Three local businesses, T21UK Training and Development, Peters Media & Marketing -both based in Westbury – and Knees Home and Electrical from Trowbridge are collaborating on a large-scale project that they hope will have significant impact at a national level.
The project is the development of a national finance, warranty and sales training programme aimed at shop floor staff working in electrical retail, an industry that has been rocked by seismic shifts since before the 2008 recession, and which has seen many staffing cuts and business closures in recent years.
The training program has been commissioned by Retra, the UK’s largest trade association for independent electrical retailers, who support around 1,800 members, and it was the Westbury-based product and sales training company T21UK, a company less than one year old, which picked up the contract.
In order to deliver all the elements required for such a complex project, T21UK subcontracted the IT services of Dan Peters from Peters Media & Marketing to build the dynamic online platform through which the training courses and films designed and scripted by T21 will be delivered.
T21 secured the keen cooperation of Knees Home and Electrical, whose destination superstore on the Spitfire Retail Park in Trowbridge will provide the location for the film shoot taking place on May 4th, 5th and 6th.
Paul Laville, Managing Director of T21UK, says, “This is a fantastic project for us. Retra liked the concept we put in front of them because it was dynamic, fresh and easy to engage with. The core concept of T21 is to deliver training designed for the 21st century. So it was important for me that each element – content, media, film location and the online portal itself – reflected that ethos.
“Dan Peters has worked tirelessly on producing a stunning online platform to carry the training content we’re putting together, and when it came to the filming there was only one retailer I had in mind to provide the location. So I’m really pleased that Knees were enthusiastic about the project and willing to let us plant a camera crew plus actors inside their store for a few days. Knees are members of Retra too, so it all ties in beautifully.”
Ian Vidler, Retail Director of Knees Home and Electrical, adds, “We’ve been trading for 136 years and part of our continuing success is down to always being able to deliver what the modern retail customer wants, not just in terms of the service and goods we’re offering but also the fresh and vibrant shopping environment in our stores. It’s a real pleasure to work with T21 and Retra in producing exciting, modern training solutions for retail.”
Paul adds, “It’s great that a team of local businesses are working together in this unified way. We shouldn’t underestimate the potential impact of this project. When the training goes live we’ll be engaging with upwards of 6,000 individual retail staff working in independent electrical stores throughout the UK. If that results in an upturn in sales and profitability for the industry in 2015 then that can only be a good thing.”
