For use with Strategic Management: Awareness and Change 10e, Thompson, Scott, Martin, 9781473786530
© Cengage EMEA 2023


Richer Sounds
Electrical goods retailers are not new. The dominant name in the UK is Curry’s, but Richer
Sounds is different, and very successful. When it was awarded the Which? ‘Best UK Retailer’
title in 2015, it was the third time in five years that it had received this accolade. Richer is
more focused than its main rival, specializing in hi-fi – especially separate units. According to
the Guinness Book of Records, Richer achieved the highest sales per square foot of any
retailer in the world – a record it has been able to maintain for over 20 years. Sales per
employee are also high. Stock is piled high to the ceilings in relatively small stores in
typically low-rent locations. All the main brands can be found; the latest models feature
alongside discontinued ones, these at very competitive prices. ‘We just aren’t that
ambitious [to justify diversifying] . . . we feel that by staying with what we know best we can
concentrate our effort and resources in one field and hopefully do it well.’ The range is
relatively focused to allow bulk purchasing which, in turn, allows Richer to charge
competitive prices.
Julian Richer was born in 1959; his parents both worked for M&S. He was aged just
19 when he opened his first shop at London Bridge: ‘seventy thousand commuters passed
the shop every day’. He now owns some 50 stores in the UK and the Republic of Ireland, and
two more in the Netherlands. Growth is gradual as Richer wants to maintain his private
ownership of the business. Apart from Christmas, Richer will not open on Sundays. His
employees are known as ‘colleagues’ and they are empowered to work ‘The Richer Way’.
They have product knowledge and offer advice. He declares: biggest brands, best prices,
expert advice. Richer claims that his suggestion scheme has generated the highest number
of suggestions per employee of any scheme anywhere in the world, and the best ideas are
rewarded with trips on the Orient Express. The most successful employees (in terms of
sales) can win free use of a holiday home; the most successful shops earn the free use of a
Bentley or Jaguar for a month. Every employee is allowed £5 per month ‘to go to the pub
and brainstorm’. Julian Richer has advised ASDA on suggestion schemes, and ex-ASDA
chairman Archie Norman has said: ‘Julian has gone to great lengths to create a system that
works without him, but, to a great extent, his business is his personality.’
Richer has established a parallel consulting arm, with eight consultants who offer
‘The Richer Way as a philosophy for delighting customers’. Consultancy is provided free to
charities and good causes. Richer has also established a foundation to help selected good
causes, and he owns a number of other small businesses. These include a retail recruitment
agency, a property portfolio and an award-winning tapas bar in Fulham. He has, however,
‘one business and a number of hobbies’. He has, he says, stayed focused because of the
perpetual threat from Internet sales.
A recent development is ‘Richer Unsigned’, described as a music discovery platform.
Through it, Richer offers playlists, with a desire to provide exposure for selected musicians.
His underlying idea is to nurture UK musical talent.
For use with Strategic Management: Awareness and Change 10e, Thompson, Scott, Martin, 9781473786530
© Cengage EMEA 2023


Richer Sounds www.richer-sounds.co.uk
Questions
1 Is ‘The Richer Way’ a key to sustained competitive advantage?
2 Why do you think it has been successful?



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