Parker Hannifin is expanding still further its UK network of ParkerStores, with the opening of a new centre at Abdex Hose and Couplings. Based in Leighton Buzzard, the new ParkerStore offers a wide range of pneumatic, hydraulic, seals and filtration products and components. Just as importantly, the new ParkerStore forms a key part of the company's ongoing programme to help customers increase the productivity and profitability of their businesses through a combination of innovative technologies, product choice, local availability and competitive pricing, backed by technical knowledge and services.
Pioneered by Parker Hannifin, the ParkerStore concept is both a tool for helping key independent distributors expand their business operations, and a method of getting the company's extensive range of products to end users even more quickly and efficiently. There is an extensive network of ParkerStores worldwide and Parker already boasts 2700 outlets. Each provides a large retail space where customers can easily find Parker products and benefit from the technical knowledge of specially trained staff, who, in turn, can call on specialists from Parker for additional applications or product support.
The new Abdex ParkerStore is the latest in the rapidly expanding UK network of ParkerStores and, as Director of Abdex Oliver Bain, explains: "[The Abdex ParkerStore] represents an exciting new venture, enabling us to expand our existing services for low- and high-pressure hoses and couplings with a complementary business unit that we believe will open up many new opportunities in the future.
"We have refurbished part of our site to create a new retail space and have invested in a wide range of stock lines. Key to this has been the support that we have received from Parker; this has included assistance in designing and setting up the retail area, with a full range of branded point-of-sale, display and shop fittings, plus technical and product training, and ongoing marketing and sales support to help us launch the store to customers in the area."
Richard Fenner, Business Development Manager for ParkerStores in the UK, adds: "The ParkerStore programme offers all our distribution partners a proven business model that they can develop for use in their local areas. It offers real value both to the store operator and to their customers, bringing Parker technology and expertise within easy reach of everybody involved in the field of motion and control, regardless of whether they run a large industrial site, manage a smaller maintenance, construction or commercial vehicle operation, or are simply an occasional user of spares or component parts. In addition, as a business, we are rolling out an aggressive growth programme in the UK and our ParkerStores form a key element in this process".