NEWS | Round-up People are funny and in this
regular series, our bathroom retailer proves it, recalling some of the craziest moments they’ve had dealing with customers
Fleas, dirty trays and forklift fumbles
HAVE YOU ever had one of those weeks? One of those weeks where everything gets thrown at you and you feel more like you need to go to work in full armour rather than your usual work gear? We have just come off the back of not one, but three, of those weeks – three whole weeks of… • A newly recommended fitter leaving two bathrooms unfinished and walking off site, the sheer number of alcoves and strip lighting tipped him over the edge. • Another caught fleas, yes fleas, from a client’s home – it was like going back to the 1800s with the little black dots popping off all over the place. • A returning (or rather recurring) client on our case with a leak that we believe is from their roof, not the bathroom, but nevertheless we bore the brunt of it. • We had a client with a black shower tray complain it’s hard to clean, so we went to check the issue and it had basically never been cleaned since fitting, so was caked in soap residue. The
client
then proceeded to ask us to clean it while we were there and, in a very British way where we can’t say no to anything, we obliged.
• A builder changed a
design without consulting us and just assumed that bespoke screens can be flipped the other way. A cardinal sin, if we do say so ourselves, and an expensive sin at that.
• Baths unavailable due to stock showing incorrectly on the systems despite us calling ahead of time to check this.
• Basins arriving looking as though the kiln was switched off halfway through. • Tiles being dropped by forklift drivers. • Companies just releasing, or not releasing, goods willy-flipping-nilly!
When we get calls saying forklifts have dropped goods, our first response is to ask for photographic evidence to forward to the client. Have we ever received the photo evidence? Obviously not! We would much rather manufacturers give us a call and tell us the truth – we can handle the truth, and would respect them more if they did this. Or at least come up with some new, elaborate stories as to the whereabouts of our goods. Maybe something with more of a storyline would be better, at least that would be fun to relay to our clients. Maybe the stories could involve a dog, a superhero and a flying car? Anyway, we usually have a few weeks in the year that go like this… hopefully that’s our lot until next year. What did we learn these past few weeks? Always have some flea killer in your tool bag!
8
HARDWARE BRAND Buster and Punch has launched a new flagship showroom in London’s Shoreditch.
The showroom represents the brand with its bold and sleek interior. The displays showcase the full scope of the brand’s hardware, handles and lighting offering.
It feaures the newly launched Buster and Punch kitchen, new tapware, the new modular lighting range Forked and as-yet-unseen Cast Bathroom and Cast Hardware collections. Located on 47 Charlotte Road, Shoreditch, the new space is near the original garage where founder and creative director Massimo Buster Minale first launched the brand nine years ago.
Commenting on the new space, Minale said: “I want people to understand that this is the foundation for Buster andPunch, for them to feel that energy and diverse set of influences that they can relate to when they’re experiencing our products, whether it’s for the first time or if
So what did we learn these past few weeks? Always have some flea killer in your tool bag!
Victorian Plumbing: particularly strong Q4
IN ITS latest trading update for 2022, online bathroom retailer Victorian Plumbing has announced that its revenue, earnings, and cash flow are all ahead of “consensus market expectations”.
The report revealed that revenue for the second half of the 2022 financial year – ending September 30 – grew by around 5% on last year thanks to what it described as “a particularly strong Q4 performance”. According to the results, revenue for the full year remains “broadly” unchanged from last year – an increase of around 78% when compared with pre-Covid results in 2019.
This, it said, is against a wider bathroom market that is “down year on year” and, it claims,
establishes Victorian Plumbing’s
position as the “number-one bathroom retailer in the UK”.
Gross margins improved in the second half of 2022 as well, which the company attributed to a combination of carefully controlling prices and ongoing proactive management of the supply chain.
“Victorian Plumbing continues to be highly cash-generative and we will start the new financial year with, in excess of £43 million of
Buster and Punch launches flagship showroom in London
they know us already. This is a physical embodiment of who we are.” The London space is the brand’s second store. Its first was in Stockholm, Sweden, and both have similar showroom styles that reflect the brand. Minale said: “Each store is a capsule of inspiration for everyone who enters. Whether that’s me, the team, or customers. Aside from the our collections, there’s curated artworks, design, furniture.”
Minale says retailers are welcome to bring their clients in: “We want people to see the space as an extension of their world. If you want to come alone, you’re welcome. If you want to bring your family or others who have a say in your interiors, you are 100% welcome. “If you’re a kitchen retailer and want to bring your clients for an immersion into the Buster and Punch experience, it’s your space as much as it is ours. And our team has a vast depth of knowledge of our collection and how that integrates into a design – making it super-simple to bring Buster and Punch into a project.” Buster and Punch has an e-commerce side but the retailers play a huge part of the business, Minale said: “We’re nothing without our retail partners. We would never have the chance to interact with each and every Buster and Punch customer, so they’re our voice in the places we can’t reach.”
The showroom was launched during London Design Week on September 20 and the event was well attended by both customers and design professionals.
· November 2022
net cash,” said the trading statement. “We have maintained a strong inventory position in order to maximise availability and minimise the risks from supply chain disruption. “While the operating and economic environment is challenging, as a highly cash- generative business with a strong balance sheet and growing momentum through 2022, we enter the new financial year with confidence in our plans for further progress.”
The Skelmersdale-based company will announce preliminary
results for the 2022
financial year on December 6. Last year, revenue was £268.8 million (up 29% over 2020) and pre-tax profits were up by 53% to £40.1m.
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