FOCUS | Brexit


Elliotts Living Spaces in Lymington, says “I think that most suppliers have a robust Brexit plan – they have had several years to plan and make allowances for potential issues with importing goods. I think the main issues will arise from the ongoing pandemic, with factories closed or working with reduced staffi ng levels.


“At the moment, I can’t see how suppliers that are already behind will catch up. It doesn’t help that certain big appliance brands have allocated their stock to online retailers and can’t fulfi l orders from independents.”


Geoff Chivers, owner of Mulberry Kitchens in Hull, has also had his trials and tribulations with appliance supplies. He tells kbbreview: “One of our suppliers can give no guarantees as to expected delivery of their products, but advises us to place orders as soon as we can in order to be placed into a queue, even though it may be months before we actually receive the appliances. On the surface, this appears OK, but the total amount (including VAT) immediately appears on my account and naturally is removed from our credit limit. The result is that for several weeks we have been paying for appliances that haven’t even been manufactured, let alone dispatched.”


Credit terms This may be one reason that in our latest survey, 70% of our kbbreview100 res - pondents thought it would be helpful for suppliers to extend their credit terms. Johnny Bacigalupo, managing director of Napier Bathrooms in Edinburgh, says: “It is up to our UK distributors to arm themselves with good stock levels and plan ahead and be sensible. Let’s see a real rise in service standards and in management of UK stock. It’s time for distributors to train


their in the UK bathroom staff


better, focus on the improvement of service levels


distribution


industry as a whole and step up their practices and offerings to their clients.” But not everyone is negative. Lilley at HJ Lilley & Co says: “I’m sure that larger manufacturers may have teething problems, but I believe that, if they have been meticulous enough with their paperwork throughout the Brexit ordeal, then supplying the demand should not be an issue.” Angus Kerr, sales director at The


Bathroom Com - pany in Edinburgh, adds: “It is too soon to say whether there will be real supply issues and most of our suppliers have good stocks in the UK at present, but this may change if new stocks are delayed coming in.” Some retailers had already decided prior to Brexit that focusing on UK-made product was their best way forward.


of retailers were optimistic about the year ahead


93%


Brexit survey We polled our expert


John Pelosi, owner of the Caldicot Kitchen and Bathroom centre in Wales, says: “I have absolutely no worries in relation to supply issues from Brexit. If anything, we have viewed it as a huge opportunity to promote British suppliers and products – which form the bulk of our business – and other non-EU sources of supply.”


Ciaran Leyne, a director of Trilogy Designs in London, is in the same boat: “It is going to be diffi cult to unpick the impact of Brexit given the ongoing pressures to the supply chain. I am optimistic, as all our furniture is manufactured in the UK, so we will be in a better position than most. “However, the stock shortages with appliances, as well as sheet material, are going to become increasingly challenging through the early part of 2021. It is diffi cult to know if Brexit will add to the diffi culties, but, in the short term at least, I cannot see how it will help the industry.”


Of course, some retailers have already resorted to buying their kitchen appliances online to complete orders and get in those vital fi nal payments, but with early signs at some UK ports that things appear to be fl owing well, we may well indeed still have a good year in prospect.


panel of 100 retailers nationwide for their views on Brexit


that we are not now facing tariffs on imported goods has given retailers a reason to be cheerful for 2021. No surprise then that a whopping 93% respondents


W of to our kbbreview100


survey said they were optimistic about business for the year ahead. But there still remains the issue of the stock shortages that have plagued the KBB industry,


especially with kitchen


appliances, since the Covid pandemic took hold last March. And with more red tape likely and delays at ports possible while freight operators get their act together, what did our kbbreview100 think about stock shortages post-Brexit?


An emphatic 93% admitted they still had concerns about the supply chain despite the trade deal.


Drilling down into the detail, more than


three-quarters (76%) of kitchen retailers said they were worried about supply issues with furniture, while almost all of them (97%) said they were concerned about the supply of appliances. Among our bathroom retailers, 70% of


of retailers would fi nd extended


70%


credit terms from suppliers helpful


respondents said they were slightly worried about shortages of furniture, while 85% had concerns about shortages of sanitaryware, sinks and taps. Among the kitchen retailers polled, more than three-quarters (79%) said they had bought appliances online and more than two-thirds (67%) had advised customers to buy their appliances online when they had not been able to obtain them. For bathroom retailers, just under one


in fi ve (19%) said they had resorted to buying


products online to complete


orders, while the same percentage said they had advised clients to do so. And with project completions, and


therefore fi nal client payments, being held up by missing products, we asked our kbbreview100 if they thought it would be helpful if suppliers could offer extended credit terms. Almost three-quarters (70%) of res - pondents answered yes.


So, we may have put our worst fears of


a no-deal behind us, but our kbbreview100 retailers still believe there are challenges ahead for the rest of the year.


 30 · February 2021


ith the ink on the Govern- ment’s new trade deal with the EU barely dry, the fact


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