Stephen Ewer, Bathroom Brands | THE KBBREVIEW INTERVIEW ‘Independent retailers
Stephen Ewer took over the reins as chief executive of Bathroom Brands just days before the first lockdown last year with plans to take the business ‘to the next level’. Andrew Davies talks to him about the challenges he has faced
he pandemic has been a steep learning curve for everyone, not least Stephen Ewer (pictured), who landed the role of CEO at Bathroom Brands in April last year, just weeks after Covid-19 sent the UK into lockdown. Ewer tells kbbreview how the company adapted to trading through the lockdowns plus the challenges with the supply chain disruptions that have plagued the KBB industry. He has dealt with a host of issues from the inital problems of Covid, to Brexit to the recent Suez Canal blockage. He also explains why he believes customers still want a showroom experience and why, despite the growing infl uence of the internet, he is committed to supporting his bricks-and-mortar showroom partners as the mainstay of the buying experience.
T Plus details of some new products
from Burlington and Crosswater that represent a strategic shift in the company…
Q & A
Q: What is the scale of the Bathroom Brands’ operation here in the UK? A: Bathroom Brands Group is a combination of Bathroom Brands that came together with Crosswater to form the group. Current UK scale is around £80 million sales, and we operate through four power brands: Crosswater,
Burlington, and Clearwater.
Q: How was the fi rst few weeks on the job? A: I think one of the most overused phrases to describe the past 12 months has probably been ‘unpre- cedented’. I didn’t know what to
May 2021 · Britton,
expect. I was fortunate enough to meet with some of the senior team just a few days before lockdown, which was tremendously supportive. But I had to get my head around how to engage with the wider team, having not met most of them. We all had to orient ourselves around Zoom and Teams and actively use that tool to meet everybody and establish a business presence.
Q: Patrick Riley and David Hance shaped the company in their image. How do you continue their vision while creating your own? A: Patrick [founder of Bathroom Brands] and Dave [founder of Crosswater] are prominent fi gures and big personalities within the industry and they’ve built and grown a tremendous business. I think it’s a very natural time for me to join as CEO to bring the wider business together and take it to the next level and through the next chapter. Coming in, I found excellent brands, a great team and an immense amount of experience and talent.
Q: Twelve months on, how is business at the moment? A: If we look back through last year, there was a very strong bounce- back in the second half. We stayed open throughout that period of the pandemic, which I think served us as a business, and our retail partners, well. We ended last year within touching distance of our plan, and that momentum has carried on into this year, and we’ve had an encouraging and strong start to 2021.
I think retailers’
are the DNA of our business’
Optix 10 shower
enclosure in brushed stainless steel
resilience and ingenuity to continue to trade through this period has been impressive and we anticipate there will be some further upturn and bounce-back now that retailers have reopened.
Retailers’ resilience and ingenuity to continue to trade through this period has been quite impressive
Q: Supply and logistics have affected everybody, whether that’s because of Brexit or ships blocking the Suez Canal. What has been the effect on you? A: We’ve experienced that as well as the rest of the industry. We’ve got a very strong team out in Asia and we have experience on the ground, with strong relationships with our shipping partners. In addition to that, we decided as a business quite early on that, given the uncertainty that was compounded by the logistics issues, we would put further investment into stock to buffer some of the impacts of
delays and diffi culty forecasting through the coming months. That contingency stock has helped us maintain high availability levels and, in turn, we’ve continued to provide a next-day service through most of this period.
Q: What is the importance and value of independent retailers to your business and your strategy? A: Independent retail is fi rmly the DNA of our business. We have a really strong presence with more than 1,000 displaying outlets across the country. We have a sales team of around 35 who engage with our retail partners every day. We’ve been busy throughout
lockdown, together with our retail partners, supporting installations and new displays for when retail would reopen to the public.
Q: What is your strategy in terms of online retail? A: Our independent research has shown that more than 80% of
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