M AT U S
MATUS
Diamond Anniversary Sees Matus taking
New Market Share PRODUCTION: David Napier
In the year of its 75th anniversary, Matus has introduced new products to the market and is busy developing a strategy to grow significantly in the coming years. CEO, Greg Young tells us more about the company’s success.
//
“You’re going to wake up in the morning and let things get you down, or you’re going to wake up and tackle the world with rigour,” says Matus CEO, Greg Young. Looking back over the past 12-months, he explains that the economic environment has remained challenging, but Matus - South Africa’s leading supplier/distributor of tools, hardware and related equipment – has managed to avoid any slowdown thanks to a renewed focus on customer service and sales, and the introduction of important new brands in the company’s portfolio. “We have a good ethos and
2 / www.enterprise-africa.net
motivation for success in the company and I think the tough times sort the men from the boys,” he says. “We’re investing carefully in difficult times with the belief that we’ll come out with good returns. When the market turns, things will move very quickly for us. “In March, we held a massive trade show at an exhibition centre in Johannesburg where we exhibited all of the products that are exclusive to us as well as many products of our suppliers who came and supported us. We only invited our customers over three days, and on the first day which was for VIPs we had around 500 people, on the final two days we had around 1500
customers each day. “We launched a number of new products; a new brand of hand tools called Kendo; and extended range of automotive tools from Groz; and we launched a new range of power tool accessories called Blu-Mol. It was a fantastic event and the feedback we received from customers was that this is one of the best they’ve ever attended.” Held at Kyalami Exhibition and Conference Centre, the event allowed Matus to reinforce its name in the industry, and remind its suppliers and customers that it boasts 75 years at the industry’s helm. During the event, in the year of
INDUSTRY FOCUS: RETAIL
MATUS CEO GREG YOUNG
its diamond jubilee, Young compared the company to a diamond. He said it had been ‘formed over a long period of time, under high heat and pressure, which is what makes it so strong’. “Just as diamonds are classified and valued according to the 4C’s of Carat, Clarity, Colour and Cut, we at Matus measure ourselves against our own 4C’s. These are our Commitment, Customer focus, Choice of products and Competitiveness.”
4 / www.enterprise-africa.net
INDUSTRY LEADING Matus works towards the vision of being the supplier/distributor of choice for tools, hardware and related equipment to the DIY and industrial markets across the markets in which it plays. It promises to supply ‘hardworking brands’ and ‘work smart for you’. 12-months ago, Young told Enterprise Africa that Matus employees come to work for “more than just collecting a salary” and
thanks to this ethos, the business has managed to achieve its vision. “We’re definitely seeing great success in that area,” he says. “We’ve invested in additional sales people and product managers for specific brands. Each of them is responsible for a specific brand or a range of smaller brands, and that specific focus that we’ve created has really helped drive sales. We’ve seen significant success with one of our
MATUS
exclusive brands, Hitachi Power Tools, where we’ve had phenomenal growth through our focussed approach,” details Young. This positivity has helped the company to achieve other long-term goals, such as expanding its footprint in Africa. A long-held target for Young and Matus, African expansion is not easy for any business but with determination and strong relationship building skills, the company has managed to achieve success. “We’re currently doing well in Botswana and Namibia, we have limited exposure in Zimbabwe, and we have seen nice growth in Zambia over the past year,” enthuses Young. “We just recently picked up a nice order from a customer in Mozambique so that is looking positive. Beyond these countries, we are yet to venture. We still believe there is lot more to achieve in places like Botswana and we are looking at partners who can help us move our products into the smaller, more rural towns.” The growth of brand awareness with African customers was highlighted recently when Matus attended the popular automotive trade show, Automechanika, at Nasrec expo centre in Johannesburg in September. “We had a lot of interest from African organisations looking for products and opportunities so we’re hoping that will pay dividends,” says Young.
BACKED BY BIDVEST In 2016, Matus was acquired by Bidvest and this has helped the company to drive new business in a big way. The fresh approach to business has helped rejuvenate the company and instil confidence throughout the business. “We are now a Bidvest company and Bidvest has a strong decentralised approach to business and a strong entrepreneurial spirit,” explain young. “This has driven our sales and marketing people, and helped them to be more focussed. We try and create the atmosphere of ‘whether it’s your product range or your sales territory, that’s your business – what are you doing to grow that business?’ and trying to turn our business to a number of small businesses so that our people take ownership and have accountability. “Just by having the Bidvest name behind the business, it’s a very well-
respected name, and it gives both suppliers and customers a lot of comfort,” he says. The last 12-months have seen a number of changes at Matus, but business has not slowed while changes have been embedded. “We have grown our retail market share. We’ve had success with Hitachi Power Tools through Builders Warehouse, and in general across all the retail fronts we’ve taken market share. Retail in South Africa at the moment faces an extremely tough trading environment, but even in these tough times we are taking market share,” Young enthuses. He puts the increase in market share down to customer service and the additional focus that Matus has been putting on sales. “Since being acquired by Bidvest, we feel we’re now in a long-term home and everyone has their focus, 100%, on the customer.”
