One year after opening their mobility store in Southampton one of the directors, Jeff Newman, discussed how things were going.
Jeff, whose previous career had been as a milkman, recognised that many of his previous customers were also potential purchasers of mobility equipment. He teamed up with his son, Steven and his business partner, Chris and together they purchased an Ableworld franchise for the Southampton region. A suitable property was located locally and trading commenced at the end of May in 2014.
Jeff reflected on his thoughts at the time.“Having had daily contact with elderly and disabled customers in my previous occupation, I witnessed several fall injuries and mobility complaints,” he said. “With our store having good parking and being on several main bus routes I believed our highly visible and accessible superstore on Portsmouth Road, opposite the bus station, would fill a gap in the market and serve as a welcome benefit to the community.”
So, one year later how does Jeff feel the enterprise has gone? “It has met all our expectations – especially the satisfaction we get from providing the right products for our customers”.
Numbers-wise, Jeff and the team have consistently hit and beaten budget and have proved that their initial thoughts about the viability of having a modern one-stop mobility store in Southampton were correct.
Of course there have been challenges – getting the marketing mix right has been one of the big ones – but with the help of franchisor’s marketing team Jeff feels that they now have a much better grasp on where their marketing budget is best spent.
In fact an increasing amount of Southampton’s turnover is repeat business and the store has received numerous testimonials from satisfied customers which has led to word of mouth recommendations. Another good source of business has been from local and passing trade.
And what about the future? After a successful first year Jeff sees the second as one of consolidation. “We have looked at moving into other areas like the specialist side of the business but we would like to concentrate on continuing to build on our current customer base.”
With average franchise turnover across the network showing an almost 30% increase on the previous year, there is plenty for Jeff and the team to keep them occupied!
