This month CareCo's directors Will Harrison and Tom Stansfield, along with CareCo's senior buyer, Katrina Russell, attended the world's largest mobility trade fair in Dusseldorf, Germany. Rehacare hosted 751 exhibitors and over 38,000 representatives from the disability and mobility industry passed through the doors. Manufacturers from all over the world showcased their latest innovations, and CareCo aims to bring the best to the UK market in 2020. Why did CareCo go to Rehacare? Will Harrison explains: "The global mobility market is growing and becoming more competitive every year. To be a leader in the mobility industry you have to be in a position to bring the latest innovations to UK customers, and events such as Rehacare allow us to learn about new products and network with manufacturers to form new partnerships."
For Tom, the main benefits are in preparing operations for future changes: "It's my responsibility to ensure that CareCo provides the best product range possible at an affordable price to the UK market, at the right time. Only by researching the latest products and talking to manufacturers can we learn what products we need to be bringing to our British customers over the next 6 to 12 months. It's not enough to just sell the same products as other retailers, we want to be the company people go to for the latest innovations". For Katrina Russell, attending Rehacare is more about forming new relationships with manufacturers and strengthening old: "As senior buyer it is my responsibility to ensure that our most in demand mobility products are always in stock. When working in a global economy and competing with companies all over the world to secure the best deals for our customers you have to form strong relationships with manufacturers.
"Understanding their production processes and learning about future innovations is only half the task, developing better relationships with manufacturers allows us to not only negotiate better deals for our customers, but also be first in line when new products roll out. It was great to finally meet in person some of the companies that I buy from". The mobility market is embracing technology and at Rehacare we saw a wide array of products that are adopting the Internet of Things to help enhance the quality of life for patients and customers in all areas of medical and mobility aids. There were also many familiar products, such as the Kondor cabin scooter, (pictured left) which we brought to the UK in June 2018, sitting alongside the Vega, which we started selling earlier this year. Many retailers are only starting to discover these fantastic mobility scooters now - this demonstrates perfectly how CareCo is leading the way in the UK mobility market. Here are the video highlights from Rehacare 2019: