Why amazon needs more electricians
Amazon wants to sell your services to millions of customers.
By Gordon Routledge
Monday 8th April 2019
If you live in a London, Birmingham or Manchester and order a light switch, outdoor light or CCTV camera from Amazon, you'll see a choice of adding professional installation to your basket.
Launched in 2018, It's what Amazon calls pre-packaged services, which along with minor electrical works, includes a vast array of tasks from furniture assembly to changing a tap. The launch reflects the trend for homeowners to get someone in instead of doing DIY.
An example of electrical service such as fitting a new, customer supplied, outdoor light in central London has a cost of £102 for replacement, and £237 for a new installation. The new install price includes routing cables and adding a light switch but assumes a working height under three meters.
The prepacked services are estimates based upon a defined standard scope of work. Any extra requirements outside of this will incur additional charges, although Amazon states that 9 out of 10 customers see no change in the final cost.
Looking at the feedback from customers who have used the service on Amazon, the reviews are mostly positive. Amazon has a Happiness Guarantee which offers your money back if you're not happy with the service and up to £2,500 cover related to property damage.
The service is easy, add the pre-packaged service to your basket and proceed to the checkout where you will be asked to choose an appointment slot. You only pay once the job is complete. However, when I tried no slots were available for a central London install, so clearly more electricians are needed.
Amazon is actively looking to add more Electrical Specialists, Home Cinema Specialists and Smart Home Automation Specialists, perhaps a reflection of the growing demand for kit which works with Amazon's Alexa smart speaker. They seem to be taking quality seriously when recruiting contractors insisting on appropriate trade certification, usual liability insurance requirements and expect your employees to undergo criminal records checks.
It's free to join the platform Amazon takes a 20% cut of jobs up to £1000 and 15% for larger projects, which is different to platforms such as Checkatrade who charge an annual membership fee of over £1000.
The major challenge, for smaller contractors, to get on the books is that you need to have a minimum of 20 direct employees in your registered service business.
Silver Saints Ltd, established in 2008, are one of the significant Amazon sellers in the London area specialising in a wide range of small projects from carpentry and painting to bathrooms and electrical. Using Amazon pre-packaged services is just another sales channel for an already successful handyman business turning over nearly £3 million in 2018.
The electrical specialists employed by Silver Saints are all members of the NICEIC domestic installer scheme which provides additional assurance to customers.
Is it for you?
If you specialise in residential projects and are used to offering rapid response with guaranteed time slots Amazon could be a great source of additional sales. It will be interesting to see if, over time, Amazon relax the requirements for 20 direct employees. Lets hope they don't try to force electricians in to being part of the gig economy.
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