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Thomson denies being ‘anti-agent’
Thomson has denied being anti-agent in its latest round of commission cuts which will see the operator dropping some independent agents.
Sales and marketing director Miles Morgan said the move to go to zero commission in some cases and reduce others from 10% to 7% was a pure business decision based on levels of support by agents (see previous story).
Many who maintained a base level of 10% when Thomson cut commission to 7% for those not actively supporting the operator in January will also go down to 7% while others who have switch-sold away will receive nothing.
Morgan said it was too early to quantify the number of agents Thomson will stop dealing with – but suggested the level would be under 1,000.
The outcome of a quarterly review is expected in mid-May when the company will make it clear which agents it will no longer support.
Morgan said: “The world is moving on for everyone’s business, we’re not doing this because we are anti-agent. We are taking actions because it’s a business decision. We have to make tough decisions and it’s the distribution cost in our business that has to be addressed.”
He added that there was “no future” for independent agents attracting business through high discounts.
Thomson would continue to work with very successful agents who have a good cost of distribution, said Morgan, adding that the operator had less stock to sell this year than the same period in 2005.
Report by Phil Davies
Phil Davies
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