CIJ visited Premier Decoration’s Managing Director John Athwal at his head office near London for an update on how Premier has managed it’s business over the last 12 months and for his thoughts on business moving forward into 2023.
“It is apparent to all that 2022 has not exactly been a walk in the park…” John begins. “With the cost of living crisis hitting everybody in the country, sales at retail have been challenging and have come very late. It is now up to us to come up with initiatives to put our marketplace back on to the front foot as it were in previous years.”
Walking around their southern UK showroom I can tell that Premier has worked particularly hard to offer best selling product at prices that will surely turn heads as well as coming up with brand new lines that are again sure to sell well. Innovation has been a key to this company over the past few years and the momentum has definitely not waned.
The development of new ideas is noticeable considering that no buyers in the industry have been able to visit the far east very easily for a number of years now. This has not stopped this organisation from presenting brand new value for money propositions in their usual fashion.
John mentioned the far east and the inability for buyers in general to travel to these suppliers whilst also touching upon the state of manufacturing within the region. “It has again been challenging…” Although IC chip shortages seen in previous years have now seemingly settled down, there have been other factors still affecting production. Zero tolerance for covid infections within the Chinese mainland has meant that certain districts have been shut down completely for weeks on end. This did not seem to be letting up and it is almost certain that production lines in 2023 will still be affected by this due to labour forces not being able to work, or indeed travel, within particular regions as lockdowns have been in place.
Premier though has its ear to the ground and working closely with their far eastern offices have been able to supply goods early in 2022 and are well equipped to be doing exactly the same for the coming year. Both Premier UK showrooms have been open since mid November in 2022 with their appointment books full to the brim. This has helped the company again ensure that goods will be on the water or indeed already in their warehouse very early for deliveries in 2023.
Premier Decorations Limited | 020 8624 5555 | sales@premierdec.com
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