Maplin Electronics is a retailer of electronic goods in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
As of June 2017, there are 218 Maplin Electronics stores. The company operates an extensive online, telephone, and mail order sales service.
Video Maplin Electronics
History
Founding
Maplin Electronic Supplies was established in 1972 as a small mail order business by Roger and Sandra Allen and Doug Simmons. The company originally started in a bedroom at the Allens' home in Rayleigh, Essex, after the two electronics enthusiasts were disappointed by the complexity and poor availability of existing electronic component suppliers.
The trio placed a small advertisement in an electronics magazine, after printing the company's first 28-page catalogue, which would be offered free to callers. Despite a slow start and dwindling profit in the first year, the company began to create a reputation for offering first grade electronic components that are delivered exactly as shown in the catalogue by first class post.
First store
The first store opened in Westcliff-on-Sea; the mail order department business moved into the spare rooms above the shop. Sales received a large boost when Maplin was invited to take prime advertising space in IPC Electronics magazines after receiving a large number of complaints against some of their existing advertisers.
A second store opened in Hammersmith by the end of the year. The mail order side of the business had outgrown the space available above the Westcliff-on-Sea store and a large ex-dairy building a few miles away in Hadleigh was purchased and was soon established as Maplin's first warehouse.
Maplin had already started designing electronic kits for hobbyists and musicians, with several major synthesiser and organ projects being published in the first magazine, Electronics & Music Maker, and subsequently made available as kits. Shortly after the second store opened, the technical team and management launched Electronics - the Maplin Magazine, which was initially published every quarter, then later as more projects were designed the publication was issued monthly.
The kits were a perfect vehicle to sell Maplin's components and the articles in Electronics published full circuit diagrams, parts lists and technical articles with full instructions for building and setting up the projects. All this happened in the early 1980s, and the sudden boom in home computer ownership spawned by manufacturers such as Sinclair, Commodore International and Atari created opportunities for Maplin to create home build project kits to plug into these computers such as speech synthesisers, memory expansion cards, extension keyboards, cables, and connectors.
At the height of production of the home build kits Maplin's range was vast, with in-house designed power amplifiers, radio kits, a weather station and a full weather satellite receiving and display system and many others, as well as the Heathkit and Velleman ranges of kits. The Maplin catalogue, with its distinctive futuristic space ship and planet themed cover art by Lionel Jeans was crammed with hundreds of application circuits, with each new release being eagerly awaited by the hobbyist community and selling hundreds of thousands of copies each year.
Maps Maplin Electronics
Expansion
Move to South Yorkshire
In 1985, Maplin Professional Supplies was created to serve the expanding business market with a catalogue of products selected specifically for professionals and the business market. In 1989, a new National Distribution Centre was opened at Wombwell, South Yorkshire, and four years later a Far Eastern headquarters was established in Taiwan.
By 1994, Maplin had a turnover of more than £29 million a year, and it was clear more help was needed to organise the business. In December 1994, Maplin was acquired by Saltire PLC.
In 1999, Maplin launched its own website, and the following year sales from the site hit UK £1million. The Southend-on-Sea headquarters also closed in 2000, and all operations were moved to Wombwell. In June 2001, the company changed hands again, this time with a management buyout backed by Graphite Capital.
Far East operations
Maplin Far East Operations was first established in 1992 when Maplin Electronics set up its first Far Eastern branch office in Taipei, Taiwan to strengthen buying power.
The office is in charge of product sourcing, purchasing, inspecting, shipping and payment arrangement from Taiwan and is now the Far East Operations Centre.
The Hong Kong Office followed in 1995 to handle the sourcing, purchasing and shipping from Hong Kong. As most production in Taiwan and Hong Kong have moved to Mainland China, the company registered a representative office in Shenzhen, China, under the Hong Kong Office in 2004. So far, the three offices in the Far East handle more than 500 suppliers and 5,000 buying items for the parent company. The major product categories include:
- Cables
- Power supplies
- Electronics components, kits and tools
- Communication equipment
- Computers
- Toys
- Automotive electronics
- Consumer electronics
Acquisition by Saltire
In December 1994, the private equity firm Saltire plc acquired Maplin Electronics from its founders, with the intention of merging its operations with another electronics distribution business in its portfolio, Altai.
