supplychain
Jay Phillips with
GEORGE SELL meets Hansgrohe’s national sales manager-projects
– a man who’s covered all bathroom bases at a supplier now doing the same
Much of Jay Phillips’ 20 years in the bathroom sector reflects the industry consolidation that characterised the supplier side as well as the housebuilding sector in the 1990s and 2000s. Phillips says: “I first joined the industry with the old Caradon empire, when I joined Mira Showers. That became Caradon Plumbing Solutions, which included Twyford, Mira, Ideal boilers and Stelrad radiators. “After a few years there, Kohler acquired Mira and I joined them. I stayed with those guys for just over 10 years then I moved for a while into the fire protection sector with Honeywell. I was lured back into the bathroom sector when I joined Grohe, and I was with them for seven years before I joined Hansgrohe, where I have been for a year now. I’ve had various management positions, mainly related to bathrooms and taps, over the last 20 years. I’ve worked across all facets of the businesses, ranging
from wholesale, distribution, retail, kitchen, over-the- counter, DIY – so pretty much every channel.” Now as national sales manager, projects, at
Hansgrohe, Phillips leads a team of 10: “We’ve got business development managers out there who are working with housebuilders, but they also work with architects, interior designers, contractors and hotels. Hansgrohe’s connection to the residential sector is as long as the company has been in the UK. Essentially we have two channels: the showroom channel, which probably accounts for two-thirds of the business, and the projects channel.” Hansgrohe’s client list includes the likes of
Crest Nicholson, Berkeley Homes, St George, and CALA, as well as smaller and regional companies such as Rowland Homes. Phillips says: “Whatever challenges a developer has, we believe we have a solution for it. We have two brands – the Hansgrohe brands and Axor, a premium brand, which works with some of the world’s most renowned designers. We have a range of design-led products which feature cutting-edge innovation and German quality technology for whatever budget a developer wants to work with.” An important element of Phillips’ work is to spread
the word that Hansgrohe offers a large variety of price points and isn’t just operating in the very top price bracket. “One of my challenges is to change that perception,” he says. Because we are a German business with a global presence, people equate us to companies such as BMW in the car industry. They think that we are at the very top end. While we do have products that are, equally we have products which you could equate with the BMW 1 Series, which are very competitive. There is a lot of ‘stretch’ in the brand, which offers a lot of choice, and, in most cases, we can fit a developer’s budget.” Hand in hand with this task is to educate people
who look at a product less in terms of price (what it costs to buy the product), and more in terms of cost (which includes the lifespan of the product as well). Phillips has noticed that lately this has included housing associations as well as private developers, particularly those who are building for private sale as well as social rent: “In the past, housing associations would look for low-cost specification, but there is now a much more medium-term view which realises that to repeatedly have a plumber called out is actually a lot more
showhouse January 2014 | 23
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116