With a reputation for attention to detail and a personal approach, London-based Trojan Shopfitting offers an umbrella of design and manufacturing services for every client. Director, Michael Pratt, talks to RLI about the company.
Trojan Shopfitting is renowned for its high-quality end products and ability to successfully complete projects on time and within budget.
Although it has been a turbulent couple of years in the shopfitting industry, Trojan has weathered the economic storm and has adapted its business to ensure it is geared up for the future.
Michael Pratt, Director of Trojan Shopfitting, said: “We have seen an increase in tender activity in recent months, so the market pulse has started to beat a bit more vigorously again. But it’s still weak and the margins remain tight, thus we will proceed with caution throughout 2011. Expect a better check-up in 2012 as we will need to be healthy enough to compete in the Olympics!”
In light of last year’s sour economy, a new business strategy and company expansion was needed in order to reflect the company’s future business objectives.
“Our market research indicated that there were opportunities to strengthen the company brand and image by implementing an online marketing campaign, increasing services, tapping into semi-luxury markets, and expanding manufacturing capabilities,” Pratt adds.
Trojan responded by moving its headquarters to an office space that could accommodate full manufacturing capabilities, acquired specialty training and certifications, scheduled AdWords advertising, joined social media outlets and numerous online directories, and by creating Trojan One - the design division of Trojan Shopfitting. “Trojan has been able to better meet the needs of our market by offering a bespoke service. We have been able to attract new customers and grow our client portfolio.
“However, let us not be misleading and imply that we were immune to the effects of the economic downturn, because that certainly was not the case. We felt its burden on our turnover rate like everyone else in the industry.
But, fortunately for us, as a result of careful, systematic research of the market and industry data, coupled with our willingness to take some substantial financial risks, we were able to implement a competitive strategic plan that has been able to sustain us thus far.”
The company is currently working on several office and hotel refurbishment projects, including Goldman Sachs’ River Court, Peterborough Court, Cavendish House and Christ Church Court offices, Royal Lancaster Hotel, London, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, London, and Intercontinental Hotel, London.
Pratt added: “More recently, we have finished a number of new outlets for the Italian company Calzedonia and their sister brand Intimissimi, as well as completed works on the large-scale refurbishment project of the Fenwick Bond Street Store in London.”
The Fenwick project was a large-scale refurbishment that took nearly one year to complete. Trojan’s responsibilities included, but were not limited to, partitioning and ceiling works that include detailed lighting troughs and ornate fibrous plaster domes with intricate details, pictured. The new feature columns and ceiling on the new ground floor lingerie department were not only designed and installed by Trojan, but manufactured by them as well.
www.trojan-shopfitting.co.uk
For the full article, please see the February 2011 issue.
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