Acquisition by Graphite Capital
In June 2001, Graphite Capital led the £41 million management buy-out of Maplin.
Acquisition by Montagu
In September 2004, Montagu Private Equity purchased 67% of Maplin from Graphite Capital at a cost of £244 million. In 2007, the company began to relocate its headquarters and distribution centre to a new facility at Brookfields Park, on the former Manvers Main Colliery, Rotherham, just two miles from the old warehouse in Wombwell. Maplin discontinued the processing of orders outside of the United Kingdom and Ireland in January 2010, but is looking to expand abroad.
Montagu Private Equity are now evaluating their options with Maplin, as the value of their investment has been realised. It was envisaged that when the market conditions were right, Maplin would float on the London Stock Exchange.
Acquisition by Rutland Partners
In March 2014, Montagu Private Equity put Maplin up for sale with an expected return of between £100 million and £200 million. On 27 June 2014, Rutland Partners announced they were acquiring Maplin from Montagu for £85 million.
Rutland typically focuses on restructuring opportunities, "special situation" investments. £5m of the capital was provided by Beringea from funds provided by Proven and Proven Growth and Income VCTs.
Horizon 2015
Horizon project
Chief Executive Officer John Cleland took post of Maplin Electronics on 1 March 2013. Assessing the current state of the business, he concluded that due to the current economic climate resulting in lowering footfall, Maplin Electronics would have to make serious structural changes in order to continue trading in 2015. Following this, he set out plans for the Horizon 2015 project.
The Horizon 2015 project established some medium term goals, such as a complete overhaul of the existing stores, widening the product range, and establishing a clear message to the consumer.
Service guarantees
Maplin Electronics recently introduced three service guarantees to improve its customer service interface:
- Price match - This is available for any product which is available online or in-store. Maplin will price match online prices, but that company must be based in the United Kingdom, and have a High Street store somewhere in the country. Maplin does not price match 'Online Only' stores such as Amazon, eBay, or Gumtree.
- 365 day 'No Quibble' - Returns are handled primarily in stores instead of being sent away.
- Free delivery - No delivery charge when purchasing within the store.
Debt free
It was announced in the end of 2012, Maplin Electronics was now officially out of debt from their creditor Montague Equity. This was hailed as good news to all of the staff and stake holders of Maplin Electronics, as the recession of 2008 hit the economy hard.
Store expansion
In the company's effort to remain part of the retail industry, it has invested UK £40 million to overhaul its e-commerce platforms on its website and through smart phone apps, and to reach a medium term goal of 300 retail stores throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland before expanding abroad in 2015. The company is looking to find vacant store outlets in key cities in which to expand.
In 2013 Maplin Electronics planned to open travel stores in airports and railway stations where it will offer a tailored product selection such as travel adaptors, batteries, and laptop chargers.
Product range
Maplin Electronics sells a large selection of electrical and electronic equipment such as audio/visual devices, components, computer devices and peripherals, cables, television and satellite equipment, everyday electrical items such as batteries and light bulbs, power adaptors and solar energy panels. The company also sells MP3 players, portable televisions and satellite navigation equipment. The target market ranges from the general consumer to the more technical electronics hobbyist.
In November 2012, former Maplin Electronics CEO John Cleland stated, "We want to double the range of products we sell online from 15,000 to 30,000 SKUs (stock keeping unit) in the next three years, in some cases we will work on fulfilling orders by delivering straight from the manufacturer to the customer."
Drop ship vending
In June 2013, Maplin Electronics introduced drop ship vending, allowing them to offer a far greater range of stock for sale online than available in-store.
References
External links
- Maplin Electronics official e-commerce site
- Maplin Electronics official careers site
- Maplin Services Range Of Services
- Maplin B2B Services trade site
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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