retail,
about how the company’s
merchandising team can
help UK retailers improve
efficiency and maximise sales
merchandising team can bring to retailers.
“Most people can move a box from
location A to location B. It’s what else we
can do that makes all the difference,” he
said.
“To do the value add, a retailer has
to want to work in partnership with you.
Some do, some don’t. For those that
do, value add means working with them
collaboratively in terms of stock, sales,
forecasting, rate of sale, store breadth,
distribution, quantity of products on peg.
How do we improve the sales density of
that product on that shelf? How do we
take stock out of the supply chain while
not affecting availability?
“We work with major retailers to make
sure the in-store theatre is as good as it
possibly can be for the consumer. When
they go into a particular store, for a
particular product, is it on shelf and, if it’s
an electronic item, is it powered on and
showing demo content? Does it have the
pricing ticket? Does it have the technology
spec? Does it have any POS around it?
Does it have the box to take to till? Is the
stock available? Are there the accessories
to go with it?
“If you haven’t got all that right and
instead have half a dozen tablets or
laptops, not powered on, so that they are
black boxes that all look identical, just
with different price points, it doesn’t help
the consumer. It makes for a more difficult
and complex shopping experience and all
that happens is the consumer goes away
confused and doesn’t make the purchase.”
The model Oxley aspires to is the
Westcoast Retail is part of Westcoast,
one of the UK’s leading distributors.
With annual sales of approximately
£500 million, it is responsible for about
25% of Westcoast’s total UK sales of £2
billion.
Westcoast Retail was originally an
HP house specialising in hardware, but it
now supplies many other major brands
including Apple, Samsung, Microsoft and
Toshiba and has diversified its offering
to include much more than laptops and
printers.
Since 2005, when it acquired IT
consumables specialist Orion Media
Marketing, Westcoast Retail has been
supplying printer consumables. More
recently, it has taken on accessories for
major brands. So, as well as supplying
Apple iPhones, it can provide a full range
of accessories including cases, cables and
chargers.
The aim, according to Westcoast
Retail managing director Carl Oxley, is to
help retail customers become more of a
‘one-stop-shop’, while also generating
additional business for Westcoast.
“I believe we’re number one in retail.
We are still growing year-on-year and
there’s plenty of opportunity with new
products, new ranges and new customer
opportunities,” he said.
Added value
Westcoast Retail’s growth is not purely the
result of its expanding product range. For
Oxley, it is also testament to the added
value that the company and its 26-person
Most people can move a box
from location A to location B.
It’s what else we can do that
makes all the difference
