“Trade Profile Wickes”

Insightdiy
Intelligence and Insight for the DIY Industry
Trade Profile
Wickes
TRADE PROFILE
Overview:
Alongside Toolstation and Tile Giant, Wickes is one of three retail
companies that comprise the Consumer division of Travis Perkins PLC
- a key player in the UK builders’ merchant and home improvement
retail sector.
Although Wickes has a strong trade focus its stores are open to the
public. Customers can purchase goods online, via their smartphones,
in-store, or opt to use Wickes’ click and collect service which launched
in 2014 and allows an order to be placed online and collected from a
local store, usually within three hours.
The Wickes name originated in 1854 in Michigan, USA, where Henry
Dunn Wickes and his brother had started a small lumber operation.
By the 1950s when the US property boom took hold, the business
had evolved into a ‘one-stop-shop’ style of DIY retailing, offering a
full range of construction goods. In 1972, Wickes crossed the pond
when its owners established a joint venture with UK builders’ merchant
Sankeys, which saw the opening of the first UK Wickes store, located
in Whitefield, Manchester.
In 1987 Wickes was floated on the London Stock Exchange. In 2000
it was bought by Focus and, in 2005, Travis Perkins acquired the
business for £950million. Currently, the Consumer division has annual
sales of £1.3bn and a market share of approximately 10%.
Insightdiy Trade Profile - Published January 2015
Contact Information:
Wickes
Wickes Suppport Centre
19 Colonial Way
Watford
Hertfordshire
WD24 4JL
United Kingdom
Tel: 01923 656600
Email: Via website
Twitter: @Wickes
Web: www.wickes.co.uk
www.travisperkinsplc.co.uk
Key Personnel:
Simon King Managing Director, Wickes
Mike Ashley Chief Commercial Officer
Mike Hollis Chief Operating Officer
Duncan Kendall Supply Chain Director
Ian Crook Chief Marketing Director
Fraser Longden - HR Director
Anthony Smith - Finance Director
Ian Kennedy - Multichannel Director
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Trade Profile
Wickes
Trading Strategy
Wickes states that its mission is to be ‘the strongest brand
in the market while offering outstanding value for money’
and attributes its success to this approach, claiming that it
has enabled the business to ‘consistently expand its store
base and thrive’, despite the recessions of the 80s and
90s, and the challenging economic climate today along
with click and collect.
Wickes’ ambition is to always offer lower prices than its
competitors and to offer the brands demanded by the trade
and serious DIY-ers, enabling customers to complete any
DIY or trade renovation, maintenance or improvement
project.
In December 2013 the Travis Perkins Group outlined its
strategy for the future, which is centred on four priorities:
•
Accelerate innovation of customer propositions
•
Expand network and intensify use of space
•
Exploit scale advantage
•
Prioritise investments throughout the portfolio
Each of the Group’s divisions has specific strategic plans
and the key elements of the Consumer division’s strategy
are to:
•
Enhance Wickes proposition to tradesmen and
serious ‘DIYers’
•
Gain nationwide coverage through Wickes store
estate including renewing its store format
•
Expand the Toolstation network through Wickes
implants and standalone shops
•
Continue multi-channel development
The Wickes plan is graphically represented below:
Wickes states that plans are progressing to improve online
and in-store availability, improve ranges and enhance the
level of customer service. In addition, the Travis Perkins
Group believes that there is opportunity to further enhance
sales through Wickes’ expanding multi-channel business
by adding additional ranges. The Wickes website was
relaunched in 2014, along with click and collect.
Own-brand has been the traditional focus of the Wickes
business, with branded goods accounting for around
10% of sales in recent years. Wickes has stated that this
approach provided distinct advantages: in-store space was
saved and the company was able to closely control the
supply and manufacturing of own-brand goods, enabling
it to offer a quality range of products at consistently low
prices. However, July 2014 saw Wickes announce plans
to double the number of branded goods from suppliers
such as Stanley, Bosch, Dulux and Makita, in response
to customer demand. It is understood that the retailer
is looking to have just one brand for each of its core
categories so as not to dilute its value stance
Travis Perkins group finance director Tony Buffin said: “I
think previously we’ve been a bit too pure to our own label
proposition and now we are listening to customers better
and stocking the products our customers require.”
Insightdiy Trade Profile - Published January 2015
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Trade Profile
Wickes
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Stores and Employees
Wickes currently operates 232 stores across the UK, each with an
average store size of 25,000-30,000 sq ft. Thirteen of its branches
were acquired when Focus went into administration in 2011.
Year
Store Numbers
Employee Numbers
2010
200
5,710
2011
221
5,783
2012
224
5,729
2013
229
5,479
2014
232 (as of December)
N/A
Most Wickes stores are located on retail parks and out-of-town sites,
although the retailer does operate a number of high street kitchen
and bathroom showrooms, which replaced its underperforming
conservatory and bedroom showrooms from 2009.
