Stockwell Motor Accessories & ABM Motor Factors – the first Activant UK customer than 25 years ago – now form a group. MD Lloyd Osborne explains how its computer has helped shape the business and protects its most valuable commodity – stock.
“Successful factoring is
about successful stock
management. We don’t indulge
in distress-purchases from WD’s
or so called super factors.We’ve
always held a fantastic profile of
stock on the shelf and will
continue to do so,” says Lloyd
Osborne, Managing Director of
Stockwell Motor Accessories in
South London.
Osborne’s comments are not
indicative of today’s perceived
aftermarket, where parts
proliferation and the number of
vehicles on the road makes it near
impossible for a motor factor to
stock anything but a range of fast
movers for specific product groups. On the contrary, Stockwell Motor
Accessories is a business based on
traditional automotive aftermarket
values, dating back to the company’s
early beginnings in 1957.
“It sounds almost cliché now,” says
Lloyd, “but the aftermarket really has
changed beyond recognition in the
past 50 years.
As a business, we’ve
changed too, but we’ve always been
successful at giving customers what
they want, when they want it.”
South London is arguably one of
the most competitive areas in the UK
and this again underlines the success
of a motor factor that invests heavily
in stock and customer service.
Today, Stockwell and its sister
company ABM – based in Plumstead
employ over 50 people, 20 vans and
have a turnover in the millions. The
group’s factor businesses are
managed together through Activant’s
distributor system, sharing, reporting
and analysing critical business
information.
Evolving
When Activant arrived in the UK
25 years ago, ABM Motor Factors
was its very first customer. Activant
has worked closely with the
group ever since, ensuring their IT
solutions continue to assist them
to meet the needs of an ever evolving aftermarket.
Osborne explains: “The owners of
the business 25 years ago were
very forward thinking and recognised
that a computer system was
needed to take the business forward,
and to give us a real competitive edge
in the market.
In the past, keeping aging stock on
the shelf and making only two
deliveries daily was the norm, but the
market is much quicker now and we
realised that a tighter reign on the
business was required.”
Their foresight over 25 years ago
has seen the group grow in size and
stature.Today, the quality of tradition
is still encouraged and this time
Osborne is tasked with taking the
company forward and embracing new
technology.
Countermen
The group is benefiting from
MasterCat3 with its enhanced Cover-
to-Cover parts database providing
technical information as well as high
quality graphics, helping countermen
to select the right part at the right
time whilst driving down part returns
rates. And now with the integration
of AConneX into the business,
Osborne looks forward to the
efficiencies of online ordering for his
customers as well as for him with his
suppliers. Lloyd is quick to point out
that he is by no means a ‘computer
wizard’, but an advocate of using the
best tools available for a business
operating under the competitive
conditions in the aftermarket.
“I believe that in order to survive,”
Osborne says, “we need to continue
to embrace the technology available
to us and better our business. This
doesn’t just apply to IT but to new
products such as diagnostics and air
conditioning.
“We run our entire businesses on
our Activant distributor management
system,” he boasts.“We can easily set
up numerous price structures,
manage stock effectively and monitor
Distributor systemsDistributor systems
product and customer sales.
One of the critical issues any
company has is training; with
Activant’s Virtual Classroom we have
been able to accelerate our learning
curve online with dedicated trainers
in Activant Coventry.This has ramped
up our knowledge of what we can do
from our Activant system whilst
allowing us still to remain in our
business. Virtual Classroom is
certainly the way forward in training.
Diversified
The Group’s business profile at
both ABM and Stockwell has
diversified over the years and is now
split between parts, accessories and
refinishing. At Stockwell, the business
is open seven days a week, something
that the company says is unique in
today’s climate.
The company’s continued growth
has seen new customers emerge
from outside traditional vehicle
repairers. The refinishing side of the
business is managed by Steve Simkins,
whose family started the business in
Stockwell. Steve believes winning and
growing contract work is a key
opportunity for the business and is
clear that Activant’s management
system is ideal for helping them
deliver on these opportunities.
Osborne says: “Our system really
puts the power with the distributor
and allows us to take an external
view of our company, identifying
where our strengths and future
opportunities are. With the
management reporting available,
together with the ability to extract
and analyse data, we are now starting
to raise our management of the
group to a higher level.”
Face to face customer service, high
stock availability and technical
support are all key traditional benefits
of working with ABM & Stockwell
Motor Accessories, thread together
from a modern distributor
management system. Osborne sees
his system as the very heart of his
business, again a trait against the usual
motor factor approach.
“When we started out in business,
there were very few cars on the road
– today there are over 30million.
These cars require servicing and
repair and so we have to ensure that
we are best placed to provide
installers with the products
and services they need.To do so, we
need the best computer system the
aftermarket can offer, allowing us easy
access to information critical for us
to remain at the top of our game.
“Twenty five years ago, Activant
helped establish us as the leading
motor factor in South London and
with their continued support, we’ve
been there ever since. Here’s to the
next twenty five years”.
“We need to embrace the technology available to us. We run our entire business on Activant’s distributor management system” – Stockwell’s MD Lloyd Osborne
Stockwell by name, stock well by nature
