Lisa Lalor | THE KBBREVIEW INTERVIEW Q & A
Q: What’s it like being the MD of such an iconic brand in the interiors/fitted furniture market? A: I absolutely love my job. I’m so lucky – I get to work with a brilliant brand, fabulous products, and a fantastic team. Yes, it’s stressful and challenging at times, particularly when I first took over the role during Covid, but it’s very rewarding. We’ve got a brilliant management team, many of whom have been with the business for more than 10 years. My focus now – and it mirrors that of a lot of businesses in our sector – is to drive continuous improvement, encouraging fresh thinking and new ideas.
Q: You became MD during a global pandemic. How did you and the BHID Group navigate that challenging landscape? A: When I took on the role, we’d just come out of one lockdown and there were rumblings of another. There was a massive demand for home renovations at that time, so our biggest challenge was continuing to operate the business in order to provide our usual levels of service – while considering the duty of care we had for consumers and our staff. So, there was a lot of work around health and safety in our clients’ homes, our offices and factories to keep people safe. Flexibility was key. Beyond that, obviously another big challenge was running and managing the factory and production while people were coming down with Covid and managing client expectations. Like businesses across the KBB and home renovation sectors, we were extremely busy with orders at that time, so managing manpower alongside making the whole process run safely was a real balancing act. We got through it well though and I am really proud of the team for that.
Q: How is business for Neville Johnson and the BHID Group in general the moment? A: We’re in a really good position. All of the brands in the Group – Neville Johnson, Tom Howley and London Doors – are performing extremely well with strong forward order books. When I joined Neville Johnson in 2001, the company was turning over around £8 million. This year the group will turn over circa £90m. As the two of most interest to kbbreview readers, I’ll focus more on Tom Howley and Neville Johnson. Neville Johnson is doing really well. I’d say we’re probably best known for doing bespoke home offices and bedrooms, but what we’ve seen over the past couple of years is a shift into other areas of the home. That’s where we’ve seen real success – where we’ve not just focused on the study or the bedroom but where we’ve slightly diversified
October 2022 ·
into full home bespoke furniture to offer that real lifestyle solution. Furniture in the lounge is an obvious move, but home bars, for instance, is another growing area for us. On the kitchen side, Tom Howley is absolutely flying and has been for some years. When we took over the brand in 2011, we had three showrooms – two in Cheshire and the other in Surrey. Fast-forward 11 years and we now have 19 showrooms across the country. The brand is continuing to see larger investment from its customer base, not only in kitchen spaces, but also boot rooms and utility rooms.
Q: How is the fitted bedroom furniture market faring? A: At the moment, it’s all about the walk-in dressing room for us. We obviously do more traditional, fitted bedroom furniture as well, but the growth we’ve seen is in dressing rooms. Everyone wants a walk-in wardrobe like Carrie’s in the Sex and The City movie. I guess though, what I’m really getting at here is that people are investing in personalising their
bedroom – they no longer just want it to be a functional space.
Q: Why do you think so few independent kitchen retailers consider selling fitted bedroom furniture? Considering the relative ease isn’t it a no-brainer? A: I’m not that close to the independent KBB sector obviously, so this is just my general feel, but while Neville Johnson has been very successful in fitted bedroom furniture – our sales are actually up by a third – looking at it from the perspective of a kitchen retailer it’s all about return per square metre. With that in mind, the kitchen sector is miles, miles bigger than the bedroom market, so it must come down to return on investment. As a larger market, kitchen displays will
they’ll be working with bright pink. That said, there’s no doubt that there will be tough times ahead. Without a shadow of a doubt, the economic climate is going to get challenging for everyone, but everything suggests people at the mid-high end of the market will still invest in their homes.
“At the moment it’s all about walk-in
dressing rooms for us”
inevitably drive more footfall and sales as each kitchen has a much higher order value than bedrooms. Also, like kitchens, fitted bedroom design requires a particular skill set and that is also likely to be a factor. There are lots of variables to consider. Your saucepans, for instance, don’t change shape but your wardrobe, potentially, does. When you design a wardrobe or a bedroom you have to think of what will be stored in it in the middle of December vs the middle of July. As an add-on there is obviously no reason why a kitchen showroom shouldn’t consider doing fitted bedrooms but, for all the reasons I’ve just pointed out, if the uptake is low then I understand why.
What digital has done is accelerate brand awareness and design trends. It’s a really exciting time
Q: What are your predictions for the home interiors/KBB market moving forward? A: On the bedroom side, certainly growth in walk-in dressing rooms. But I predict the big one will be this demand for multifunctional spaces as people continue to work from home. As the cost-of-living rise begins to pinch, I think we’ll see a growth for entertaining at
home with additions such as home bars, reflecting this.
I think we’ll see consumers becoming even braver with colour, which is really exciting. We will continue to see demand for open- plan, and even broken-plan, as people look to create large spaces to socialise yet require smaller, more private areas, to work or take time out. At Neville Johnson, we tend to follow the design trends we’re seeing in kitchens. So, dark blues, greens and greys are still very popular. People tend to be even braver in a study or bedroom because it’s not an everyday space and you can be a bit bolder. No two days at the Neville Johnson factory are ever the same. One day I’ll walk through, and the guys will be working with a beautiful ochre finish and another time
Q: As we move towards such testing times, what advice can you give to independents? A: At times like these, the key for any business is to focus on the quality of service you provide. Like Neville Johnson, a lot of independents are well-established brands in their local markets but none of us can afford to be complacent. You need to build on that reputation and remind people why they are shopping with you. When the market is tight, people really think about where they spend their money, so you have to be at the top of your game in terms of the design, but also the service and experience needs to exceed expectations. It does seem to play to the strengths of brands like us and independent KBB retailers.
Q: Things are changing but, it’s fair to say that you are still one of the few women in a top KBB industry role. Do you feel you have a role to play in encouraging more women to aim for the top positions? A: I’ll be honest, before this interview, it’s not really something I’d thought about. I even got chatting to one of our designers and she was saying how great it was to see a woman in the role of MD. I’d never really thought of myself as a role model before.
But, after that conversation I thought about my daughter and that I want her, and other women, to feel like there are no barriers to her future and to have female role models so that she realises that it’s attainable. I have been very lucky. I’ve had a brilliant mentor – our CEO Nigel Pailing – who has encouraged me to get involved in every aspect of the business to help me progress to this role. So, it’s not just about women championing women, it’s about everyone pulling together to ensure the right people get the right roles.
Q: How would the KBB industry benefit from having more women at the top? A: It’s madness for any business not to have a diverse board or senior leadership team – and I don’t just mean more women. I mean diversity in every way – because it gives you a much more balanced view. Operating in the home improvement sector as we do, 50% of our clients are female, so it makes no sense not to have a diverse board driving business decisions.
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