How was 2022 for RapidClean? What were the highlights? What were the challenges?

2022 was another strong year for RapidClean members and we felt very lucky to be in the cleaning supply industry that was able to ride through COVID with demand for product relatively undiminished across many sectors and heightened in others.

The highlight of the year was the ability to renew our face-to-face relationships with our customers throughout Australia. We were also able to hold our RapidClean conference for the first time in three years which gave us the opportunity to recognise the success and hard work of our people.

The year generated new challenges for us to maintain consistency of supply for our customers and presented opportunities to improve our processes.

We were able to use our collective buying power to moderate the frequent price increases from our suppliers which were driven by international freight costs and reduced manufacturing capacity.

Through the period of uncertain supply and price hikes we held our position of looking after our customers best interests.

What are some of the learnings the company has taken from the past 12 months?

Most of us are tired of hearing excuses around delays and out of stocks. One of the principal learnings of the year for RapidClean was to improve our capacity to source from multiple suppliers in each sector to offset reliance on single supply channels.

Additionally, we have moved away from the just-in-time warehousing model as we recognise the most important element for our customers is that their order is supplied on time. This learning has resulted in our stores improved capacity to supply customers rapidly with quality products, allowing them time to focus on their business.

This year, the sustainable and environmental requirements of our customers has been more prevalent and is fast becoming a standard in the cleaning industry across all sectors. This progression combined with recognising and supporting locally-owned business is now a powerful movement.

The largest increase in sales this year from RapidClean stores was our environmentally friendly cleaning products and biodegradable packaging. It is very pleasing to see buyers supporting these product types in huge numbers and our learning is that our customers are looking for guidance in this area. All of our stores now have increased stock of these products and strong product knowledge to be able to provide advise at both a local and national level.

What are your main priorities for 2023?

Our priorities in 2023 continue to be improvement of our offering through a wider availability of sustainable products, increase our local stock holdings, and to make purchasing from our 60 locally owned RapidClean stores as easy as possible for our customers through streamlining and improving our system processes.

A further priority of RapidClean is to partner with our customers and have vast stocks of the best quality cleaning products in the market, combined with locally accessible product knowledge.

We will continue to merge those characteristics with a tangible urgency in our responsiveness to our customers’ needs whilst maintaining an ease of purchasing culture.

Are there any key sustainability commitments/targets the Rapid Group has made for 2023? 

The Rapid Group challenges itself on every sustainability front to achieve continuous improvement. The most effective change that we can facilitate is to make sustainable and environmentally friendly products widely available throughout Australia and New Zealand for our clients, at prices that allow them to stay competitive in their markets while delivering on their customers’ expectations.

To help us achieve that goal we have collated a complete range of cost-effective cleaning solutions available with Accord’s Recognised approvals and we also offer a wide range of GECA, ECNZ, PEFC and FSC approved products.

We are very pleased ASIC is clamping down on green-washing and that only products with valid claims will be able to promote their environmental credentials. We encourage and enable our customers to measure the validity of environmental claims through respected third-party accreditation.

To measure our progress related to achieving our sustainability goals, we commissioned an external audit of our business through Ecovadis and achieved Bronze status.

Our goal this year is to upgrade to Silver and then pursue Gold through genuine minimisation of our carbon footprint and helping our customer to transition into environmentally preferable products while maintaining or improving on their cleaning quality and efficiency.

Do you have any advice for fellow leaders in the industry?

The cleaning industry has grown in importance exponentially in recent years and it will continue to be central in allowing society to function and for people to live safely within close proximity. One of the principal responsibilities of being a leader in our industry is to provide a platform for our people to excel.

We need to celebrate the cleaning industry with our achievements and publicly demonstrate our pride in its growing status. Through growth in our industries status, we will be able to secure investment and support our people with increased training facilitating increased professionalism and potential remuneration.

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