NEWS | Round-up


BRC predicts pick-up in non-food sales


People are funny and in this regular series, our kitchen retailer recounts some of the crazier moments he has had dealing with customers


The wrong man


MY KITCHEN retail business is not huge. Because the members of my small team have worked with me for decades, they have got to know many members of my family, none of whom work for my business, by the way. One of my relatives who, for the sake of anonymity, will be called The Relative, is a bit of a prankster. He should have been an actor, because he loves nothing better than to ring us up, sporting different and very believable regional accents, asking to buy a kitchen or pretending to be a supplier. We know it’s him, he knows that we know it’s him, but we try to play along, because he is very funny and he often has completely mad or outlandish requests. We had recently worked on a project for a commercial company that required a swanky staff kitchen in a smart office building. For this job, we designed the kitchen and arranged for it to be delivered directly to site ready to be installed by the client’s builder and not our usual fitters. While we are not based there, the job was in Scotland.


On a particular gloomy day, we were all working away when the phone rang. One of my designers, who for the sake of anonymity, will be known as The Designer, answered the call in his usual pro - fessional manner. At the other end of the line was a man with a very broad Glaswegian accent. “I need your help, your delivery driver has nay turned up,” said the individual, who announced that he was the site agent. “Oh yes,” said The Designer, in a somewhat cynical tone. He then went about setting him straight in an over-the-top, and very bad Scottish accent. He started to laugh, but was surprised by the stony silence he received. The Designer duly put the phone down, turned to me and said “That was The Relative, again.” He then carried on with his work. The phone rang again. It was the same mobile number. The Designer picked it up and said “Ahh, diddums, are you still looking for the driver, Sweetcheeks?”


The person at the end of the line started to sound quite angry


At this point, the person at the end of the line started


to sound quite angry. “I think you’re very rude.” he replied, and then he stated the address of where he was, and our client’s name. The colour drained from The Designer’s face as he suddenly realised that he was speaking with the genuine site agent from the job we were about to start.


After much back-peddling and lots of apologies, we found the lost driver and all was delivered successfully. The site agent, thankfully, saw the funny side of the situation and forgave the designer, once everything was explained.


Since then, we are always very careful before we play along to The Relative, who remains ‘at large’.


12


THE BRITISH Retail Consortium (BRC) has forecast that low sales growth will continue but expects non-food sales to improve in the second half of the year. It said that sales growth in 2022 was low, remaining below current inflation, suggesting that volumes were down compared with 2021. The BRC predicted an overall growth in sales of between 2.3% and 3.5% for 2023 as a whole. It estimated growth of between 1% and 2.3% in the first half of this year, but as inflation


slows and consumer confidence improves, it said it expects to see growth for the second half of the year of between 3.5% and 4.7%. While the BRC’s figures predict that food sales will fall slightly in the second half of the year, it expects non-food sales to move from decline into growth. Summarising sales in 2022, the BRC pointed out that even though retail sales grew by 2.3%, once inflation is taken into account – more than 11% across the economy – these figures represent a fall in sales volumes for both the food and non-food sectors.


BRC director of insight Kris Hamer said: “The first half of the year is likely to be challenging for households and retailers. Ongoing inflation will make sales appear to be rising, but we expect falling volumes as consumers continue to manage their spending. We also don’t see many signs at this stage of retailers’ input costs easing, with energy costs expected to rise by £7.5 billion as the Government’s Energy Bill Relief Scheme comes to an end in March, putting ongoing upwards pressure on prices.” But he pointed to a brighter outlook for the latter half of the year: “There is cause for optimism in the second half of 2023, when we expect inflation to ease and improving consumer confidence to result in an improvement to sales growth, and corresponding volumes.”


Points mean prizes with new Abode retailer rewards scheme


ABODE HAS announced the launch of a new rewards programme, called Accumulate, for kitchen and bathroom retailers. The taps, sinks and shower products specialist is rolling out the new loyalty scheme this month


(January), under which kitchen and bathroom retailers will be able to earn points on their purchases that can be converted into rewards. The scheme will reward retailers on every product purchased from Abode of kitchen taps, sinks, bathroom brassware, showering products and Pronteau instant hot water taps. Retailers can sign up to the scheme at the Accumulate website and create a personal account where they can spend, claim and earn reward points. They can also keep track of how they are progressing in terms of building up sufficient points for their chosen reward. Participants can choose from thousands of premium offers, spanning categories that include


Travel and Experience, Giving Back, Mobile Phone and Tablets, Smart Home Accessories, Health and Beauty, Food and Drink, Designer Brands.


Those who sign up can claim points on purchases of Abode products from January 9, 2023, and will be able to earn extra points by giving feedback or completing training. The site also includes a Resource Area that provides digital brochures, retail price lists, promotional videos and technical guides, sales sheets, POS support and other company and product news.


Abode sales director Peter Phelan said: “Accumulate with Abode is a new loyalty rewards scheme exclusively available for UK kitchen and bathroom retailers. We are delighted to be able to provide a programme where our customers can earn points on every product purchase, let them accumulate, and then spend them on fantastic rewards. “Working hand in hand with the K&B retail community is fundamental to our corporate vision for 2023 and beyond, and we look forward to building on this exclusive platform with an ongoing stream of new content, rewards, and retail assets.”


· February 2023


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