I have a UK company Morland Solutions Limited and we have very recently launched a new doormats brand; Morland Matting. https://www.morlandmat.co.uk
This offer is a collection of high quality, Commercial, Industrial and Residential Doormats and Entrance Matting Systems. Each mat is designed to provide many years of performance in demanding commercial and industrial environments. The offer includes Anti-fatigue matting systems for all environments. have a look here.
Why doormats?
I have over 35 years’ experience in the flooring industry. I have stood on market squares, in shops, fitted carpets, installed industrial flooring in hospitals, run installation teams of hundreds, negotiated supply contracts with the world’s largest manufactures and struck supply deals with equally large end users. From Hospitality to Healthcare, Retail and Industry. In short, over the years I know a bit about floors, what works well and what doesn’t. Something as simple as a doormat…. at an EXIT DOOR of a major UK retailer !! maybe they see this as a public duty to keep the street clean?
“a doormat.. at an EXIT door !!”
You will have seen loose rental mats laid over far more expensive engineered solutions.
The market for commercial entrance matting is not particularly well served. Often very poor quality, not fit for purpose or hugely expensive and over-engineered products. These do not deliver value, and this is our opportunity.
Build a team
Everything starts and ends with people. Every person in the supply chain is critical and it’s important to meet as many of them as possible. Get in the car, on a train or an aeroplane and get out there, walk the factory, the offices the transport hubs. People do business with people and when things go wrong, because, let’s face it, they always will. then these relationships are important for you and your customer.
Understand the market.
With so many cheap doormats in the market, the choice is often very confusing. If you are like me when you are given too much choice and don’t have the time to do the background research on a product, I will often pick middle price product.
There are a plethora of factories will offer products at ANY price point
It very easy now for a company to import a product from an overseas factory that will deliver at any price, you can always buy cheaper. I am inundated with emails and WhatsApp messages with crazy offers.
This has increased more recently with the new US-China tariff battles; these Chinese factories need to find new markets for their products but there is a big problem that many people don’t expect.
Compliance, the challenges
These are doormats, is there any regulation? surely not.
PVC, Polyvinyl chloride is the world’s third-most widely produced synthetic plastic polymer, it comes in rigid and flexible forms, the flexibility of the PVC is controlled by the addition of plasticisers and his is where the real dangers lie.
Many plasticisers contain phthalates these have been found to be a danger to human health and significant controls are in place. REACH is the name of the legislation In Europe, and the levels of control here are some of the most stringent in the world.
There are two problems. Alternative plasticisers that do not contain phthalates are more expensive and for much of the recycled PVC material used in production, the levels of
phthalates will be unknown.
You cannot see phthalates that have been incorporated into a PVC product; you would need a trusted and independent laboratory test.
The role of Trading standards
Trading Standards are responsible for UK product compliance. As a local government department, they are under increasing financial pressure and must compete for their budget with other essential local services. Consequently, there has been significant reductions in the number of officers over the years, so much so they now adopt an intelligence-led approach to compliance enforcement
With so many suppliers in the market who is providing the intelligence to trading standards? The competitors are not. The margins they are working on are too small to allow them to compile the intelligence to the standard required?
Trading Standards – Intelligence led working
Buyer Beware
Just because a supplier is already supplying a market does not say they are compliant, similarly, legislation differs globally. a product compliant in Japan or the USA may not be compliant in Europe
However, the supplier with large volumes of inventory to move following the tariff increases in the USA or other local market conditions may look to Europe to offload a product that will not comply. Buyer Beware.
Our Door Mats
The vast majority of our doors mats use 100% Nitrile rubber and contain zero PVC and the few PVC doormats we do supply are fully REACH compliant.
You, the end user.
You just want a product that works. Looks great doesn’t cost a fortune and will last a decent amount of time. You fully understand the value proposition. You need a supplier that has your back for all the right reasons.
The Technical – e-commerce
To reduce unnecessary costs then It is important the supply chain is efficient and to this end, the e-commerce platform can handle the sales, dispatch and much of the admin functionality. Built on WordPress with woo-commerce and stripe payment processing. This system is simple, widely supported and easily transferable. This provides for clean and reliable customer experiences.
Add a VOIP platform and teams can work anywhere without the physical constraints and infrastructure that often only serves to add costs.
Conclusion
These contemporary business platforms allow for more flexible and inclusive working. I don’t consider this special, but the way successful business is now done.
We may even reduce our carbon footprint in the process.
Let me know what you think in the comments below ?
- Is this business model the way its all done now?
- Which supplier markets are the poorest for compliance?
- Do customers care, or is it all about price?
- Do you need doormats?
- Would you buy from here https://www.morlandmat.co.uk/?