Shebang: The new king of the ‘indies’

Iain Humphrey, leader of Midlands retailer Go Mobile and specialist logistics distributor Shebang, turns 40 next month.

He marks the occasion this weekend with an ‘industry’ trip to Las Vegas. He does not want to make the guest list public, but 20-odd supplier and customer businesses will be represented by elite personnel on the Vegas strip.

It has been a remarkable 2009 for Humphrey, with Go Mobile back from the brink and profitable again, and Shebang set to post unmatched growth for the year among tier-one distributors.

The whole operation last month completed its move to vast new premises on the same Daventry retail park – at 35,000 square foot, seven times the size of the old nerve centre, and befitting of its new scale.

What else? New fulfilment agreements, an expanding contract with Tesco, the number one slot in the Orange prepay charts, a handset exclusive, various software innovations, a burgeoning franchise programme, a brand new B2B sales operation.

Even Daventry Town FC, which has Humphrey as chairman and carries the Go Mobile logo on its jersey, is riding high in the United Counties League Premier division.

It sounds glib, but the football club was close to bankruptcy when Humphrey stepped in as chairman three years ago.

He has invested more than £500,000 to have the clubhouse rebuilt, new stands erected and perimeter fencing installed.

It will be profitable this year, he reckons. “We will make the Blue Square Premier in the next five years,” he says, laughing, but serious for the ambition.

It is not just an ego thing for Humphrey. Local community is at the heart of much of his business – whether selling mobile phones from stores in secondary towns in the Midlands, or serving the dealer community that performs the same task around the rest of the country.

But Humphrey also appears to be one of the few ‘independents’ for whom entrepreneurial spirit and corporate form are not mutually exclusive.

The Las Vegas delegation knows that. His closeness with suppliers that generally and privately question the value of the independent channel bears it out.

GO MOBILE
Surging out of convalescence

Go Mobile appears to have emerged from a troubled recent history in sudden rude health. Considering the dealer market, in a long decline exacerbated by the economic slump, its sunny disposition is a bright spot in a muddy picture of independent retail.

Iain Humphrey sold the entire Midlands chain, comprising 57 stores, to dealership JAG in January last year. The deal was structured around a series of payouts linked to the performance of the chain over a five-year period. It made sense for both parties: Humphrey could concentrate on his Shebang distribution business and parochial JAG looked like it might just fill the competitive void on UK high streets left by The Link when it collapsed in 2006.

But the arrangement did not last much beyond the Summer. JAG boss John George, with the VAT man breathing down his neck, handed the chain back, and subsequently unburdened himself of the principal liabilities of most of his own chain of shops through a fast-paced franchise programme.

Humphrey remained philosophical. He put the failed transfer behind him, compared old and new trading figures for the stores and accepted them back. Seventeen of the 57 were closed promptly, with time still to run on their shop leases.

“There was never any question. Some staff had been with me a long time, and found the transition hard. Their motivation had been ground down. JAG had some different procedures, a different pay structure. It was time to roll my sleeves up and fight the fight; to talk about survival with them. The response was instant; really incredible. In hindsight, I wish I’d not closed any stores. But I just couldn’t find a way at the time,” he says.

Full article on Go Mobile in Mobile News issue 452 (November 16, 2009).

To subscribe to Mobile News click here

SHEBANG
Growth in a troubled market

Go Mobile was only ever conceived as a live retail test-bed for a grander scheme – an efficient logistics back-end suffused by a neat software platform.

Humphrey’s Sellfone 3G EPOS system, developed in conjunction with Northampton-based PC Control Systems, has been talked of at length in these pages before. It is the glue in the operation, the key to Go Mobile reasserting its buoyancy and also to Humphrey’s Shebang distribution business tripling revenue in 2009.

In the first instance, Sellfone removes the administrative headache of stock control. Sales register on the system, which links with Shebang to replenish stock as it leaves store. Staff are freed to concentrate on selling.

But it does not simply make Shebang a slick logistics operation. There is more, observes Humphrey, sitting at a desk with a series of flat screens in sight that show live sales figures for every Go Mobile store in the land, as well as Shebang sales charts, all presently with columns of green-lighted gross-profit for the day and the month-to-date.

“It is the slickest logistics platform there is in the UK at the moment, but, yeah, there is much more to it. The industry experience has always been to shift as many boxes as efficiently as possible, whether in retail or in distribution. It has missed the chance to actually open the box with the customer, and to explore what’s inside it.”

Humphrey’s EPOS system prompts shop staff to make further sales based upon the initial enquiry – so accessories, data packages and insurance relating to the handset can be offered at point of sale. Contracts and sales receipts are also set out, so there is no ambiguity about the transaction for either party.

The system lets staff contact customers by SMS and email to remind them of upgrades and ancillary offers. “It gives the retailer peace of mind that nothing has been left out,” says Humphrey.

As well, the system puts any subscribing dealer principle at the coalface. It incorporates a wall board, as displayed on Humphrey’s flatscreens, that records, rates and updates activity across an entire retail estate, sale-by-sale.

A cut-down version is available in stores with league tables of staff performances across the chain. It inspires competition, reckons Humphrey.

The Sellfone system works with all the network operators and has been rolled out to around 500 independent dealer outlets, including most of the major chains: JAG, Get Connected, Intek, Digital Phone Company. All subscribers are obliged to utilise Shebang for stock lines.

It is sensible to ask why, if it is so good, doesn’t Orange, which knows it best, take on the software system for its retail stores?

“Well, it would be a very, very big decision for a business of its size, which operates as it does, to do such a thing. This industry moves so quickly, and my system is probably running at only 60 per cent of what it could. We are constantly improving it. But could it, should it, would it? I believe anyone who takes our system and uses it fully will increase sales by 30 per cent.”

Could Carphone Warehouse, say, increase sales by 30 per cent? “Yes, I think everyone could. And I have yet to be proven otherwise. All our existing customers have seen such an upsurge. They’ll never be entirely happy with any system of course because they always want more, but I believe they recognise we deliver better than any other system in the UK.”

Full article on Shebang Distribution in Mobile News issue 452 (November 16, 2009).

To subscribe to Mobile News click here