Private Label Own Brand Plumbing Tools from Monument
Monument Tools have always had the ability and produced private label own brand plumbing tools for export clients, other branded manufacturers, distributors as well as plumbers merchants and DIY multiples.With significant re-investment in manufacturing and flexibility in its packaging line Monument have designed and manufactured private label own brand plumbing tools for brands such as Irwin, General Pipe Cleaners, Rothenberger, for DIY multiple Focus DIY, for distributors such as Buck and Hickman, Faithfull (part of Toolbank), Nerrad, Haron (Australia) and more recently plumbers merchants including Plumbing and Heating Group PHG under Instinct and UK Plumbing Supplies UKPS under the Entity brand.
Branding for Merchants
Monument has continually developed it’s packaging and re-invested in new technology. A recent breakthrough has been the development of similar sizes of packaging allowing for consistency across packaging backing card colours as well as improved packaging layouts and retail space saving layouts. Coupled with striking black toolbars, merchants have taken to the Monument branded yellow and black packaging in great numbers across the merchant landscape. Merchants have also seen the need to have private label products to distinguish themselves in the marketplace rather than competing with the same products as thousands of other outlets and especially online. Monument worked closely with both PHG group and Heating and Plumbing Supplies HPS (now part of UKPS) to install dual branded Instinct and HPS private label own brand plumbing tools manufactured and distributed by Monument. Summer 2018 saw HPS brand swap over to Entity Plumbing Tools manufactured and distributed by Monument . The 2021 catalogues for Instinct and Entity brands are available from the downloads page.
Dual Branding
Dual branding ie Branding with both the Merchant Brand and the Monument Brand gives tradesmen the confidence that they are buying a branded product whilst the merchant also has their brand promoted on the toolbars and at the trade counter. Andrew Weiss of Weiss Marketing comments “We met a Heating Engineer in ski-lift queue, asked where he bought his tools and which brand, he replied that he loved the HPS range of tools. For Monument and HPS this is a job well done – the Merchant’s name is on a quality range of tools; the engineer is happy too! win-win-win“
Branding for Distributors
For many years Monument branded private label own brand plumbing tools for distributors including Faithfull, Nerrad and Haron. With the best intentions this was seen as a win-win for both Monument and the distributor; Monument having the capability to design, manufacture and package whilst the distributor have the skills set in selling and marketing to parts of the market where Monument had little penetration. All seemed rosy in these gardens until the desire for the distributors to make more and more margin. Possibly from pressure from DIY multiples the distributors looking to keep or grow their margin looked to resource the product from the Far East or trade on a strong purchase currency.
It is with regret that Monument have seen these areas decline as distributors have resourced and even in some extreme cases falsely claim that the products were of their own design and manufacture. The decision was taken by Monument in 2016 to cease all private label own brand plumbing tools for distributors (with a single product category exception). Some would argue that it is the right of the distributor to resource but resourcing away from the original manufacturer for a cheaper alternative inevitably leads to a lower quality product which is not the aim of Monument nor the requirement of the trades to use lower quality product.
Branding for Focus DIY
It is with great sadness that the UK has seen the demise of DIY or Home Improvement – none more so than Focus. Monument had a great relationship with the buyers at Focus and provided some best selling products in the private label own brand plumbing tools category. It was sad to see the demise of the Focus brand but Monument were lucky enough to be excommunicated from Focus and not become one of the debtors when the axe finally fell on Focus DIY.