| 17 PlaceMakers - Riccarton REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT ‘Hitting the mark’ with trade clients PlaceMakers Riccarton has taken out the 2023 Trade Store of the Year for the second year running. T T Richard Loader PlaceMakers Riccarton is all about delivering exceptional service to its customers. So it’s been a real testament to the team’s ability to consistently achieve this that the store has won Trade Store of the Year at the 2023 Hardware Awards for the second year in a row and ninth time it has won the award overall, says Christchurch hub operations manager Rob Payne. “It means we are hitting the mark for our trade customers and shows we are doing the right thing.” The annual awards celebrate the achievements of the trade retail and supply sector throughout a year and the Trade Store of the Year accolade recognises quality of service. Rob says this is proof of the strength of the store’s customer relationships. “We’ve always worked hard to nurture close relationships with our builders and made sure to listen to their needs,” he says. The store takes a ‘back-to-basics’ approach, focused on getting the fundamentals right such as ensuring service is always of a high quality and communication with customers is great, says Rob. This included managing supply issues as best it could during the tough year and looking to see if there was a better way to do things to improve its customers’ overall experience. “We’re a trade-oriented store assisting largely builders and construction companies. If our customers’ projects are not successful then our business is not successful. So we see our business as a real partnership between us and our customers to play our part in ensuring their projects are a real success.” Rob says an important aspect is the huge knowledge offered by the team coupled with ensuring an efficient service is offered to tradies who want to get their products then get back out to the job as quickly as possible. A good example is Placemakers digital tools including a ‘skip the counter’ app. “We can scan the customer, scan their product, push go and they are done. This means they don’t have to go to the counter to get their products processed. Our store is 7300sqm so that makes a real difference,” explains Rob. The company’s trade portal, available to customers on its website, allows clients to login and price their jobs online. Alternatively if PlaceMakers is supplied with a plan one of the company’s team can price up a job. Once the job is accepted PlaceMakers manages the process through robust product and delivery management systems. After the project has been completed online statements and job accounts allow the customer to easily keep track of products ordered for each project. Although PlaceMakers offers an extensive range of products it is also able to source the unique and specific products that are sometimes specified in projects.“We have a real depth of experience in our team so we can often find special products when requested, secure the best price for our customer and then get it to them on time.” PlaceMakers Christchurch also offers a frame and truss service and can price off plans then manufacture at our plant and deliver all the product needed via its own fleet of trucks to get things to site rapidly. Rob says that builders want a supply partner that gives an excellent service to help them to operate their own businesses more productively. As part of this the Christchurch hub is relocating its Hornby store to Rolleston, due to open the end of September, to cater to demand in this growing part of Christchurch. “At PlaceMakers we’re all about making it easy for the customer.” “We’ve always worked hard to nurture close relationships with our builders and made sure to listen to their needs.” PROUD SUPPLIER AND SUPPORTER OF PLACEMAKERS CHRISTCHURCH. delfast.com
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