//JUST BY HAVING THE BIDVEST NAME BEHIND THE BUSINESS, IT’S A VERY WELL-RESPECTED NAME, AND IT GIVES BOTH SUPPLIERS AND CUSTOMERS A LOT OF COMFORT//
www.enterprise-africa.net / 5
INDUSTRY FOCUS: RETAIL
BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE Despite the ongoing success that Matus has achieved, this innovative organisation is keen to always build on its strong platform and bring new, inventive offerings to customers. “We need to improve our digital offering,” says Young. “We have recently updated our website and have plans for brand specific websites. We are proud of our product portal, tradecounter.co.za, a website where any end-user can find information about products and where they can be purchased. The company is very keen on developing this site with a view of turning it into a platform through which re-sellers and end
6 / www.enterprise-africa.net
users could receive training around the products they need, developing a strong, industry-wide knowledge base. We haven’t developed tradecounter. co.za much this year,” admits Young. “The focus has been to launch the physical products but we are now working on getting the back-end and all the data for all the products updated so that we can refresh tradecounter. It is operating in the background and within the next six-months, we want to have that portal looking a whole lot more user-friendly and complete with our entire range.” Tradecounter is not a transactional website. For transactions, Matus offers a B2B portal called Rapidtrade. Rapidtrade
allows customers to create orders, place quotes, view monthly specials and track updates of orders. In addition to Rapidtrade Matus has developed a EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) interface with one of its larger customers and anticipates growing the number of customers ordering via EDI. When fully updated, tradecounter will offer another space in which Matus can communicate with its widespread customer base. This will be vital if the company is to achieve its target for the future which include doubling market share and doubling revenue. Currently, Matus’ sales sit at around R1 billion per annum but Young
MATUS
//WE’RE NOT RELYING ON THE ECONOMY TO GROW FOR US TO GROW – WE STILL BELIEVE THAT WE ARE ABLE TO TAKE MARKET SHARE, EVEN IN A DORMANT ECONOMY// wants this to increase significantly. “We certainly have ambitious targets. To achieve these, we would require a change in the economy. We are looking at five years for doubling turnover. I know we have big ambitious goals, but there’s no reason why we shouldn’t aspire to reach big achievements.” His outlook for the future is positive and Young is looking past the current
short-term poor economic situation, to turn, to aid the company’s growth. But even if there are further disruptions in South Africa’s economic climate, Matus is well-placed to maintain its growth trajectory. “For us, the economy is still very flat when it comes to manufacturing and construction. In December, when the President of the ANC is replaced, we hope to
see more confidence and certainty, and we hope that this will encourage the consumer and industry to start spending money. Despite this, Matus doesn’t have a dominant market share and we’re not relying on the economy to grow for us to grow – we still believe that we are able to take market share, even in a dormant economy,”Young concludes, with his typical ‘tackle the world with rigour’ character.
MATUS +27(11) 681 9100 info@matus.co.za www.matus.co.za
www.enterprise-africa.net / 7
CMB Multimedia does not accept responsibility for omissions or errors. The points of view expressed in articles by attributing writers and/ or in advertisements included in this magazine do not necessarily represent those of the publisher. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained within this magazine, no legal responsibility will be accepted by the publishers for loss arising from use of information published. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or stored in a retrievable system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the publisher. © CMB Multimedia Ltd 2017
AFRICA
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE FOR AFRICA’S INDUSTRY LEADERS
Published by CMB Multimedia Chris Bolderstone – General Manager E. chris@cmb-multimedia.com Sackville Place, 44-48 Magdalen Street, Norwich, NR3 1JU T. +44 (0) 20 8123 7859 E. info@cmb-multimedia.com www.cmb-multimedia.com
Issue No.63
www.enterprise-africa.net
TRANSNET PORT TERMINALS
Making SA Ports
World Class Exclusive Interview with
Nozipho Sithole
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
SANSA / Imperial Holdings / Select PPE / Matus
A S F E AT U R E D I N
ENTERPRISE AFRICA
OCTOBER 2017