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Platform on sun and daylight control, shutters, patio covers and closures
If a conversation with CEO Patrick van Loosbroek of Unilux makes one thing clear, it is that the insect protection specialist from Boxtel takes its business very seriously. But actually that was already known for a long time. Whether it's about the product range and product innovations, the usefulness of insects for our ecosystem, the ecological footprint of a production company like Unilux, the importance of ventilation for all our health or the use of online marketing tools to streamline product sales and support Unilux dealers. In all these areas, Unilux is constantly active to achieve optimal solutions.
Take the company's ecological footprint. Six years ago, Unilux decided to reduce it by producing locally as much as possible. "Because everything comes from the neighborhood, much less transport movements are needed," Van Loosbroek says of this. Moreover, we rarely have delivery problems, because communicating and dealing with a company located in the next village, so to speak, is of course many times easier than with a company on the other side of the world."
Unilux's concept is based on having 80% of the longitudinal materials, components and parts that Unilux thinks it will need for the season in stock. As a result - and through clever organization of production - Unilux can almost always maintain the same delivery times, even in the high season.
Like the awning season, the season for insect protection generally begins when the nice weather arrives. Unilux has already made attempts to extend the season, but is still struggling to get the industry on board with this says Patrick van Loosbroek. "It is already better than in the past, but for Unilux extending the season remains an important issue. This is to everyone's advantage, especially the dealer's. Short delivery times by Unilux and other manufacturers and suppliers of sun and insect protection do not help anything if the orders pile up at the sun protection specialists because they have too little assembly capacity." According to Van Loosbroek, the shortage of technical staff is a major and also difficult problem to solve, which he fears will only get worse.
"As an industry we are still not profiling ourselves sufficiently. The average consumer does not know at all what an awning specialist has to offer, not even in the area of insect protection. Too little is still happening to change that." With building plans, it is important to integrate sun and insect protection into the plans from the very beginning, he believes. "It is a task of the industry - manufacturers as well as sun protection specialists - to properly inform architects and other building professionals what the possibilities are. This has to be done better than it is done now; other building-related industries are further along in this."
"Awnings are seen too much in isolation from other aspects of the facade. "Look at your own publishing house. You have Z&R for the shading industry in the broadest sense of the word and Facade Construction for everything facade-related, but as far as I'm concerned, it should go together." υ
For blinds this is more difficult, but for insect screens, ordering via the web shop and assembly by the end customer himself can be a solution to the shortage of assembly personnel. Patrick van Loosbroek considers the Unilux webshop a great success. "The motivation for starting the web shop was initially that specialists in insect protection cannot actually do it themselves. Our product group is simply too small for that. This makes no difference to the turnover of the committed Unilux dealer, because Unilux has set up online ordering in such a way that they simply get their margin if someone in their work or zip code area places an order online, even if the consumer does everything himself and the dealer does not have to make any effort."
So the Unilux website is definitely not a threat to the dealer, "It even happens sometimes that dealers have not looked into the scheme and are surprised when they see a credit from Unilux on their account," laughs Patrick van Loosbroek.
To make it easy for the do-it-yourselfer, Unilux has made the order page as customer-friendly as possible, so that the end customer knows exactly how to measure and order. Nevertheless, an emphatic warning for the end customer is not missing: if you are not sure, consult the dealer!
To make installation as easy as possible, Unilux supplies customized products that are particularly easy to install. Useful for the do-it-yourselfer who measures and assembles himself, but also for the dealer, because after all, experienced personnel are less and less available: if insect screens are easy to install, the dealer can use his experienced fitters for more difficult projects.
Unilux makes considerable marketing efforts every year, including television advertisements and presence at consumer fairs. The goal, of course, is for the revenues from these efforts to accrue to Unilux. "Especially through our television advertisements, we are succeeding more and more," Van Loosbroek observes. "Consumers are increasingly asking about Unilux when they need insect protection." That, of course, is a goal, that the Unilux name becomes a household name, so that customers in the showroom don't ask for insect protection but for Unilux. And the same on the Internet: that they don't search for insect screens, but for Unilux. Of course, we are not that far yet, but we are doing our best for it."
Incidentally, Unilux is taking a total approach. Television and other large-scale efforts should create national brand awareness. Locally, dealers follow up with leaflets, banners and flags for recognition. A showroom display is also part of the strategy. Unilux offers it to its dealers at low cost and makes sure it is always up-to-date.
Unilux does national promotion of the brand, but locally or when the end customer comes to the site or showroom, the dealer has to take over. Online, the dealer can promote himself with his own landing page. In addition, Unilux offers education and training to best prepare the dealer for the sales call. For 2022, the focus for Unilux - apart from the website - is therefore on the situation that still occurs most often: that the end customer reports to the showroom.
Unilux does a lot for its dealers and requires commitment from its customers to do so. Dealers who use the site and want to be eligible for the margins of online sales must commit to Unilux's insect protection. "This arrangement only strengthens the bond between Unilux and its dealers," Van Loosbroek is convinced. "Online is running better and better and dealers see the benefits. It fits into this development that our dealers can only order online. The online ordering system has become better and better and more user-friendly, so everyone can get on with it. So there is no longer any barrier to online ordering. As a result, we can only process orders placed online. The telephone contact we now have with our dealers mainly involves technical support. That's fine. We would rather have dealers ask for too much than too little."
Product and other training is increasingly being done by Unilux on-site at a company. This approach has many advantages, Van Loosbroek believes. "We get to know the companies we work with better and also the faces behind them. We see the showroom, the workshop and can give tips and advice. Conversely, we also learn from it. Moreover, we can present ourselves better and our dealers get to know us better. By the way, we want to take that same approach for Fractions."
Putting sun and insect protection on the map even better and increasing the effectiveness of advertising campaigns and promotion requires cooperation, says Patrick van Loosbroek at the end of the conversation. "We have made moves toward that, but concrete results are not there yet. Some competitor companies we have spoken with are not yet that far along marketing-wise, others wanted to relate it too much to their own brand and product. So concrete cooperation has not yet materialized, but we remain in conversation because we think this is an important topic."
