28 | Sector Focus: Kitchens
SUMMARY
■Differentiation is key to success ■In the last three years Naked has invested £3m in new technology
■Naked uses all solid timber and real timber veneers on Finsa plywood and moisture resistant MDF
■It has increased its workforce by 30% in the last year
SECRET SAUCE
Naked Kitchens is reaping the rewards from standing out in a challenging market. Mike Jeffree reports
It’s probably safe to say that an interviewee citing Kung Fu Panda as a business influence is a TTJ first. But a mantra of Jamie Everett, founder of Naked Kitchens, is that his customers, like Po the cartoon panda, are seeking the ‘secret sauce’. This turns out in the film to be self-belief. And Mr Everett maintains, success in the market today is about reinforcing just that in buyers; a confidence that they have made the right decision in installing a Naked Kitchen, that it’s something special. That “every time they go into it, they feel it reflecting their moods and aspiration and think ‘Wow! We made a good choice’”.
“Consumers today are much more savvy. They know a lot more about defining their personal space and they’re less convinced by the suppliers trotting out the same old line; ‘quality kitchens and lovely people to deal with’,” said Mr Everett. “They want a deeper reason to buy than a bog-standard list of all the kitchen’s features and benefits. We need to give them something at a much more charismatic level.”
Sounds a bit esoteric maybe. But what it translates to for the kitchen business, he adds, is differentiation; something that sets it apart in its segment of the market. Hence the vintage jet fighter in a Naked kitchen
in one of its latest adverts – of which more below.
The bottom line is that the company is “having an absolutely storming time” in a kitchen market that’s already increasingly challenging and set to become more so given still high interest rates and inflation. That’s not to mention national uncertainties, with an upcoming election, and continuing wider geopolitical anxieties. “I look at a lot of market indicators and how other market participants are faring,” said Mr Everett. “It convinces me that any company without a well-defined position in their segment is facing a lot of stress. Those
Above: This advert in High Life features a jet bought from a John Travolta movie TTJ | March/April 2024 |
www.ttjonline.com
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