Brighthouse Are Not Making the Same Mistake Again
Radio Rentals evokes memories of terrible hair cuts, Golf GTIs and episodes of The Sweeney on ailing television sets. Irrespective of this, one of its close descendants BrightHouse Electricals is beginning to win back the place it lost on the high street through the rise of the likes of Currys, Dixons and Comet and the decline of the price of televisions.
BrightHouse was created out of Thorn-EMI, the owner of Radio Rentals, by Terra Firma, Guy Hands’s private equity group. It gained infamy for exorbitant APRs and costly mandatory extra cover. Currentlythe chain is on the front foot, trying to clean up both its shops and its name as it embarks on a very ambitious growth programme. It plans to open 21 outlets next year and estimates that there is enough market for at least 600.
Only twelve of BrightHouse 178 brances are in Greater London, but, as Leo McKee, the straight-talking chief executive of the company, is fond of saying the high street turns into a very different place beyond the M25.
Its customers, almost solely from the lower socioeconomic layers are having trouble to get credit - if they ever could - as lenders cut their risk profiles.
“We are working on areas that [Lloyds] TSB are pulling out of,” Mr McKee stated. The prospect of BrightHouse stepping in to give credit to our less wealthy communities will not satisfy everyone. Nevertheless the Scot believes that this is an outdated perception.
“When I “started in my job [in 2004], we “requested a “external “study to examine “our positioning asking: ‘Is it sufficient?’ and: ‘Does it have longevity?’ he stated.
“The results came back: your name on the high street is garbage; you’re seen as a rip-off merchant; the prices were high, the stores shabby.
“The first decision I made was to change all the prices to match the high street, on the day I found out [the results].”
The old approach was that as long as customers could afford the weekly payment, they would not be worried about the final price. And this thinking had side effects right through the business.
That is what Brighthouse are now trying to fix so their image gets better amongst the general public.
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