UK Skills / Case Studies

‘Now is the Time’ Award

Wickes

Britain’s favourite DIY store, Wickes has bucked the trend and enjoyed success during a turbulent time by tapping into a gap in the market.

To survive the economic downturn, Wickes expanded its bathroom and kitchens range. It was a bold move for the company, which employs 5,000 people, especially in the face of competitor closures and industry uncertainty.

But research indicated that despite the financial climate, homeowners were still serious about buying new kitchens and bathrooms. For Wickes, it made sense to invest in this area. The new ranges are a hit, thanks to an innovative business plan and the introduction of an intensive induction and training programme for the company’s design consultants.

Angela Cooley, the group training manager responsible for sales says, “Plans were drawn up to expand our kitchen and bathroom offer, extend our installation service and commence TV advertising. The new bathroom range was introduced in 181 showrooms over an eight week period before Easter 2009 and followed a few months later by a new kitchen range.”

Wickes invested a total of £5 million towards the new strategy. £65,000 was allocated to training new and existing Design Consultants and Store Management. Following an intensive recruitment exercise, Wickes employed 60 additional design consultants who typically had worked for MFI which closed for business earlier in the year. An in-store induction programme and one week residential course at the company’s National Training Centre was devised for the new staff members. After which, the new staff joined existing design consultants and store managers on a one day course created to inform them of the bathroom and kitchen ranges on offer.

In total, 780 members of staff underwent the training, becoming familiar with the vision of the company, latest selling techniques and the products available.

The investment in training has proved to be the secret of success for Wickes. In a period of 12 weeks, actual sales increased by 41%.

It’s no surprise to learn that Wickes hopes to become a bathroom and kitchens specialist and as a result plans to continue its training programme.

Mrs Cooley reveals, “The Wickes long term strategy involves repositioning Wickes showrooms and establishing the business as a kitchen and bathroom specialist. Training and development continues as we reinforce learning and prepare colleagues for the introduction of the new kitchen ranges."

Building on the success of the initial training programme, 500 Design Consultants have completed an e-learning course, attended regional conferences and have consolidated their learning with post conference e-learning and assessments.

Operations Director for Wickes, David Furness says this is only the beginning. He adds, “From the very start the training team lead the way culturally, spearheading change with their flexibility, resourcefulness and enthusiasm. Our store teams followed their lead and went out of their way to support the training and welcome in new colleagues. I am confident that the foundations of our kitchen and bathroom strategy are now in place and that this training has given us the start we needed.”

ENDS

Entry name: Wickes; Developing the Wickes showroom business during the economic recession
Location: Wickes, Group Training and Development, Wickes National Training Centre, Swallowdale Lane, Hemel Hempstead, HP2 7EX
Entry no: ENO38
Country: England

For further information contact: 
Antonia Lee 020 7429 2825 / Kate Moloughney 020 7429 2827 
antonia.lee@ukskills.org.uk
kate.moloughney@ukskills.org.uk 

About Wickes:
Wickes currently has 196 stores nation wide, and is an established brand within the UK DIY Market. Wickes stores are designed to appeal to serious DIY customers who carry out more complex projects, tradesmen who undertake general repairs, maintenance/improvement projects for households and customers looking for a design service for kitchens and bathrooms.