PH Ross is one of Dublin’s longest established and well-known suppliers of plumbing, heating and bathroom products. In 2017 they celebrated over 40 years in business.
To reach such a milestone gives substance to the fact that this long-established business is in fact ‘serious about service’. The company’s customer base has grown considerably over the years which is a testament to PH Ross’s ability to understand their customer requirement and consistently deliver on that understanding.
Widely renowned as carrying extensive stocks of all things plumbing, heating and bathroom related, customers can be assured that they will find ‘what they are looking for when they are looking for it’ at PH Ross. Another motto that PH Ross customers use is ‘if it can’t be got in PH Ross’s it can’t be got’, another notable trust which has been built up between the team in Ross’s and their customers.
A good location and ease of access are two vital components in offering great customer service, located on Hanlon’s corner (just off North Circular Rd), Old Cabra road, allows the customer to easily get to the store, get what they want and get back on site in no time.
‘You won’t be delayed in Ross’s’ something Michael Maher the Branch Manager insists on.
The current site has under gone some serious re-development in the last two years, PH Ross which is 100% Irish owned by the HPC Group, entered into an arrangement with LIDL to acquire an adjoining site, which then allowed for a new purpose built Plumbing & Heating store to be constructed, (which can also be accessed off of Annamoe Road,) and the development allowed the creation of a new bespoke bathroom and tile showroom underneath the LIDL store.
“The approach to designing the new Plumbing & Heating store, as well as the new bathroom showroom was an interesting process,” so said Company Managing Director Dennis O’Connor. “Before any pen was put to paper we ensured we took adequate time to plan for not only what our present customer wants, but also the customer of the future.”
This involved sitting down with each team member and drawing up a list of key considerations which would then fed into the overall plan.
The consideration list consisted of items they felt were key to giving the very best customer experience and included important factors such as the speed in which a customer would be served in the new store and the ability to stock the broadest range of branded products at the right price.
This approach carried through into the showroom design, where their ultimate objective was to give the customer something different, a “Wow I haven’t seen that before” expression, and boy have they delivered on that!
“We’re fiercely proud of what has been achieved in the new PH Ross’s in both the Plumbing/Heating store and the new showroom.
“We were adamant that we were not going to ‘cut and paste’ someone else’s ideas- we wanted something different, but in being different it had to be purposeful, what the customer wanted or better still what the customer didn’t even know they wanted,” explains Dennis.
For example a simple but well thought out coffee dock for the trade customers to enjoy an Americano or Cappuccino whilst their order is being completed, or the ‘minimum path plan’, whilst it sounds simple is actually a clever design ensuring the customer can easily see what they want, load up and go, all feeding into the principle ‘you won’t be delayed in PH Ross’.
“The same can be said for the showroom design, whilst a different set of design skills were required, the starting point was the same, get the teams views on board, identify what the customers were looking for out for and how could we deliver this and more, and how could we use this precious space to showcase everything the customer wants today or tomorrow.
“The bathroom is the one room in everyone’s home that reveals one’s personality’, in our various settings, in the various styles, contemporary to traditional or even the mixture of both we were adamant to ensure our customers will never say ‘oh I wished I had seen that before I picked my bathroom’ -that would have been design failure in my view,” says Dennis O’Connor.
It is a view that is shared by Showroom Manager Aine Mulvey, whose extensive experience in consumer trends was instrumental in selecting the bathrooms and tiles for the new showroom.
In Aine’s words “a showroom is just a showroom if you haven’t a team with the necessary skills to interpret the desires and wants of the customer, we place a huge emphasis in understanding our customer’s requirements, whether it is for the dream bathroom, or the bathroom that makes dreaming easier when we have more time to dream, we endeavour to make the best use of the customers space and budget.
“Our primary objective is to get our customer the bathroom they always wanted.”
The ability to deliver value to their customers is also a huge contributory factor to the successful growth of PH Ross’s business over the years.
Being part of Ireland’s Leading Building & Plumbing Merchants Group (HPC Group owns 12 Stores throughout Ireland), enables PH Ross to compete and win on value against the multiples. The HPC Group is one of the founding members of the Allied Merchants Buying Association; AMBA is made up of Ireland’s leading Independent Builders and Plumbers merchants, a Group with vast buying power which in turn allows their members (PH Ross) pass on real savings to their customers.
Dennis O’Connor who currently doubles up his role as Group MD and Allied Merchants Chairman, notes the importance to a business like Ross’s to be a part of a vibrant buying Group: “Participation in the Group not only allows us to compete and win business, but it also allows us to be at the forefront of all emerging technologies in the world of plumbing, heating and bathrooms.”
It makes for another interesting 40 years in PH Ross.
Contact Details:
PH Ross
12 Annamoe Road,
Cabra,
Dublin 7
Phone: 01 838 5666
Email: [email protected]
Taken from Building Ireland Magazine, December 2017, Vol 3 No 11
