Monday, 21 Nov 2016 18:58 GMT

Redblu Graphics and Displays

Brendan Perring speaks to David Stewart, director of Redblu Graphics and Displays, who reveals how the company has managed to achieve sustainable growth

Playing the long game

The UK’s sign and graphics industry is at an interesting time in its history, as never has it been quite so saturated with businesses that have the technological ability to produce an immense array of products. Even very small businesses can offer a range that would once have been the preserve of only the very biggest sign firms. This has been made possible by the glut of cheap machinery on the second hand market, but also the boom in trade supply firms that let smaller companies punch above their weight. The issue this has caused though is that it has caused an ongoing price war in our sector, with a significant number of firms aggressively under cutting their competition on price to simply win work—but with no eye on the future and the long-term consequences of this tactic.




 
As the saying goes though: “There is no such thing as a free lunch”. And the result of the end-user buying cheap is invariably a sub-standard product, delivered below specifications, and sometimes well beyond the agreed time limit.

On the other end of the spectrum though are those firms that have managed to whether the recession, boxed clever, and continued to deliver a high level of service and quality, without dropping their prices to bargain basement levels. A good example of such a company is Redblu Graphics and Displays.





The firm was founded in 2008, just before the recession hit, by the twin talents of David Stewart, sales director, who has been involved in business development and project management in the exhibition, sign and graphics industry since 1999. And Ian Fyfe, finance director, who has been involved in the printing industry since 1990 and has a business consultancy that has helped develop more than 200 businesses in his career.





I spoke to Stewart to get the low-down on how Redblu has managed to achieve sustainable growth over the last eight years. He took me back to 1999, when he started working for a friend, who’s father had developed a successful visual communications business. That friend had diversified into manufacturing pop-up displays and then graphics. Spending five years there learning about the sector and learning the trials and tribulations of delivering marketing suites to high-end clients such as construction giant George Wimpey (now Taylor Wimpey).
After having moved on to work for Clip Display based in Bristol and taking a sabbatical from the sector for six months, David took the opportunity to start his own business with long-time friend and now co-director Ian Fyfe to form his own firm.

Despite a challenging start due to the recession, a major contract for Homecoming Scotland helped kick-start a growth trajectory which has remained consistent on an upward curve.

“Our approach is to try to really understand the objectives of our customers and their needs, they normally have a problem and through our experience can offer sound advice to deliver the best solution,” explains Stewart, who adds: “Sometimes trying to get value out of that as a business can be quite difficult, because in this challenging market place it is becoming increasingly easy to find suppliers that will produce display products and print at crazy prices.

In this challenging market place it is becoming increasingly easy to find suppliers that will produce it at crazy prices”

 
“When I started out pop-up displays would sell for £2,000 and now the same product will go for £700, so the same work goes into producing it, but the margin is an awful lot less. You also have to work an awful lot harder for the work we do get.”

Stewart continues: “The reason we have managed to keep growing is that we simply focus on providing the very best service possible to each customer, and so they stay with us from project to project.”


(Above & below) “The reason we have managed to keep growing is that we simply focus on providing the very best service possible to each customer, and so they stay with us from project to project,” says David Stewart, director of Redblu Graphics and Displays



Redblu has also seen a continual expansion of its product range over the years, and has branched out of servicing the exhibition industry to provide built-up signage, bespoke displays, interiors, point-of-sale, and large exterior building wraps amongst a wide range of other products, and of course the ability to produce totally bespoke work.
Indeed, a quick snapshot of its clients are the likes of Lidl, Sky, and John Lewis on a national contract. It also does work for international brands and has seen its work exported as far as San Francisco and Tokyo.





Stewart confides that in the modern industry a strong website is one of the best ways to ensure a steady flow of high-value work, and as such the firm has invested a lot of time and effort into building a very streamlined educational site that also offers an online shop for the most common standard products and even live chat with customers enquiring about new work or checking on current projects.





“My business partner Ian always keeps coming back to the phrase ‘slowly, slowly, catch a monkey’. If you do a job right, every time, and offer good value, then in the long-run you will win more clients and ensure growth,” explains Stewart.





He continues: “If a customer is doing price checking and opts to go with the very cheapest quote, then they risk being let down by companies that are only focussed on short-term survival and do not care if they don’t deliver on time, or the product is not quite right or of poor quality.

“A good example is re-skinning a pop-up for a recent customer. The job came in on Wednesday and they needed it on Monday. So, it was a last-minute.com job, but we had the capabilities to do it. At the same time they asked for a price on a roller banner, but they decided not go ahead with it. But low and behold on the Monday morning they had to come to us and say they had been let down by another company that had quoted half the price for the same roller banner, and could we produce the banner for the price we had originally quoted? But in two hours.
 
“So, what did we do? We worked late on the jobs we were already running to complete them that night, so they were not delayed for delivery the next day, and we delivered the banner in a couple of hours.”

We will win long-term as we now have a happy customer that hopefully will continue to be loyal to us in future ”



Stewart explains that although they lost out short-term on that job as the extra man hours negated any margin on it, it will win long-term as the company now has a happy customer that will be loyal to it in the future as they know Redblu will deliver. At this points he touches on a sensitive subject for many established firms in the UK sign industry, and one that I highlighted at the beginning of this piece: “Many firms start up in the market and do not understand it is not just about buying some used equipment and selling their products cheaper. For example, a common issue we do a lot of replacement work for is they will specify poor quality monomeric vinyl for an outdoor jobs, rather than a polymeric with a laminate to protect it from the elements. We specify the right product to do the job, many other companies do not.”


Pursuing perfection: Redblu Graphics and Displays does not take any short cuts when it comes realising the creative vision of its clients



While he emphasises that everyone starts small and needs to build-up capacity, he qualified that this needs to be done with an eye on the long-game.

“As you grow you need to employ more staff and ensure they are well trained, and that this training continues as they stay with you—the industry and its technology never stands still,” says Stewart, who adds: “You also need to keep updating your technology, for instance we now run two HP latex wide-format printers which produce photographic quality and can perfectly hit Pantone colours, very important when printing for the major brands. We have also overhauled our RIP software and internal IT infrastructure several times since we started out.”

Now an accredited HP Eco-Solutions Print Provider, Stewart also explains its current growth has been underpinned by building strong relationships with hand-picked trade suppliers. This allows the firm to concentrate on doing what it does best in-house, while using its suppliers for services such as fabric displays and soft signage.

Stewart concludes: “To keep our costs low we have kept things very neat and strong by focusing on what they do very well in-house, and for the rest they have these very strong trade relationships to deliver the best quality possible in the quickest time. Our approach has also been to avoid tying ourselves into selling individual contracts with major suppliers, which means we can always specify a solution that works best for the customer, rather than one that ‘works just’.”

If you offer good advice, are swift to respond and then deliver the best solution on time and budget, every time, in the long-run you will win more clients and ensure sustainable growth”


So, with the firm’s success also underpinned by its hard-working senior staff that includes Rob Nelson—design and production manager, Diana Zanconato—account manager, and Steven Clements—production manager, it seems that the future is bright for this energetic and creative firm. And it is just that, keeping an eye on the long-term future of Redblu, that has steered it straight over the last eight years.


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