When was Hispec formed and what were the original company objectives?

Hispec was established back in 2002, initially as an importer of general electrical products, ranging from electronic transformers to fluorescent lighting modulars.

The initial mission statement of Hispec was to offer a wide range of quality products to the electrical wholesale market, with an emphasis on providing excellent levels of customer service to every aspect of the supply chain.

What sets Hispec apart from other electrical product suppliers?

Over the past three years we have invested heavily in the recruitment of an experienced sales team that now offers national support for our electrical wholesale customers. I believe that a major contributor to our continued growth is the unrivalled support that we offer the wholesaler, whether it be through staff training, joint contractor visits, trade day support or free of charge POS displays for their branches.

Our team listen intently to the requirements of their customers and as a result we were able to design and develop a range of products that filled a niche in the domestic fire and CO market; specification quality detectors at an affordable price point.

Due to our vertical integration supply chain model, we are now able to adapt and diversify our product offering in a much shorter timeframe than some of our larger, more corporately owned competitors – thus allowing us to penetrate a variety of market sectors with not just our fire detection range but also our emergency lighting and general LED lighting solutions.

How has the drive to reduce energy use impacted the lighting market?

The concentrated drive to reduce energy use has led to the development and rapid advancement of energy-efficient lighting technologies, notably Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs). As the demand for these energy-efficient products continues to rise, the market for incandescent bulbs has almost disappeared completely.

One of the largest impacts to the lighting market in recent years will be the upcoming legislative changes that will effectively ban the use or sale of all fluorescent lamps in the UK by February 2024 – this is primarily being driven by the government’s need to achieve Net Carbon Zero by 2050.

Another significant impact of the race to reduce our energy consumption is the development of innovative lighting solutions, such as the newly launched remote monitoring system by Hispec, designed to cut down CO2 emissions, maintenance costs and the environmental impact of commercial lighting.

What are the current trends in lighting and fire detection and what product lines have proved popular over the past 12 months?

We have seen the demand for life safety products increase significantly over the past 12 months, with a particular focus on Internet of Things (IoT) technology. Social landlords, property developers and private contractors have shifted a lot of their focus onto achieving their own corporate social responsibility (CSR) goals – one of the most prominent being the reduction in CO2 emissions that many are accomplishing through the enhanced use of IoT solutions and connected devices.

We believe that the implementation of the Building Safety Act in October 2023 will have a huge impact on how we as an industry approach life safety, focusing predominantly on testing measures and compliance records.

What are the future goals for Hispec?

 We have some very aggressive growth plans built into our most recent three-year strategy, focusing primarily on a major expansion of our product offering, launching exciting new technologies that are targeted towards compliance and then finally ensuring that the industry are educated and kept up to speed in the emerging markets and opportunities within the fire and lighting sectors.

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In 2016 the size of a 170g Toblerone was reduced to 150g while the 400g bar was reduced to 360g. Those ‘in the know’ will remember this was achieved by stealth in that they increased the gaps between the peaks. This random piece of research was conducted as a result of the first pack of Cadbury’s Creme Eggs being cracked open in the PEW editorial office…only to discover they do in fact appear smaller than they used to.

I am reliably informed that there is a name for this and its happening every day – it’s called ‘shrinkflation’. A quick internet search will tell you that this is the process of items shrinking in size or quantity while the price remains the same or increases.

The size of a Cadbury’s Creme Egg is probably not at the top of your ‘things to be concerned about’ list and while you may hand a few out to loyal customers in the run up to Easter, the cost, and size of them probably isn’t a huge issue for you right now.

The concept of shrinkflation however is a potential cause for concern. We are all familiar with the phrase ‘quality versus quantity’ and in the past the majority of electrical wholesalers have come firmly down on the side of quality – vowing to continue to only stock products which provide quality and value for money for their customers.

But what happens when the cost of raw materials increases? This is something which we are now seeing on a daily basis and the wholesalers I have spoken to have started to see some fairly significant price rises from manufacturers as a result of this. The quality versus quantity debate is perhaps now more significant than ever because wholesalers want to offer quality products, but can your customers afford them?

The cost of living crisis is hitting everyone hard, all the way through the supply chain. It is a particular issue for those contractors working in domestic properties where your average homeowner needs work to be carried out but they can’t afford the bells and whistles approach. New technology is making this easier in that it is meeting the demand for energy efficient homes which will allow the homeowner to save money – but it still comes with a price and the average homeowner has to weigh up the cost versus the savings before agreeing to home upgrades. Where does this leave the quality versus quantity debate?

The good news is that the wholesale market remains strong and despite the latest flood of cheap imports into the market, you continue to sell on quality whilst providing value for money to your customers.

It’s good to see. The impact of Covid, supply chain issues, the cost of raw materials, Brexit and staffing issues have all hit this industry hard but once again the industry has pulled out all the stops to show fairly robust growth in 2022. The moral of the story is that quality always wins over quantity and that’s why our industry continues to remain strong in the face of tough competition from cheap imports.

I’m now going to test this theory on my ‘smaller’ Cadbury’s Creme Egg – purely for research purposes!

See you next month – Tracey Rushton-Thorpe Editor

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