David Cormack – Best of British

David Cormack, Cormar Carpet Company marketing director talks of UK manufacturing, supporting jobs and removing stress

What do you see as the main advantages of being a UK manufacturer?

Especially evident over recent years is the advantage of being able to supply carpet ranges within a matter of days to UK retailers. As we have experienced, you never know what challenges lie ahead, but having stock only a matter of hours away certainly helps, and takes away that added stress from our customers. Then there’s the relationships that have built up over the years. We’ve been producing carpet in Lancashire since 1956 and delivering it nationwide. Our customers have come to rely on our service and quality and we do our level best to deserve that level of trust. Equally it’s great to be able to invite customers to visit our mills and for them to fully realise that they are supporting British jobs and carpet made here in the UK.

What efforts do you take you take to promote these to UK retailers?

We’ve always promoted the fact that we manufacture in Britain. It’s been on our vans since the 1970s and still is today. We make a point of adding our ‘Made In Britain’ messaging to our sampling POS and displays, as well as promoting our UK credentials online. The aim is to ensure that all retail customers and consumers who interact with Cormar are aware of how proud we are to be a British manufacturer.

Do you think UK retailers understand sufficiently the advantages of sourcing from UK manufacturers?

I think that the Covid outbreak brought home to many people how important it is to have their suppliers close to hand. There was once a supply chain maxim of ‘just in time’, which given the global shipping problems following the pandemic became ‘just too late’. At Cormar we particularly focus on service. We like to think that our warehouse is our retailers’ warehouse: that’s why we developed an online trade portal more than 10 years ago, so that our customers are able to get a ‘window’ into our stock, sitting here in the UK, which

they can access quickly.

Do retailers make enough of the fact to their customers that they that are selling UK-made products?

Most UK manufacturers promote their Britishness so it’s there to see at POS, and our sales team do point this out when introducing new ranges. While there is cheap imported carpet coming into the country these days, it’s more important than ever that retailers advise customers where the product comes from and provide a bit of background about the supplier. We believe we also have a duty to ensure Cormar ranges are competitively priced and offer value for money.

What would you like to see the UK government do to help UK manufacturing?

UK manufacturing is crucial to the economy, employing over 2.5million people and accounting for around 10% of economic output, so investment is more crucial than ever. UK manufacturing has experienced a tough few years following Brexit and the rollercoaster of the pandemic, plus we have faced increasing inflationary pressures, like all businesses across the UK. In our sector, though, we are particularly affected by the housing market. Anything the government can do to stimulate that would help UK carpet flooring manufacturers – whether that is re-introducing Help to Buy, encouraging housebuilders to build more new homes or sensibly relaxing building regulations.

Do you have overseas markets, and if so how has this changed since Brexit?

Although we tend to be focused on the UK and Irish markets, Brexit has certainly introduced barriers and disruption to trading in terms of both our imports and exports. The administrative and logistical issues caused by Brexit, though easing now, have undoubtedly made trade with Ireland and Northern Ireland more difficult.

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