30 years young - and still going strong!
Time for celebration at Intrepid.
2023 marks thirty years since Intrepid was formed. To some of us, not least of all Intrepid's founder, Noel Verbruggen, 1993 seems like only yesterday.
Yet in reality those thirty years have seen a seismic shift in the retail security industry.
Huge advances in technology, a massively changed retail environment and new shopping habits of consumers, that would have dumbfounded us back in 1993, have left the UK retail almost unrecognisable. That said, some issues persist and have stayed the same, as we discovered when we interviewed Noel to find out more about Intrepid's past and where the company is headed.
A Marty McFly Moment
1993 – cast your mind back! It was the year that GMTV started broadcasting, Ford MotorCo unveiled the Mondeo – replacing the iconic Sierra, interest rates were 6%, the first Channel train journey took place and Princess Diana retired from public life. We were watching the newly released films Jurassic Park and Reservoir Dogs, listening to Blur, New Order, and for those with dodgier music tastes, Guns'n'Roses. And in Surrey, Noel was launching Intrepid Security Solutions, fulfilling a dream of working for himself and establishing a major market player in the UK retail security market.
"For the record, I wasn't listening to Guns'n'Roses!" says Noel, keen to defend his music tastes. "I set up Intrepid in June of 1993, working from home, which I realised quickly was only ever going to be a short term solution. I soon had a double and a single garage built at the bottom of my garden, both for space purposes and to have some separation between home and work. I used the larger garage for storage and as a workshop and the smaller one I fitted out as an office".
Was it a sophisticated outfit? James Bond lair-style? "Not really," Noel admits. "It was me, a fax machine and a very slow PC from some shop on the Tottenham Court Road! I bought a Nokia on the Orange network – because it was cheaper than Cellnet or Vodafone – but unfortunately the coverage wasn't great. I remember driving back from jobs and having to wait until I got to the home counties before the phone would work."
Humble Beginnings
Noel's first invoice was for Piccadilly Circus based sports superstore, Lilywhites, who he worked with on their retail CCTV solution. The majority of work he undertook at the time however was mainly EAS security tagging systems, and a lot of servicing. "I was a classic one man band, driving around in my Austin Maestro van, doing installations and then sending out tags. Somehow I found time to issue my own invoices and do my VAT returns. It paid off though, and by 1997 I was looking at expanding further."
Spurred on by his success Noel hired an engineer and an admin assistant, and took on a lease for an industrial unit in the Twickenham/Hounslow borders. "I needed the space and the extra pairs of hands – and also to move operations away from home as my neighbours had started moaning about my delivery firm blocking access to the back of the houses…."
"It was my first ‘proper commitment’ I ever made, that 7 year lease. It was scary but exciting and there was no turning back and it had to work," Noel says. "I realised at that time that I could never work for someone else and the ‘boss’ was my customers, which as long as always put them first, I hoped it would work".
From there on in the rest is history. Customer numbers continued to grow, as did Noel's team and the solid reputation of Intrepid across the retail industry.
Getting personal
"We were doing a lot of work for the likes of River Island and others which was great, but I realised that the only way the firm would continue to grow was through recommendation and word of mouth. Our advertising was really to raise the profile. It was networking and giving my personal guarantee that were fundamental. As a founder operator you very much are your brand.
30 years of change
Since those early days Intrepid has gone on to expand through a raft of solutions that cover not only retail operations, but also marketing, the education sector, libraries and the health industry in particular.
"Intrepid has both led the market in the solutions we've put forward, but also our growth has been reactive, responding to the changes we've seen over the last thirty years", Noel says.
Where have these changes come from? "There have been many changes from the provider side - and most of it is around the digitisation of systems, CCTV and so on. What tech can do now is beyond comparison to what it could do in 1993. The quality of coverage that's available, plus the adaptability and data we can extract. It's amazing.
"The market for loss prevention systems and in particular EAS and CCTV has grown out of all recognition, from predominantly the US and Europe to almost 90% of the world. Most of the companies that were around then and even when I started Intrepid have disappeared, bought up or gone bust but two or three of the big players are still around."
In terms of the international market, Noel says to look at China. "They went from producing virtually nothing for the industry to now being responsible for over 80% of the security product market".
Plus ça change
The appetite for quality and reliability remains a constant, however, and for Noel it's essential that his business partners' products and solutions are all high quality and tested. "As a retired engineer with a commercial angle, I don't want to sell and install something and then go back to fix it under warranty. It’s always been about functionality and quality.
"We still service systems that have been installed for over 25 years and you cannot say that about many things in retail."
Theft remains up front and central to pressures facing businesses across many industries. In particular, expectations of shopping experiences by customers is putting particular pressure on retailers. "It’s the balance between open merchandising and securing the product from theft is the most challenging", explains Noel. "We're seeing more people struggling with their bills, and this always leads to a spike in theft, either by staff or customers. This time though there are issues around alcohol, meat and cheese, not just champagne and tobacco. Having everyday goods with tags and with security devices such as contactless cabinet locks in the supermarkets might well become more mainstream. It's not just about high value merchandise protection.
"I think we are also seeing more and more ‘normalising ‘of shoplifting. The fact that you will not get prosecuted for any theft under £200 is a bit of a shoplifters charter. With money so tight there are real concerns around this."
And in thirty years' time?
What does the future hold for Noel, Intrepid and the security industry? "I hope Intrepid will still be going strong, but, without a miracle advance in medical science, it won't be me running it", says Noel.
"Given the changes we've seen in the last thirty years, which no-one could accurately have foretold, I don't think you can really predict the next thirty. The end of the High Street? Goods delivered by drones? 3D printing at home? Robots in stores and increased AI usage? We're already there on some of these. But who knows.
"One thing is certain though –it's going to be exciting and it's going to be very, very different to what we're used to."
“Intrepid has both led the market in the solutions we’ve put forward, but also our growth has been reactive, responding to the changes we’ve seen over the last thirty years”