40 years of kbbreview
Events and operations director, Taylist Media Mark Pearson
How did you come to enter the industry, and what was your role? When I started, I was just a Saturday boy working in the showrooms for the Mitchell Brothers who ran a wallpaper empire, but then we went into furniture, then tiles, then bathrooms in 1984. After being a retailer, I moved to the media and publishing side of the KBB industry in 2007. That gave me a unique perspective because suddenly the brands that I used to know as retail suppliers suddenly became our own clients.
Speaking of which, how have supplier relationships changed since the 1980s?
Managing director, Modern Homes Tina Riley
What was your first role in the industry? Truthfully, my first role was when I was about eight, and that was earning my pocket money on a Saturday morning by cleaning the showroom for my father. I then went to work for him in 1978 for about six weeks to cover for somebody who was off having an operation. Fast forward 47 years and I’m still here!
How have customers changed? Are they still shopping in the same way? Nowadays, with social media, younger customers will come in with their Instagram pictures that they like the look of. It’s become our job to explain that maybe what they’re looking at is a £70k, £80k or £90k kitchen, but their budget is only £15k. How are we going to achieve that? My older clientele tend to trust my experience, but a lot of younger clients are more likely to argue with you and think they know better because they’ve read up online.
What’s one of the best things about the way the industry has changed over the last 40 years or so? From my point of view, the amount of females within the industry now compared to when I first started. I can remember going on a jolly with Neff to celebrate their 21st year in the UK. We went to Germany, and out of the 52 dealers on the trip, I was the only female! I would say especially in the last 10 years, the number of women within the industry has become much, much, much higher. And I think that is absolutely fantastic.
Back then, the industry was very insular, and your whole world as a retailer centred around the brands you stocked and their sales reps that would come into your showrooms and you’d become friends with. It wasn’t like it was now – the universe you knew was really only centred around those few brands that you actually worked with, but now there’s a lot more that you have to know about.
Across your career, did you notice a change in how customers shop? Before consumers even hit the showroom, they’ve probably done a lot more research than they were really able to do back then. So I think any customer walking through the door nowadays is going to be more of an expert than they were then. They’ve probably even carved out in their mind what brands they want to associate their new kitchen or bathroom with. It was very different back in the day. The most popular question I’d get asked then was what’s the most popular colour? And I seem to recall it was almost always Pergamon...
September 2024
kbbreview
53
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