Local Landmarks

L-R Josh Howell (retail director), Martin Howell (chairman), Daniel Howell (wholesale director)

We caught up with Luke Brown, head of retail & development at T G Howell & Sons, to find out more about how a small independent merchant is helping keep its customers satisfied.

T

T G Howell & Sons started in 1956, manufacturing wooden ladders at a small family site in South Wales. It has now grown and expanded its operations so that over 65 years later, there’s nothing they don’t know about timber, with over 70% of its sales coming from treated sawn products. The business now operates two merchant sites and a five-acre wholesale distribution yard with treatment facility. As they have grown over the years, people have remained at the heart of what they do and is something the business is incredibly proud of.

What sets the business apart compared to other merchants locally?

Timber availability is something that we’ve always strived ourselves on. We want our customers to feel confident that we have the material they need – when they need it. For this reason, we typically keep a large volume of our timber on the shelf. This gives us the ability to service orders internally and externally with a much quicker turnaround than many other local merchants. To assist this, we operate our own delivery service with vehicles ranging from 3.5 - 44T. This allows us to cater to a range of customers, from home deliveries to order direct to site.

How has the timber material supply chain been over recent months – is it stabilising? Where have the pressure points been and is the energy crisis changing trade?

Over the last few months, our supply chain has started to stabilise. Materials are now much more accessible, in complete contrast to what we saw over the last 12-18 months. We would even go as far as saying material has been easier to source than it should be, for the time of year. The pressure points have come from the range of timber that’s been available since mid-2020 and uncertainty over Russian timber supply following the start of the war in Ukraine. More recently, our current energy crisis has caused a change to our customers shopping behaviour, as many people remain uncertain about the cost of their bills over the winter period.

What are the market leading timber products for the trade and construction sector that you are seeing?

Our core focus as a business is fencing and landscaping product. With this in mind, feather edge and standard sawn timber remain the leading products from our range. We always make sure our timber is supplied from FSC or PEFC-certified suppliers. In fact, this is one of our criteria for suppliers, as we would never consider offering uncertified or conflict timber.

How does T G Howell & Sons see the merchant sector developing over the next 18 months – how can the sector improve and thrive more?

The next 18 months look set to be a challenge for the merchant sector. Coming off the back of two very strange years, things seem to have slowed down to pre-Covid demand. Our business and certainly the industry learnt a lot over the last couple of years. As an independent, we’re aware that we relied too heavily on sales just through our merchant sites, failing to invest as much as we should have in our digital systems and online. The huge upturn in customers shopping from home throughout the pandemic gave us an opportunity to really drive this area of our business. As we begin to return to the new ‘norm’, a lot of these shopping behaviours seem to have remained and customers are shopping around a lot more before committing to purchase materials. We only see this trend increasing over the next 18 months, as the future remains uncertain on the increase in cost of living. That’s why we’re continuing to invest in this area of our business to better serve our customers and to remain reactive to changes in our market.

See overleaf for more on how T G Howell & Sons have partnered with Kerridge Commercial Systems to improve its business efficiencies and their end level of customer service.

K8: Business management solution of choice for the timber industry

• Cloud-based software that’s affordable, flexible and scalable • Optimise your warehouse management and meet your customers’ delivery expectations • Get trading online and open up new channels to market quickly and easily • Powerful financial control – manage your rebates, automate invoice processing • Improve your team’s performance, manage your margins and boost profits

Go Optimum Go Digital

In 2020 Terry Howell, an independent family timber and builders’ merchant in South Wales, partnered with Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) to implement their leading ERP solution, K8.

T

he business selected K8 because it is specifically designed and developed for the merchant industry, improving efficiencies and their end level of customer service.

K8 is a sophisticated and intuitive trading platform that enables merchants to manage everything from front-end sales to back-office administrative functions. Additionally, the software is designed to help merchant and distribution businesses improve their day-today performance with boosted profits and margins they can manage in detail.

Established in 1956, Terry Howell began its life manufacturing wooden ladders before diversifying into sawmilling fencing material at their timber mill in South Wales. Since then, the business has grown to include two merchant locations and a five-acre wholesale site, supplying timber and fencing material to independent merchants across the UK. The company prides itself on quality, service and value for money.

“As the scale of our business continued to grow,” says Martin Howell, chairman at Terry Howell. “We needed a way to ensure our sales and inventory processes were more efficient. That way, we could meet increased demand and improve the end experience for our customers.”

Recognising the need to streamline and improve accuracy with business management software, Luke Brown, head of retail at Terry Howell, explains why the timber merchants chose K8. “What really stood out to us about K8 was the scope for tailoring the system to suit our specific business needs. In addition, we were really encouraged by the knowledge and expertise of the consultancy team. Having individuals on our project who understood our industry was a huge help in the build stages, with the ability to bounce ideas off each other and share best practices on how we could get the system to work for us.”

Since implementing the system in November 2021, the business has already seen a huge change in its ability to forecast sales and stock requirements. Historically, Terry Howell had relied on handwritten sales orders and inventory processes, which was proving inefficient as the scale of the business continued to grow. Luke explains further: “This was a huge process change for our business, especially going from pen and paper, but our team have been phenomenal in rising to the challenge.”

And while Terry Howell has already seen improvements since implementing K8, they’re not stopping there. The business is partnering with KCS on their next project, the implementation of K8 WebPro. Scheduled to roll out later this year, K8 WebPro is a cloud-based ecommerce add-on that allows businesses to receive orders online directly into the K8 system.

Supporting both B2B and B2C trading models, the system was the perfect choice for Luke and the team. “Since K8, we’ve been keen to focus on the change in consumer buying behaviour, especially online,” adds Luke. “For example, in just a quick internet search, you can find a list of a dozen companies that might be supplying timber or building materials locally. We wanted a way for us to provide our customers with a better online experience and really shout about who we are as a family business. K8 WebPro helps us do that.”

It’s clear to see that Terry Howell has seen steady and continuous growth since being founded in 1956. Moving to K8 has streamlined their existing business processes and given them a platform to accelerate their digital journey over the next year. Currently, Terry Howell continues to gain momentum and coupled with K8, the company shows no signs of slowing down.

More at  www.terryhowell.co.uk  www.kerridgecs.com