Round-up | NEWS CONTENTS
NEWS, COMMENT & OPINION 4 News
A roundup of the biggest stories 21 Hayley Simmons
Your marketing questions answered 23 Libby James
Insight into card processing overheads and how to deal with them
24 Elizabeth Pantling-Jones A candid account of the inclusivity, or lack thereof, of the KBB industry
26 The Big Question Is AI coming for your job? Or is it a tool that can enhance your skills?
28 The kbbreview Interview Bill Miller on Der Kreis’s fi rst decade in the UK
PRODUCTS & SUPPLIERS
30 Retailer Roundtable A panel of dealers discuss the challenging retail environment
52 Kitchen trends The latest kitchen product launches
54 Appliance trends What’s new in appliances?
56 Bathroom trends A look at the newest products
RETAIL 58 Retailer Profi le
The story of sibling success behind Bathrooms at Source in Wandsworth
62 Design Case Study Highlighting a traditional kitchen from The Rigid Kitchen Company
66 Showroom of the Month The London Bath Company
Surface Special: Exploring the materials used within the KBB market pg 41
Supplier Profi le: SycamoreLED’s MD gives his fi rst public interview pg 36
Shopfl oor Analysis: What role do sales reps play in a post-Covid world? pg 34
T
kbbreview.com for news, views, blogs, jobs, features and subscriptions Editorial Editor
Rebecca Nottingham 020 8515 2073
Advertising
Managing director
Julie Williams
Commercial director Tara McTigue
Sales
manager Dean
Buckingham August 2023 •
Account manager Lizzie
Keshishian
Account manager
Alan Rogers
Sub-editor Chris
Frankland 020 8515 2025
News and Features Writer George Dean 020 8515 2051
Art editor Erica Warden
Production and design editor Jodie Byrne
Owner Patrick Taylor
Managing editor Andrew Davies
Digital designer strategist Matt Balmer
Subscriptions To subscribe to kbbreview or
change your subscription details Email:
kbbreview@escosubs.co.uk Tel: 01371 851894 Web:
kbbreview.com/subscribe
For marketing
communications across different brands and media platforms contact: Managing director Julie Williams 020 8515 2150
For print and online advertising contact: Commercial director Tara McTigue 020 8515 2071
Kbbreview is a controlled circulation publication mailed free to registered readers who meet our terms and conditions. Otherwise, subscription rates are £98.40 per annum plus £24 post & packing (single copy £1 + £2p&p). Overseas subscriptions are £169 plus £48 post & packing.
Taylist Media takes your privacy very seriously and will not share data you provide us with any third parties. For our full and updated privacy notice please see
taylistmedia.com/privacy.
ABC certifi cation 1st January – 31st December 2022 –
Average net circulation 14,537. Total net circulation for the audit issue dated December 2022 – 12,750 – 100% individually requested by registered readers.
3 EDITOR’S COMMENT
BELIEVE TO ACHIEVE
his month’s cover highlights our big interview and a tale of perseverance and persistence. Ten years ago, despite being a well-established
model in Europe, the concept of kitchen and bathroom retail buying groups in the UK was met with widespread scepticism. Undeterred, Der Kreis – one of Europe’s leading KBB retail buying groups – launched into the UK with industry stalwart Bill Miller at the helm. In our big interview [pages 28-29], Miller reveals how he has been determinedly plugging away at the market over the past 10 years, succeeding in not only creating a thriving kitchen and bathroom retail buying group in the UK for Der Kreis, but also paving the way for other models to follow. That theme of standing strong and believing in your proposition even in the face of adversity runs through into our retailer round table discussion [pages 30-32] where three dealers talk through the challenges of retailing in today’s market. Elsewhere in the issue, we’ve invited Alan Crawford, architect, interior designer and AI enthusiast, to answer this month’s Big Question – What does AI mean for you and your job? Our shopfl oor analysis [pages 34-35] looks at the role of salespeople in today’s post-Covid KBB world and whether the title given to those brand representatives, rightly or wrongly, helps shape attitudes. We’re also talking to SycamoreLED’s new MD, Mike Edmond, and national sales manager Natalie
Paley, about the brand’s 25th
anniversary and its plans to expand its bathroom product off ering [pages 36-38].
Last but not least, we’ve put together a comprehensive guide [pages
41-50] to educating the consumer on the diff erent types of surfaces available and, most importantly, which type will work best for them in their own project.
And, just before I go, we have some very exciting plans to reveal for 2024. Head to page 39 for a sneak peek.
Rebecca Nottingham, editor
rebecca@kbbreview.com
kbbreview.com
Follow @kbbreview on Twitter for news and live updates from events
Keep up to date with trends and news and follow @kbbreview on Instagram
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
