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<\/h5>\n<\/h5>\nNot a lot has fazed Luckins over the years\u2026 take-overs, postal strikes, the three day week, decimalisation and rampant inflation have all had their part to play in the company\u2019s history and tested its ingenuity and efficiency to the nth degree. But throughout, Luckins has always delivered.<\/p>\n
Luckins\u2019 name runs through the industry like a stick of Brighton rock. The indispensable pricing guide has had many twists and turns \u2013 starting as a relatively low-tech, lick and stick price reporter in the days before computerisation.<\/p>\n
Content Director, Richard Appleton explains: \u201cOriginally, the pricing data was provided in the form or large loose leaf books. We\u2019d gather the information and update pages, so the wholesaler would receive a pack of replacement pages each week.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started well before we had computers. Manufacturers would send us price lists and that data was compiled onto the pages of a book by typing them on bits of paper, sticking them on with cow gum and creating printing plates from that. Looking at some of the early books, you can tell they were printed from pages that had been typed and sometimes, things are a bit wobbly.\u201d<\/p>\n
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In the first few years, a number of challenges occurred. Continues Richard: \u201cBetween 1966 and the mid-\u201970s, there was massive inflation, peaking at 24%, so prices were changing all the time and it was almost impossible to keep up.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen we had decimalisation \u2013 I believe we produced prices in pounds, shillings and pence and in the \u2018new money\u2019. Effectively, two sets of pages were published.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen there were postal strikes. With inflation and masses of price changes, how were we going to get the price lists to the wholesalers?<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people who were usually typing up the lists and sticking them down with cow gum would have to take boxes of updates in envelopes then drive to a friendly wholesaler who would act as a drop off point, then customers would drive in to pick up their updates.\u201d<\/p>\n
Such service was much appreciated by Luckins\u2019 customers and the company became very much a part of the industry.<\/p>\n
Says Richard: \u201cThe Luckins book was like an industry Bible and every wholesaler had one on the counter. Behind the scenes, there was probably another one being used for invoicing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since 1966, the range of electrical products has grown enormously. Says Richard: \u201cIn the first price reports, there were probably 50,000 products. Today\u2019s database contains 1.4 million. The scope has also broadened. Once, there were just 10 manufacturers of wiring accessories \u2013 now there are 50.\u201d<\/p>\n
The technological revolution has seen a raft of additions, from IT and data networking components to renewables, security, access control and more.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThere are things that have gone, as well,\u201d continues Richard. \u201cIn the mid-\u201960s, we had a parallel book for radio and television accessories. In those days, wholesalers would cover domestic electronic products, before the days of Currys.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut while the scope is massively different, the way we operate has been fairly constant. The use of a trade price system is something that wholesalers value.\u201d<\/p>\n
These days, most of the data is in electronic form. Richard explains: \u201cThe first electronic data was sent out in 1975 but obviously, on a very small scale. It used to be on magnetic tape or punch cards. These days it is done by FTP (file transfer protocol) or via email. And the data is integrated into the customers\u2019 systems now. In the past, in book form, the data was there to be referred to. Today, it\u2019s fed right into the heart of wholesalers\u2019 ERP systems.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s on a computer, literally at the heart of their system. But the person on the trade counter probably doesn\u2019t know that. And this is one of the challenges we face, because we have become a bit invisible. Whereas at one point there was a book on every trade counter.\u201d<\/p>\n
The business model for Luckins sprang from a meeting in the mid-\u201960s between members of the Electrical Wholesalers\u2019 Federation (forerunner of the EDA) with their opposite numbers in the United States.<\/p>\n
Says Richard: \u201cWhile there, they saw the big loose leaf price reporters which were published by Trade Service \u2013 and they thought \u2018what a great idea; wouldn\u2019t it be good if we could have something like that in the UK\u2019.<\/p>\n
With a commitment by a number of wholesalers to buy the price reporters, a company was formed by two directors of Trade Service and Luckins, a publisher\/printer in Stamford, and they began compiling trade price data around a dining room table!<\/p>\n
