Tile UK profiles Rogers of Redhill, one of the country's leading regional tile distributors and retailers who trade as Rogers Ceramics.

Tony Rogers

Rogers of Redhill was founded by the parents of current Managing Director Tony Rogers in the 1960's. Staff continuity and family values remain important to the company's business philosophy to this day.  Indeed Rogers' fellow directors, Ian Slater, showroom Director at Redhill and sales Director Fred Gregg, a long-standing friend of Tony Rogers, have both been with the company for over 35 years, typical of the general loyalty of the firm's staff.

Rogers Ceramics' history typifies the impact of the economy on the tile industry.  The company started in a garage and didn't purchase its first warehouse, 1,000sq ft in Redhill, until the early 1970's.  At that time building materials were sold alongside tiles.  As the tile distribution business grew, selling tiles from Villeroy & Boch, Mosa and other top brands, new premises were sought and the business relocated to a 4,000sq ft warehouse in Redhill.

After a career in farming, Tony Rogers joined the business in 1972.  He gained experience in every facet of tile distribution: deliveries, sales and warehousing, before gradually moving into management as his father reached retirement.  When his father died in 1986, Tony Rogers was already MD and was presiding over a period of steady growth. By 1986/87, the company was expanding rapidly and temporary warehousing had to be hired to meet demand.  In August 1989, however, the current Crawley site was found and the company moved in - just as the tile sector experienced a dramatic fall, which Tony Rogers estimates at 40%.

Not surprisingly, the early 1990's proved very difficult, Rogers was able to trade through and has now experienced fifteen years of steady growth.  The company now has 40 employees and four branches, with Haywards Heath opening in 1995.  About 60% of turnover is across the showroom trade counters and the remainder from its 300 retail accounts which are serviced by a seven-strong transport fleet.

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The Company prides itself on its excellent customer services.  Retailers are offered next day delivery, with no cut of time.  

An evening picking shift handles late orders. Tony Rogers sees no virtue in representing a vast range of factories. His aim is to establish good long-term relationships and volumes with selected suppliers.  The company even cherry-picks from the portfolios of these manufacturers, such as Cisa, Elios, Settecento, Ragno, Groan, Valverde, Savoia, Gambarelli, Ralno and Mosa, to concentrate its sales effort. 

The showroom is, in fact, divided into stocked and non-stocked areas.  Non-stock items, such as H&R Johnson, widen the choice on offer but are bought to order. Stock levels of £400,000 means that the company is well placed to serve this demanding sector.  However, the company is determined to continue to offer high levels of support to its retail accounts.  Tony Rogers emphasises that they work harder than most at product presentation, with the dedicated merchandising team offering towers, clapper boards, easels and other display formats.  And, while they grade customers according to turnover, Rogers' philosophy is that every account on the list must continue to be serviced.

Crawley Showroom & Head Office

One tool is a simple A4 newsletter, both chatty and informative, that Fred Gregg sends out at regular intervals.  To draw customers into the store,  a ceramic artist, Yvonne Ansell, holds regular workshops where she will prepare bespoke designs for customers.  Rogers also now produces its own transfer designs, which will be a useful service for the house-building sector.

Rogers Ceramics is robustly placed to capitalise on the current growth in the tile sector.  Turnover reached £3.7million in 2003. and is set to exceed £3.8million in 2005.  Growth, believes Tony Rogers, is the way to maintain a business's vitality.  And with its clearly-focused, service orientated approach, Rogers Ceramics appears set fair for many years of that.