It has been a while since the last message from Marcel (the Managing Director), so here at the Global Marketing Team, we have devised some questions to get you fully caught up on the latest news and our responses to entering Tier 3.
So, Marcel, tell us about the new developments that have occurred in the past couple of months?
Well, the biggest development I would say is the introduction of Global Café. This is something we have been wanting to have established for a while now, but we have been far too busy. Of course, we have also had to wait for plenty of planning permissions to come through from the council and so on, so it has been a longer process than we originally intended. We are, however, almost there now!
In the next couple of weeks, the café will be an extra addition to Global, offering a cosy place to sit with a brew and a butty, making a nice pairing with our Saturday Live auctions. We do understand tat our customers can get hungry and need a drink when they come in to view various items and bid in-house. It can also be a really long day on Saturday if you are in the warehouse bidding, so the customer experience is and has always been at the forefront of our efforts. After all, we want our customers to be warm, happy and well fed!
In terms of stock, what developments have happened there?
We have been working on a few contracts in the last year or so, and they are starting to come in now. We have won a Debenhams Direct contract which is massive for us! We have also recently landed a contract with QVC and another couple of TV shopping channels, alongside Dunelm stock and a weekly increase of our supplier list. In fact, this week alone we have gained 3 new suppliers! Recently, we have also seen a massive increase in the quantity and quality of stock from our existing vendors, including John Lewis and Richer Sounds. So, we are very much looking forward to seeing what the rest of the year brings!
Why do you think Global is growing so fast?
I think, you know, in this industry, it’s all based on trust. It’s human nature after all. So, when you initially do trials with companies, they are not going to send you all their best stock. They want to see how you work, how you report back to them, what return they get and the sell through rate. There’s a lot of different factors that have contributed to the growth of our stock supply; how we communicate as a company, do we pay them on time and so on.
I’ll always say to potential suppliers, just give us a trial, let us know what you think because hands down, we are better than all the competition in every area I have just mentioned. That is exactly why we get in better stock and in bigger quantities because it goes without saying all our suppliers are blown away with the return we get.
In terms of the customer base because we are extremely customer focused and our customers are at the heart of everything we do. We are extremely open, honest and transparent about the quality of the stock. As long as people know what they are bidding for, there really is no problem. For those who are not experienced in the auctioneering world, we always have a conversation with the customer and try to educate people on how auctions work. This education spans over a lot of different mediums, through videos, social media and emails, we like to keep our customers informed and treat them with respect. After all, the customers are always our first thought because we want them to have the best experience.
How has Global coped during COVID?
Everybody knows that during the first Corona lockdown, all online sales went through the roof in every area of consumer goods. So there is a direct correlation between online sales, returns and overstocks. All the stuff suppliers wanted to sell over summer, weren’t sold because the shops were closed. And now that the autumn ranges have come in, we have got all the unsold stock! So it has really been a double whammy really, where it is bittersweet. But, we are doing well out of a bad situation, offering better services for what needs providing.
During the first lockdown, we closed the warehouse down, PPE straight away, discounted delivery options to encourage customers to use our delivery services, we introduced video appraisals to help with viewing and acted well within the law. The second lockdown, however, is slightly different. Insofar that the restrictions don’t really apply to us this time round. But saying that, we are still continuing with out COVID measures in the warehouse and have limited our viewing times to two hours a day. We also have hand sanitising stations, face masks and social distancing measures in place. We are fortunate to have a big enough space so that social distancing can be complied with. We find it important to follow and will continue to stick to it!
