Trade, Retail & DIY

We recognise the distinct challenges our distributors face in their Trade and DIY markets. We employ continuous market research to understand the evolving needs of end-users and, to help us innovate new solutions that perform better, are easy to install, look better on the shelf, or will look good as part of the drive/patio/garden.

We have over 100 years of heritage in packed, bulk and building products and offer customers leading construction brands such as Blue Circle, Durox, Trupak and more recently U-Can.

Logistics play a big part to the success of our partnerships - our ability to supply what we have promised in a timely and efficient manner. As a business that is focused on and committed to more sustainable manufacture, we continue to invest in innovation that delivers improvements to both logistics and product design.

Innovation Mastercrete in plastic packaging was the first UK mainstream cement product to be produced in this way. As a response to our damp climate we introduced the weatherproof bag so that supplies could be left outside. Simple but innovative as it increased storage space for water vulnerable products and reduced stock shrinkage through accidental damage. A wider benefit was the promotion of link selling as the product could be placed next to blocks, aggregates and sand. Our more recent innovations include a range of tubs designed for plumbers and electricians and U-Can, off the shelf ‘fix it’ products for the the novice DIYer. The range is designed as an in the bag solution to jobs that include patching a drive, repairing render or making good damaged mortar joints.

Understanding the marketplace We undertake extensive research to understand the needs of our distributor customers and in turn their customers. We know that in the retail market DIYers come to a store with a project rather than a product in mind and we offer simple easy to use solutions to help them do this. We also conduct regular customer satisfaction surveys and focus group interviews to measure how well we are doing from our customer’s perspective.

Providing solutions We offer tailored solutions to our customers to meet the specific application requirements of their end-users whether that be trade or DIYer. Our blocks, mortars, bulk, packed and bagged products offer a broad range of high quality effective solutions for every type of Trade or DIY application.

John Bampkin

Jewson Builders Merchant

Regional Director

"The team at Tarmac are always looking to add value to their product range and they are very innovative at bringing in new products. We've had really good support from their marketing teams and salesforce and they've actually helped us to promote and sell to new customers as well."

Case Study

Helping the customer - communications

DIYers go to retailers to buy materials to complete a project not necessarily to buy a product. To support our trade and retail partners we offer a variety of communication tools to promote ease of usability, offer ‘how to’ support guides and product benefits. These include branded digital YouTube channels, films, Apps, and DIY/information websites. In response to research and our trading partner needs we develop materials that for example, calculate the volume requirements or show nearest sales outlet.

Case Study

Helping the customer - communications

Case Study

Packaging

Our innovative Ready-to-Use tubs, bags and U-Can range offer partners niche solutions to the needs of merchant and retail markets. Clean and easy to use, they avoid the need to buy a collection of bulky products to mix. Whilst our award winning 12.5kg bags were the first cement bags in the UK to deliver the right amount of cement per mixer load - ultimately reducing waste.

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Packaging

Case Study

Supply chain

We have worked with our retail customers to leverage the benefits of a more integrated supply chain to benefit both parties in terms of stock rotation, in store availability, stock holding and delivery slots. This has involved ensuring they have enough stock for peak season demand, reducing pallet quantities of slow moving stock and changing store ordering patterns to enable reduced lead times all of which have delivered our customers real savings and resulted in best practice awards for our business.

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Supply chain

Trade, Retail & DIY

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