Page 60 - Lighting Magazine February 2018

under the radar
The 8-light Ellington xture can suit both traditional and transitional décor.
LL: You and your brother and sisters literally grew up in the business and are active members of the executive team. What are some of the life and business lessons that you all have learned from your dad?
GR: We all began working at very young ages, starting out in the storeroom before the age of 10. But even more than that experience, we would talk about the business over dinner each night. [Our father] gave us a good understanding of the intricacies of the business. He has always been happy to impart his knowledge, which I under- stand can be a struggle for some business owners when trying to pass their information down to the next generation. Ian taught us to be honest, treat people fairly, and that there always needs to be two winners in any negotiation. Plus he [showed us by example] how to have an open, inclusive business culture.
LL: Just how big is Beacon International overall?
GR: We have approximately 150 people in the Store Support and Distribution divisions of the business and approximately 800 team members in the 108 retail stores within Australia. There are also approximately 40 people in the ve Commercial Sales O ces, which are focused on project and commercial lighting in the Australian market. The International business – which covers wholesale and e-commerce – [is comprised of] 12 people spread across the U.S., China, and Europe. The International business leverages the support o the main group for product development, mar- keting, and nance etc., therefore the team can be quite lean in these early stages. In total we have just over 1,000 Beacon team members.
LL: How soon can North American customers receive shipments of their products a er order- ing? Is there a distribution center here?
GR: In North America, we are building the SKU range and currently stock approximately 30 to 40 SKUs of ceiling fans in a warehouse in Los Angeles. We are mostly selling on e-commerce channels and to some retailers. We only started the U.S. operation in January 2017, but we have a good amount of stock in LA to service our custom- ers. As we learn which items are selling well in the market, we are able to easily ramp up production sometimes on the back of the Australian stock re- quirements to speed up delivery to the USA.
LL: Beacon Lighting has long been Australia’s largest lighting retailer. Are there plans to con- tinue to add more stores in Australia and other countries?
GR: We only operate retail stores in Australia. We currently have 108 and we add approximately 6 to 8 new stores each year. We have a plan to get to 150 stores in Australia. We do sell our products to more than 25 countries through wholesale and e-commerce channels, but we do not have brick and mortar stores there.
LL: The Beacon brand is relatively new to the U.S. market, and I know you exhibited in a temporary space at the Dallas Market last year. Will we see the Beacon brand at any trade shows in 2018? GR: At this point in time we are focusing on building the range and ge ing the distribution models more e ective and working with a few key
56 enLIGHTenment Magazine | FeBruarY 2018
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