With DIY undoubtedly a popular past-time in the UK, many customers are flocking to home improvement retailers in their leisure time in search of ideas and inspiration. Focus Wickes is the second largest UK DIY retailer in terms of turnover and through its Focus and Wickes branded stores, the group offers an extensive range of home improvement products to both DIY and trade customers.

Wickes stores are designed to appeal to serious DIY customers, who carry out more complex projects, and tradesmen, who undertake general repairs, maintenance and improvement projects for households. In addition, Wickes stores offer a range of kitchens, conservatories, bathrooms and bedrooms, which are sold through in-store showrooms. In fact, it was Wickes’ need to provide customers with professional-looking plans, illustrations and quotations which led to its demand for an in-house high-quality, low-cost colour printing solution.

“The showroom is a critical element of our business and presentation of the printed documents we give to customers is very important,” said Carl Collins, IT Business Manager at Wickes. “And colour is obviously a key feature in this.”

Having already invested in Uptrac and Oasys EPoS software from Swindon-based CTS Retail, and working in partnership with the company when implementing hardware for new stores, Wickes acted on its recommendation and has rolled out to 90 of its stores Epson’s AcuLaser C1900 colour laser printer. Primarily used in the showrooms, the product is also used in-store for other printing tasks such as point of sale signage. “We chose the AcuLaser C1900 after evaluating a number of printers. As our environment is somewhat more challenging than most retailers, it’s vital for us to test potential new products in-store for some months to ensure they come up to scratch. Epson kindly supplied us with a laser printer in order for us to carry out these extended trials and I’m pleased to say it passed with flying colours,” explained Carl.

Delivering both colour and monochrome printing at a black and white price, the AcuLaser C1900’s advanced ASIC technologies enable it to deliver well defined text and graphics with sharp, photo-like print quality to give totally professional results. What’s more, with a 700 sheet paper feed and two-sided printing ability, Wickes can count on increased productivity and efficiency.

“Along with reliability, low cost of ownership was a key issue for us,” added Carl. “The printers are in use continuously and so we get through quite a lot of consumables – Epson’s AcuLaser C1900 delivers very good value for money and its performance is second to none.”