Following the launch of the company’s integrated LED downlight, TEGO 2, we catch up with Megaman’s National Sales Manager, Micaela Abbott to find out more about the fixture and how the company has changed over the last 18 months.
Q. The past year has been a challenge for many in the sector, how has your first year as National Sales Manager with Megaman been?
I’ve actually been with Megaman for 15 years but was promoted to National Sales Manager just before COVID-19 hit. Some people might have seen this as unfortunate but it’s really worked well for me and the wider sales team. The last year has provided us the chance to innovate and adapt, both in terms of how we function as a team and also how we interact with the market place. Sales are buoyant and up on previous years, which is all we can hope for as the industry recovers.
Q. What changes have been brought in during that time?
We’ve taken a few steps to help our stockists, for example we have reduced our carriage paid, allowing customers to do smaller orders on a more regular basis and we’re also now doing multiple stock cleanses a year – making us a much easier company to deal with.
On an installer level, we have taken a step back to look at our fixture offering and launched a number of innovative products, with many more to come, each developed to help make life easier for installers – whether that’s in terms of ease of installation or adaptability.
Q. What makes this latest launch so significant?
I believe this latest launch fulfils a really key need, and there is nothing else like it currently available in the market place.
I recently had some work undertaken in my own house, including some new lighting, and when I looked at the finished room, one fitting had the wrong colour rendering on it and didn’t match the others. When I pointed this out to the electrician he was devastated and I realised then that issues like this were not only common, but a real pain to fix.
Errors aside, many an electrician will have carried out an installation to a customer’s preferences, only for them to change their mind about colour temperature or beam angle once installed.
For many downlight products, making these alterations requires removing the light from the ceiling, and either amending the settings from the back of the fitting or switching the fitting altogether. This can cause significant damage to a ceiling finish, particularly in modern properties using plasterboard.
With our new TEGO 2, there’s no need to remove the fixture from the ceiling. Everything you could possibly need to change is accessible from the front of the fixture.
The colour temperature can be altered by twisting the lens itself, while the beam angle can be changed by pressing the lens into the fixture. A number of magnetic bezel styles are also available that can be changed easily from the front of the fixture by the installer or end user, without the need to worry about removing the light from the ceiling and subsequently ‘making good’.
Q. How can ‘one box’ solutions like TEGO 2 benefit installers?
With solutions like TEGO 2, installers have everything they could need in one product. Rather than stocking a number of different downlights in the back of the van that fulfil different beam angles, colour temperatures and fixture design, installers now only need to keep hold of one – and that’s the same across all our ranges.
We have at least one product like this in every Megaman range that can be adapted by plugging in modules, sensors, emergencies, and more. We believe one-box solutions are the future.
Q. Do these fixture products mark a new era for Megaman?
Over the past couple of years our fixture range has gone from strength to strength. We’ve always had a fixture range but now we really do have a comprehensive range that is reliable, competitive and meets the needs of wholesalers and contractors.
We’re beginning to emerge as a serious and innovative player in the fixture market and TEGO 2 is just the first of many new products due to launch in the near future – stay tuned!
TO WATCH THE TEGO 2 DEMONSTRATION VIDEO CLICK HERE
