Minoli – Half Year Update but No Half Measures!

Despite a degree of uncertainty and somewhat variable trading conditions in the UK construction industry, Minoli have enjoyed a strong first half to 2023. Our performance to date is ahead of last year with increased throughput across all departments, with particular growth in uptake from our housebuilder and developer clients, automotive retailers, and professional designers and residential homeowners at our London showroom, which was surely enhanced by our attendance at London Design Week.

Whilst upholding high service standards is imperative to retaining and growing existing and new client business, the positive results for the six-month period can also be attributed to our product and pricing strategy. The exclusive new ranges we introduced at the start of the year have been very well received, our Outdoor product offering goes from strength to strength with new lines added, and the significant launch of 16 new series and range extensions within our Core ‘developer’ Collection last month is already paying dividends.

Minoli’s latest Core ranges demonstrate how our selective sourcing strategy, allied to our longstanding relationships with top-flight production plants, has allowed us to restructure our product offering to our housebuilder and developer clients, to represent even better value than ever.

In line with our consistent organic growth performance, steadily increasing turnover from our established customer base, new market entry and expanding corporate client accounts have allowed us forward order, bulk buy full production runs and further demonstrate our solidity as the to-market distribution partner of choice. As a result, this long-term strategic plan has enabled us to retain our price positioning from well before and throughout the economic turmoil of recent years, and the cost stability and predictability this offers our clients is an important consideration.

Also imperative to our clients in both the residential and commercial construction sectors is our significant stockholding and ability to supply reliably to site. Our expanding product portfolio has taken our UK stock levels of the most frequently specified ranges to circa £4 million in net cost value, held ready for despatch from our centrally located warehouse and distribution centre in Oxford.

Last month also saw the very latest addition to the Minoli delivery fleet entering service with registration number 6 LPM (after Luigi Pietro Minoli – our founder). This brand-new DAF 18T CF-260 FA can manage a load of just under 10 tonnes, increasing our daily delivery capacity to over 110,000 KGs and allowing us to transport safely and deliver reliably our wide-ranging product portfolio in greater quantities.

This newly built truck is the first curtain-sider we have commissioned (in living memory) and the design of this model allows for easier loading and unloading from the side with a forklift on site. It is also equipped with a full-closure, cantilevered tail-fit that can handle up to 2 tonnes in cargo weight for kerbside and site deliveries. A further DAF 20T curtain-sider with Moffett forklift is literally just out of build and will soon be ready to hit the road once the refreshed Minoli livery has been applied and the dealer PDI completed.

Alongside our continued focus on the fundamentals that matter most to our clients, we’ve also been investing in our promotional activities, developing new content for specific audience groups and introducing new service solutions.

In January, we published the Minoli Design Trends Report, which explores five emerging design directions and the creative concepts and production technologies that are due to take centre this year and beyond. The most popular content download from our website, you can access a PDF of the document or request a copy in print here.

Another significant new initiative was our attendance of London Design Week 2023 at The Design Centre in Chelsea Harbour in March. Over five days, we had the opportunity to present Minoli’s latest collections to many new and existing customers from the interior design, architecture and property development sectors, with a stand designed as a boutique pop-up of our Marylebone showroom in London, W1.

Another new resource that’s already in demand from our professional clients since publication is the Minoli Connected Living Report, which you download from our website or request in print here. Creating seamless transitions throughout built environments, from inside to outdoors, is a design concept that we call ‘Connected Living’. This inspirational report explores the Minoli ranges that offer both coordinating interior tiles and exterior specification paving, so providing a holistic system of surface solutions for walls and floors.

Lastly, recognising how important our sample service is in helping our clients make, share or confirm their choices as part design process, in May we upgraded our offer with specially designed sample boxes for safe delivery of our indoor and outdoor preprepared samples. We invite our clients and their customers in turn to browse our latest ranges and order a selection online, by email or phone.

So, a busy six months and much to show for our efforts. The team at Minoli have demonstrated again that there are no half measures when it comes to serving and supplying our customers and we look forward to sharing more company and product news in the coming months.