In November 2011, as part of its wider plans to test new revenue
streams, Wickes opened a trial 700-sq ft high street store in Tunbridge
Wells. The store offers 2,500 products, with a further 2,500 available
to order for next-day from in-store catalogues. At the time of launch
Simon Holder, then multi-channel development director at Wickes, said
that the format allows the retailer to test a number of different areas,
including the high street, and trial swapping retail space for higher
distribution costs. He said: “This will be well positioned for people
who want to pick up things in their lunch hour or on their way home
from work”, adding, “This is very much a trial on a bigger road map. It
brings into sharp focus how we can really tighten up our merchandise
and have a denser offer of products. It’s a trial of how high street stores
can work for us.”
During the first half of 2013 Toolstation opened four ‘implants’
within Wickes stores. According to Travis Perkins, this strategy has
contributed to Wickes’ rental costs, has driven additional footfall and
produced solid returns in their own right for the Toolstation business
without increasing the Group’s lease commitments. Further implants
have since been opened and customer feedback is understood to
have been encouraging.
During 2015, Wickes is planning to refurbish a number of stores, with a
view to rolling this out across the store estate between 2016 and 2019.
In the longer term, Wickes has stated that it believes there is opportunity
to open 10-15 new stores a year, with a longer term ambition of
approximately 60 new stores across the UK.
Insightdiy Trade Profile - Published January 2015
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Trade Profile
Wickes
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Financials
Travis Perkins has elected to report on the performance of its Consumer division as a whole, rather than breaking down
the figures by individual company. However, the company Wickes Building Supplies Ltd (a wholly owned subsidiary
Wickes Holdings Ltd, whose ultimate parent is Travis Perkins PLC) still reports its figures to Companies House, which
is the source of the data below.
Year
Turnover
£000’s
Operating Profit
£000’s
Operating
Margin %
Pre-tax Profit
£000’s
Turnover
Growth %
Notes
2010
969,052
5.9
48,573
1.0
Year ending 01-01-2011
2011
980,450
4.5
40,375
1.2
Year ending 12-31-2011
2012
976,136
5.6
55,550
(0.4)
Year ending 12-29-2012
2013
972,038
50,539
39,483
58,283
50,350
5.3
49,441
(0.4)
Year ending 12-28-2013
NB – all figures from Wickes Building Supplies Ltd filings at Companies House, with the exception of operating margin,
which refers only to the Consumer division of Travis Perkins (as given by the company).
Travis Perkins is due to reveal full year trading results for 2014 in March 2015; Wickes Building Supplies Ltd is next due
to file accounts in September 2015.
Latest Trading Update
October 2014 - Third Quarter Trading Update
In its third quarter trading update, published on 17th October 2014,
Travis Perkins stated that ‘encouraging momentum’ was continuing,
and that the business as a whole had achieved total sales growth of
6.9% and like-for-like sales growth of 5.7% while the Consumer division
achieved total sales growth of 8.5% (6.4% LFL) in a weak market.
John Carter, CEO of Travis Perkins, commented: “Trading has
remained strong for most of our businesses and the Group’s continued
good performance is underpinned by the successful introduction of a
number of self-help initiatives. We have outperformed our markets
whilst making strategic investments that we are confident will support
continued market share gains.
General merchanting performed well with work to modernise the
business progressing, the strengthened management team at Wickes
has continued to build on the early progress seen in the second quarter.
I am confident that our plans to improve each of our businesses.
Resulting in profitable organic growth, combined with our strong focus
on returns, will create substantial further shareholder value.”
Insightdiy Trade Profile - Published January 2015
Insightdiy
Intelligence and Insight for the DIY Industry
Trade Profile
Wickes
Latest News
15th January 2015 Wickes awards £24m advertising account to Iris
read full article
14th January 2015 Wickes opens new store in Shipley, creating 22 jobs
read full article
5th December 2014 Interview with Wickes e-Commerce director Lee Faetz
read full article
30th November 2014 Wickes reviewing £25million advertising account
read full article
Insightdiy
Intelligence and Insight for the DIY Industry
NEWSLETTERS
Keep up to date with the latest
Wickes news by visiting the
retailer pages on
www.insightdiy.co.uk and
signing up to the Insight DIY
newsletter.
17th October 2014 Third quarter growth for Travis Perkins
read full article
14th August 2014 Wickes appoints Dentsu Aegis Network to social, PPC and SEO
accounts
read full article
14th August 2014 Wickes appoints Dentsu Aegis Network to social, PPC and SEO
accounts
read full article
29th July 2014 Travis Perkins releases excellent half year results
read full article
26th February 2014 Wickes appoints Ian Crook as marketing director
read full article
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Insightdiy Trade Profile - Published January 2015
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all information provided was true and correct to the
best of our knowledge. We accept no responsibility
for changes to these details without our knowledge or
due to circumstances beyond our control. We will use
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