RETAILER PROFILE | TBK Design


The frst floor


features TBK’s main bathroom displays


Every person that walks into our showroom is


important. It doesn’t matter if they are spending £1,000 or £100,000, you still have to give them the attention and help them get what they need


everything in the showroom had a price ticket – albeit very tastefully done with nice, black printed cards that looked classy. But in every case, I noticed they showed an RRP and a


always


discounted price. Wasn’t that out of place in a high-end bathroom showroom?


Parker explains: “In the old days, I


would sit down with a client and price would never really come into it. But the problem is, with the new generation, they will instantly go online and say, ‘I can get a product for this much, what can you do?’ “These days, you have to put your


most competitive price on the wall to make it attractive enough for someone to want to buy it. And there is a danger in not displaying any price at all, because people may assume it is unbranded or too expensive – and if someone is not available that they can ask, they will walk out.”


The strategy clearly works as TBK is selling “well in excess of” 100 bathrooms a month, with “500 ongoing at any one time”. In the ground floor area, sales values are typically £500


54


on tiles and £1,000 to £1,500 on sanitaryware. On the first floor, it is £1,500 on tiles and £3,500 to £4,000 on sanitaryware, while in the bespoke showroom it is £5,000 to £8,000 on tiles and £10,000 to £15,000 on sanitaryware.


“Houses are getting bigger,” says


Parker, “and most of the properties we deal with don’t have just one bathroom, they have four, five or six, because they all have en-suites.


“When you do the bathrooms in a house for someone, the two most important rooms are the guest cloakroom, because it’s the one all your guests see, and the master bathroom, because you use it the most. For us as a company, the most important are the master bathroom, because it’s the most expensive, and guest cloakroom, because that gets you your next five customers.” TBK Design employs 35 staff, of


which 10 are designers, but they do not employ their own installers. Instead they recommend ones they trust. In their location on London’s North Circular Road, they are surrounded by many affluent areas. But Parker’s


philosophy is this: “We treat all clients as equally important and don’t judge a book by its cover, because if they are happy with their service, they can recommend four or five clients who come in to us later. We get football players who pull up in a £300,000 car but wear a tracksuit and trainers. “Every person that walks into our showroom is important. It doesn’t matter if they are spending £1,000 or £100,000, you still have to give them


Parker


with TBK’s kbbreview award


the attention and help them get what they need.”


Parker also tells kbbreview that TBK


has built up a loyal customer base over the years. He says: “We have a full design


service for bathrooms, which our customers take full advantage of. We have a large number of architect firms and designers as loyal repeat clients, who have used us for over 20 years. We are one of the largest stockists of tiles in the UK.”


I conclude my interview by asking


what winning the Bathroom Retailer of the Year Award at the 2021 kbbreview Retail & Design Awards meant to TBK. “Two things,” he says. “One – it reflects all the hard work that was put into the showroom, and two – it shows our clients that they are walking into the best retailer in the UK and that gives them confidence.”


Parker adds: “It is a big feather in our cap. It takes a lot of hard work and money to create a showroom and to have a showroom that has been recognised within the industry as being one of the best, is a great reward for us as a company.”


· August 2022


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