YourNews: Busy year for laundry supplies specialist with big plans for 2017
Dry cleaning and laundry consumables specialist Alex Reid has had a busy year, investing heavily in upgrading its facility in Leicester and working on plans to develop its product offering for the coming year.
2016 saw Alex Reid return to profit, improve customer experience and streamline their product offering to better meet customers’ needs.
In early 2016 Stuart Fullerton was appointed General Manager for the firm and he quickly set about a complete overhaul of the existing business following a difficult 2015 trading performance with the company making a £1.5m operating loss. As part of his vision, the company underwent a successful rebrand with new vehicle livery and extensive re-development of their offices in Whetstone.
The new management team is now complete with the arrival of some new faces and recruitment activities continue in to 2017 to meet the requirements for the growth plans. There has been considerable investment, in the region of £35k, in staff training across all departments of the business. The company’s first Engineering Apprentice joined in September, marking the introduction of a new Apprenticeship programme to develop local youngsters.
Enhancing the customer experience has been very much at the heart of developments throughout the year and General Manager Stuart Fullerton confirmed that this will be continued into 2017.
“Strong customer focus is imperative for Alex Reid to keep on top of our game. Our aim is to improve technical expertise and skills in order to provide our clients with added value to pass on to their customers. This way the end user gets an even better level of service and improved quality of cleaning. 2016 has been a year to shape the future of the business and prepare Alex Reid for tomorrow’s world.”
“In 2017 we will be looking at focusing on innovation, and the benefits of moving away from dry cleaning to wet cleaning. The industry is now more about expertise rather than just cleaning and we hope to help impart this knowledge to our customers, proving how technological innovation can help create a sustainable environment.”
The vast majority of customers are independents’ so product knowledge and the right skill set are essential for them to compete in their own markets. Alex Reid’s goal is to provide them with all the tools they need to be the best in their field.
To this end 2017 will see the firm launch a range of professional laundry liquids along with its own dosing system, developed by parent company Christeyns. There will also be an enhanced portfolio of the latest cleaning machines available to purchase and extended training and service packages on offer to provide maximum support on all Alex Reid supplied machines and chemicals.
Alex Reid already has an extensive product portfolio that includes essential consumables, chemicals, laundry supplies, sundries, machinery, spares and parts, stocking over 3,500 items in total and supplying laundry businesses across the UK and in overseas territories.