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Luckins was an independent company until 2008 when it was acquired by the Amtech group \u2013 a software provider to electrical and, to some extent, mechanical engineers and contractors.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was very positive for us,\u201d recalls Richard. \u201cIt enabled us to work as we need to, as the content relied much more heavily on the software side of the business.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2014, Amtech was acquired by Trimble \u2013 a large, US-based software company that operates in a number of sectors, including construction.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis, again, was clearly a very positive move,\u201d says Richard. \u201cThey bought the business in the UK, wanting to grow it. We are specifically part of Trimble MEP \u2013 Mechanical Electrical Plumbing.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrior to buying Amtech, Trimble had also acquired Trade Service Corporation, based in San Diego, and Trade Service essentially do the same as Luckins, and in fact, back in the dim and distant past when we started, the original directors of Trade Service also had a share in the Luckins business.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe two had parted ways, as time had gone on, and now we\u2019re all back together again. So we\u2019re building ourselves up now as one global content business.\u201d<\/p>\n
Continues Richard: \u201cWe are unique in the UK. There are others who do bits of what we do. But I don\u2019t think there is anyone providing what we do both to the distributors and to the contractors. The great benefit of that is that they are getting synchronised content.\u201d<\/p>\n
I asked Richard what Luckins has brought to the industry? \u201cIt has brought consistency,\u201d he says, \u201cand what is essential about it is enabling wholesalers and the contractors to do what they do best, which is buying and selling electrical goods and installing them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not in any way trying to influence the industry by publishing this information. We are removing what would be quite an onerous task to keep on top of all of this information.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have got 35 people on this site. Maybe what we do is more than the average wholesaler would need to do for themselves, but how could they possibly mirror that?\u201d<\/p>\n
With around 80% of the electrical wholesale market subscribing to Luckins, it holds a very strong position. But the company has not stood still.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout six years ago, we launched LuckinsLive \u2013 which is Luckins on the internet in a manner of speaking,\u201d says Richard. \u201cIt allows wholesalers and contractors to see in depth product information.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe collect product images, technical data sheets, or catalogue pages, safety data sheets, installation instructions from the manufacturers \u2013 and all of that additional information is published in one place on LuckinsLive.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt took a while to get enough data on there but we are now getting 70,000 unique hits each month. That\u2019s fantastic from a manufacturers\u2019 point of view and they have had some marketing opportunities that they can take advantage of to enhance their presence.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody can access it, but the real point is to act as a data hub to push that data to users when they actually need it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have 800-900,000 products on LuckinsLive \u2013 most of the UK database, apart from a few products that are restricted. Of those, over half have got enhanced data,\u201d adds Richard.<\/p>\n
Luckins employs a team whose job is purely to source data. Says Richard: \u201cIn the old days, that might have meant ringing them up every six months and checking the latest prices. Now, we have senior people on the road, meeting with manufacturers and making sure they understand what Luckins is all about and how important it is for them to send us that information.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are now starting to work on the product descriptions. Whereas something used on an ERP system used to be quite simple, we\u2019re now starting to build up web friendly product descriptions on pre-formatted templates.\u201d<\/p>\n
Obviously, the move to electronic data was a major turning point for Luckins.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe went into it so early \u2013 you could almost say we went into it too early!\u201d comments Richard. \u201cOne of the major landmarks was in the mid-\u201990s when we introduced a new production system here, allowing us to create a more in-depth book out of core data and to issue updates almost daily.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s interested to ponder that if the EWF had not sent their delegation to America, Luckins might not have happened.<\/p>\n
So it is fitting that the 50th<\/sup> anniversary celebrations will include a recreation of the founding dinner with members of the EWF, which took place at Wheeler\u2019s Oyster Bar in London.<\/p>\n \u201cWe still have the original menu with everyone\u2019s signatures on it,\u201d says Richard. \u201cWe are going to try and reproduce the event, with the board of the EDA \u2013 or those who can make it on the day \u2013 and senior members from Luckins.<\/p>\n![\"pic-3\"](\"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/PIC-3-184x300.jpg\")
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