On the road 54 www.aftermarketonline.net NOVEMBER 2025 At your service! John Shepherd meets the family business team that powers operations for one of the automotive sector’s best-known product distributors Garages throughout the UK and Ireland will likely be familiar with a host of products they use and sell, all despatched via motor factors by Sussex-based JRP Distribution. From a humble start-up business, launched in 1981 by husband and wife John and Gaye Page, the company was very much a family affair. Even the couple’s children, Ollie and Kelly, found themselves getting involved, such as helping pack products for the firm’s then Sussex Automotives brand, which later became Tecnics. As the family’s efforts increasingly bore fruit, John took on their first commercial premises in Tarring in 1987, where the business continued to thrive for the next 14 years, before moving to a nearby lock-up to cope with increased trade. In 2008, they moved to larger premises in nearby Lancing, with another short-term expansion move to nearby Shoreham by Sea on the way to settling into the 60,000 ft2 that is now JRP’s headquarters and distribution hub on the outskirts of Chichester. Today, JRP is still an independent family firm but with brother and sister Ollie and Kelly running operations. Ollie joined in 2005, bringing his sales and entrepreneurial focus to help spur growth, while Kelly, a chartered accountant, came on board in 2016. She brought a wealth of business acumen to the company after spending 20 years working in the City. Having helped out as children, Ollie and Kelly now oversee a business that has more than 1,000 customers, equivalent to 3,500 storefronts. “We still supply a few of the ‘Ma and Pa’ stores but today the business also caters for national accounts of big names that you would readily recognise,” Kelly said. Those include Halfords, which is the exclusive seller of JRP’s Simply Brands-owned ‘Fine and Dandy’ range — encompassing tech, gadgets, car and travel products and more. Automotive accessories still represent about 80% to 85% of JRP’s sales, but Kelly said the firm has also ramped up its presence in the DIY market over the past five years. Today, JRP manages over 4,000 SKUs, maintaining a broad range to serve as a one-stop supplier.
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