Spring Newsletter - Picture Framing Supplies from FW Holroyd

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to our spring newsletter – our way of keeping you up to date with what’s new at Holroyd’s and the trade in general. As you know, the company has been through a big transitional period since its acquisition which we hope is now delivering a better service to our customers. One area of major importance to us it that you are aware of the global issues surrounding our trade, so more about this later. Big changes are taking place in our industry and we wish to assure you that everyone at Holroyd’s at working hard to ensure that the three main criteria as a professional framer of quality, price and stock availability are consistently met. Having installed our new stock ordering system last year, any out of stocks that occur are now solely down to the issues surrounding the manufacturers and we are continuing to push hard to demand better supply from existing and new manufacturers. On the sales side we have successfully introduced our monthly specials on certain products which are proving to be very popular with you and these will continue. There are lots more changes to come at Holroyd’s as we are determined to deliver excellent customer satisfaction, the best range of mouldings and a wider range of services. We do genuinely appreciate your business and loyalty and we hope to repay that with continued improvement.

Glen Ballantyne Managing Director.

GLOBAL ISSUES

Emerging markets such as China and India are increasing demand on the world’s raw materials with wood being no exception. Environmental issues on foresting and transportation are another major factor that will affect our future. These issues have been very much to the fore in recent months and lengthy discussions with existing and new manufacturers have been based around stability of price and supply. Much has been going on behind the scenes to ensure that we all remain competitive in today’s market and we look forward with confidence to the future.

NEW MORSO BLADE SHARPENING SERVICE

At our recent visit to the SACA show in Italy we purchased a new Morso blade-sharpening machine which will allow us to offer an in-house service to our customers. The service is introduced with immediate effect at a cost of £12 per set of blades plus carriage. As an introductory offer we are offering 6 sets sharpened for £50!! The blades can be turned around in 5 working days and will be hollow ground and sharpened to an angle of 30 degrees as recommended by Morso.

NEW RANGE

Heather Gold has been burning the midnight oil producing some fascinating statistics on our range of mouldings proving that you – the customer is deciding what is popular! Our perennial best sellers will remain and at our Autumn Show we will be introducing an exciting new range of mouldings which will be of the highest quality, competitively priced and easy to work with. A smaller range will also be launched at the end of April.

DISCOUNTED MOULDING

As part of the process of bringing in the new range we have been running a special offer of a heavily discounted moulding at 40% off throughout the month of March. There are still some stocks left but be quick as this will only last another few weeks!

MORE SPRING OFFERS!

This is an introductory offer on another new range! Mirrors. The mirrors are very competitively priced and evenif we say so ourselves look fantastic! The prices are:

36” x 24” beveled mirror glass size - £40 + Vat – Minimum Recommended Retail - £99.00

40” x 30” beveled mirror glass size - £50 + Vat – Minimum Recommended Retail - £115.00

PRICE INCREASES

Inevitably, around this time, we receive correspondence from the manufacturers on annual price increases. This year, due to the global demand on wood and increase in raw materials and transport the manufacturers increases average a staggering 6% . On a positive note however, due to the launch of our new range in the Autumn we are absorbing the majority of these increases. In Autumn we are also introducing a new discount structure that meets the aspiration of all members of the trade so watch this space!

In the meantime we are forced to make some amendments to our existing terms and conditions. As of the 1stof March the following changes will apply:

Carriage charges for orders under a £130 will be charged at £10.

All orders over £130 on the mainland and non-remote areas remain free.

Volume discount of 10% will apply to orders of 30 metres and above.

This is the first price increase on transport in over 5 years.

CUSTOMER BUSINESS LUNCHES

Our central belt customers regularly visit our warehouse and we would be delighted to see more of our customers taking the opportunity to visit. To get to know our valued customers (and them to know us!) we are introducing regular business lunches that will give us the opportunity to expand on some of the issues outlined in this newsletter. At these lunches there will be a tour of our warehouse, the opportunity to meet our staff and some technical assistance on new framing techniques. Those taking this opportunity will be given “on the day incentives” to purchases. To book a place, please contact Ken Ralston for the dates on 0780 315 8159.

DIARY DATE…DIARY DATE…DIARY DATE

AUTUMN SHOW AND OPEN DAY

The launch of our new range and open day will be slightly earlier this year on Sunday 16th September. The programme for this event will be published nearer the time but please put this date in your diary as we know it will prove to be very beneficial to our customers.

WEB SITE - E MAIL ADDRESSES

This year we launched our new website which was well received for its content. There are further developments to take place including on line credit which will be launched in tandem with the new range in the Autumn.  However to assist us in improving communication we would be grateful for those customers who still haven’t given us their e-mail address to send this information to heather@fwholroyd.com

NAN MCKECHNIE

Sadly after 17 years sterling service we must say farewell to Nan McKechnie as she embarks on a new career with Esure Insurance Services in their customer services department. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Nan for all her years of faithful service and she leaves with all our best wishes.

COMMUNICATION

At Holroyd’s we believe as the industry goes though change it is imperative that we listen to our customers and partner each other in developing our businesses. We hope this newsletter has been of value and we strongly encourage our customers to comment on any matters that you feel appropriate. We are now firmly out of our “black hole” and focused on continued improvement. As Scotland’s leading wholesaler we wish to remain so, offering more services to the Scottish market.