Aico has appointed a team of distribution development representatives (DDRs) dedicated exclusively to the plumbing and heating merchant channel.

The company is aiming to replicate its successful strategy of supplying easy to install products that come with a wealth of technical and sales support.

The development of the premium Ei208 carbon monoxide (CO) alarms was the first step in targeting this market. The next step has been to develop a core team to explain the dangers of CO and encourage merchants to stock Aico’s CO alarms.

The new DDRs are part of this process, and are headed by James Cavan, channel development manager at Aico, who is responsible for developing this merchant channel. “Our new team of DDRs will not only be promoting Aico to merchants,” said Cavan, “but will also be our eyes and ears, feeding back information on market requirements. Aico has always been very good at working closely with our client base to develop products that meet their changing requirements and providing suitable sales, marketing and technical support, for which we are renowned.”

The team of DDRs include Zara Elliott covering the South West of England, Gareth Jones in the South East, and Daniel Little, covering the North.

The DDRs will be promoting Aico’s battery range of CO alarms, supported by a complete range of merchandising material. They will also be conducting breakfast mornings in branches to give engineers a chance for face-to-face contact.

Aico’s approach has already started to pay off, with national distribution agreements now signed with four major merchant chains.