THE KBBREVIEW INTERVIEW | Stephen Ewer, Bathroom Brands
consumers still want to have that in-store experience. While there’s been an acceleration towards online purchasing broadly within our sector, we need to cater for that customer group. We’ve got mechanisms in place, such as selective distribution, which work on an equivalency principle. The standards in terms of how our brand is presented online and in-store are comparable, supporting the consumer by giving them a choice.
In respect of independent retailers, we are upscaling our digital support with content and training, so that we can work together with independent retail to give consumers the choice still to have that in-store experience. Some might describe that as an ‘omni-channel’ model. Still, for me, the ‘omni’ part is more about enabling the consumer on their journey, which now pretty much will always start online. We’re using a lot of social media, influencers and dev eloping our online content. This is used not only on our websites, but also on all our partners’ websites and social media to inspire and inform the con sumer and direct them to their conversion point. I go back to that statistic that more than 80% of consumers still prefer to have that in-store experience. While
we see a future that will be digitally influenced, independent retailers are still going to be the mainstay of the buying experience.
Q: What lessons do you think you have learnt as a business that you’ll take away from all this? A: I think we’ve seen alternative
ways of working and alternative ways of engaging, both within the business, within our teams, and with our customers and our suppliers. Of course, that has been a point of necessity over the past 12 months and will revert to a normal way of working over the coming months. The Bathroom Brands business is also characterised by an entre- preneurial desire and that’s come through every level of the business over the past 12 months. It’s been a real pleasure for me to join and lead a team that has been so proactive during this period.
Our independent research has shown is that more than 80% of consumers still want to have that in-store experience
Q: In terms of the new ranges coming out, do they represent a shift in your strategic approach? A: We’ve undertaken a full assess ment of the business and put a three-year plan in place. We have a major launch, Riviera, under our traditional brand Burlington, which is the first major collection launched under Burlington for a number of years. The concept cap tures that classic period and has also been designed to fit into modern environments. It stretches the reach of that range. Looking at the contemporary brand Crosswater, now if you are buying a showering solution, and put in a Crossbox with the Optix 10 enclosure, all of the fixtures are matching in colour, and we have an exact match across all the
associated brassware. It’s offering a full bathroom suite with matching colours, textures and design themes. This is being built into our new product roadmap going forward.
Q: What is your long-term view of the market? And, how easy is it
About Bathroom Brands
• Bathroom Brands was founded in 2005 by Patrick Riley and Tim Powell to develop a low-cost, full-service supply solution for bathroom products. They both had experience in sourcing products from countries in East Asia and decided to develop a new business based on close relationships with its manufacturing base and a focus on constantly improving its products.
• They opened their first office in Shanghai, China, and spent five years building an efficient supply
chain for the bathroom industry. They built close relationships with suppliers throughout China for their new factory-to-distributor business model that sought to minimise handling and delays.
• In 2014, Bathroom Brands became the sole shareholder of the Crosswater business, which was founded by David Hance in 1998 and had acquired Simpsons in 2006 and Bauhaus in 2008.
• Bathroom Brands joined Crosswater at its new Dartford headquarters in 2016.
Riviera from Burlington
to plan three years ahead, given the uncertainty of everything that’s happening? A: When we look at planning, we’re talking about setting strategic objectives and priorities. You put your plans in place but, like all plans, they’re out-of-date very quickly, and they need to be adjusted.
Still, having that common purpose and those agreed strategic priorities is vital, especially when there’s quite a lot of uncertainty in the market. There’s a continued need for inde- pendent retail to remain relevant within an increasingly digital envi- ron ment. We are committed and planning to support that.
Overall, we see the trend of what I would refer to as ‘nesting’, with an
increased focus on expenditure going into the home. We see that trend as set to continue for some time. We see quite a positive outlook in terms of market development. Of course, it’s very difficult to build into your planning the magnitude of an unexpected event like a pandemic. However, as a business, you need to understand where you are, where you’re heading and whether you’ve got a high level of manoeuvrability – that is increasingly important in business today.
Q: Are you inclined to hold more stock than you would have done before, just in case? A: When there is greater uncertainty, you need to build buffers. We have taken the view, and will continue to take the view, that we will hold contingency stock to smooth out some of the uncertainties and difficulty in forecasting – and some of those uncertainties in supply chains – that we’ve experienced in recent months.
I think there are further steps that we would take, together with our supply partners and our customers, to ensure that we have availability in the market and to our retailers. But it won’t just be about holding more inventory in our warehouses. It will be about putting a wider system in place across the whole supply chain.
• Visit
kbbrpod.kbbreview.com to listen to the full interview or search kbbreview podcast on your podcast player like Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
30 · May 2021
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