Whitehouse-Cox Information Sheet
The company was formed about 125 years ago.
Grew substantially during and after the second world war making leather goods for horse drawn vehicles.
Became market leaders in dog collars and leads; two ranges, made of nylon, made of leather. At one point sold in the uk through 265 retail outlets, via 3 sales representatives.
Ralph Lauren spotted the leather collars and leads and asked Whitehouse Cox to make leather belts.
Grew to the point where, twenty years ago they produced 67% of their output for other brands, 33% sold under their own name.
Decided to focus on export market twenty years ago and started with Japan.
Today about 67% of production is for their own brand, 33% other brands.
The company has two directors, three shareholders. Steven Cox is based in the UK and is mostly responsible for production. Lucy is based in Italy, responsible for brand management and developing the European market. David is based in Japan and is responsible for distribution and sales there.
The company employs 60 staff (mostly production) in Aldridge. Sales are at approximately £4.7 million with £4 million of that going to the Japanese market. 98% of sales are export orders.
Today there is almost no retail in the UK and relatively little in the rest of Europe. This is largely due to a perception that the UK market is polarised; we either buy very cheap products of look for extremely well known, global brands. Also, the UK population does not have the same respect for ‘made in England’ as people elsewhere, particularly the Japanese.
Another reason for not promoting sales in the UK (also the reason the company does not maintain an impressive web site or sell online) is that the company has experienced a number of companies attempting to buy in the UK and sell in Japan below the Japanese retail price. Sales to Japan are almost entirely through high quality department stores and the product is almost never discounted. There is sufficient margin to allow some UK retailers to ship to discount retailers in Japan and for them to pass on savings by discounting the goods. The company believes this practice will damage the brand and therefore it mostly avoids selling in the UK.
Whitehouse Cox is totally committed to delivering the best quality product possible. They use the finest materials and their products are guaranteed for life. All production staff are trained in-house.
They advertise in Japan every other month in “Begin” magazine and also “Men’s Ex” magazine, Japan.
Ideally the company would like an additional three markets in addition to Japan, and they feel there is opportunity in Korea, Italy, Dubai.
What are the best- selling lines? That is, wallets, briefcases, etc. Currently a long zip round wallet is the most popular selling item.
See: http://www.frame.jp/products/detail.php?product_id=27215
What is the % of sales in each product category within the product portfolio? 70% small leather goods, 20% belts and 10% luggage and bags.
What have been the trends of sales in one or two product lines over the last 5 years? That is, are certain product lines increasing in sales, others decreasing? Sales of larger wallets and purses are increasing especially zipped items. Frame top purses or press button closure purses are not so popular at the moment. In Asia a lot of men also use what we would in the West consider to be a ladies style of purse.
See: http://www.frame.jp/products/detail.php?product_id=27217
What percentage of turnover comes from making product for other brands? 20%
How are the individual products packaged (presentation box, certificate of authenticity, etc.)? All items are packed in a gift box with a product card which gives details of the specific leather the item is made in a and general details about the company and its history
Related to the above, is there any way to identify a Whitehouse and Cox product on the product itself (label, logo, embossed, etc.)? Yes all items are embossed with our company log
In approximately how many retail outlets are your products available in Japan? 180
Do most retailers sell all product lines or are they selective in what lines they stock?
No most retailers will select a group of items from the range to sell and we also make special colour combination items for prestigious dept. store chains such as Isetan and United Arrows in japan. Special exclusive styles are also developed for such customers each year to give them even more exclusivity.
Who do you feel are your main competitors? Do you ever take specific action to compete with tactics of your competitors? All other international brands are our potential competitors, but more locally English brands like Ettinger, Dainnes & Hathaway and Glen Royal are our closest competitors. We sell on quality and service and by developing links and relationships with consumers. We do not take too much notice of what our competitors are doing, we have our business plan and work to that adjusting it as is necessary based on feed back from the market. We have a large advertising budget which is spent in publications like Begin magazine extolling the values and quality aspects of what we do leaving consumers to make their own comparisons with other UK brands.
We give all shop assistants who sell our products a free sample item for their own use so they can speak knowledgeably about the product from first hand experience, how it wears, how useful it is and why they like it.
As they have a wide choice of brands to choose from the fact they choose to use ours goes down well with the consumer and creates trust in our brand.
When did you start to offer a lifetime guarantee? Did you notice any direct impact on sales? This was done from the outset as initially we were an unknown brand in Japan so we needed to give consumers confidence in what they were buying. Despite our growth in sales and the fact we now well established in Japan we still offer this service, some times if an item is returned after 7 or 8 years use with an issue we do make a nominal charge for a repair which consumers seem very willing to pay as in theory any defect in workmanship or materials would have become apparent in the first years of use and often 7 years down the line it is simply that the item has been well used and is wearing out. However the total of returns to use for repair and under guarantee amount to only.001% of sales and 60% plus are for worn items coming back after seven to 10 years use for refurbishment, so actual faulty items are negligible.
So the cost of offering the service is far outweighed by the good will the availability of the service creates
Have you got a target customer profile in mind? Middle class and professional employed people aged 18 to 35 is the normal target profile of a new WHC consumer, however our actual customer age profile is now extending to 40 to 45 year olds as long standing customers become older.
If you were to enter a new market what sort of promotion do you feel would be needed (e.g. newspaper, trade shows, etc.)? promotion through consumer magazines, in store promotions and via social networking.
Have you run any specific marketing campaigns in recent years? Do you know whether they were successful of not? We have been part of British Promotions in Iseatn dept. store which was extremely successful with Isetan placing an order for 200 special items developed exclusively for the event selling out in three hours and orders placed over the three day event for the item required an additional production run of 325 units. So very successful
When was the last time you introduced a new product line, what was it and how successful has it been? We have introduced a new collection made I a leather called Derby which has sold very well and we have orders on to be made next year already to meet the demand.
See: http://www.frame.jp/products/list.php?category_id=193
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