TILES & TILING FILLING IN THE GAPS


Henkel category manager Paul Bagnall and brand manager for tiling Oliver Ramirez Gomez discuss the current trends in tiling adhesive and grout products, the best way to target customers in store, and what opportunities there are even during a slowdown in the housing market.


Know your customer For tradesmen, time is money, so they want powder-based products that only take a couple of hours to cure and fix. When it comes to the consumer, they are looking for ready-mixed products that contain adhesive and grout formulations, where


product for both applications. Consumers are looking for convenience and ease of use. The ready-mixed products don’t


Quality is everything With that in mind, if customers have splashed out on the tiles, why would they not want to go the extra mile and buy the best grout they can get? Retailers


also price they can use the same go


off that fast, so that also helps the consumer, while the powdered mix lines have a short pot life but that suits the tradesmen because they know they’ll use it. DIYers don’t like mixing the product themselves. They don’t have the confidence, which is why ready-mixed adhesive and grout formulations have such a big appeal for them.


Trends


White is the fastest-selling grout. However, people are also using coloured grouts to match the tiles, so we are seeing people buy black grout to match black tiles. Henkel actually launched colour lines about 10-15 years ago, with grouts in everything from Ferrari red and terracotta, to racing green but many customers just aren’t that colour confident.


As well as black, neutral colours


like cream and greys are currently proving popular with customers looking for an alternative to white. These are low-risk colours and grey is also very much on trend right now. There is a growing trend for


larger-format tiles on walls and floors, so consumers will need an adhesive that is able to support the weight of the heavier tile and a quick grab for those on the walls.


Meeting customers’ needs For DIYers, tiling is the ultimate challenge. They might feel


they


can paint or even hang wallpaper because you can take that off and start again but, with tiling, there is more permanence and more money involved. Tiles can be expensive and consumers don’t want to risk making costly mistakes.


10 DIY WEEK 16 JUNE 2017


Anti-mould bathroom tiling products have been a huge growth area


Our Unibond anti-mould tiling


products are where we have enjoyed our biggest growth. Our anti-mould grout is one of our best sellers. Yes, there is a price increase of about 20% from a grout that doesn’t have anti-mould properties but a consumer is happy to pay that. They want the best product for the job and, if it’s a choice between a normal grout and one that fights mould, they will choose the latter.


need


customers aware of why there are


to make discrepancies between


products. A customer might ask why they see a 10-littre bucket of grout for one price in one retailer and a different price in another. All of the cost is attached to the amount of polymer in a product. That’s what does the job and that’s what affects the price. With tiling adhesive and grout products, if you want to reduce the cost, you can bulk it out with fillers like chalk. So, a good quality product would have 60% polymer and 40% filler, while the cheaper products that don’t offer the same performance could have 40% polymer and 60% filler. Consumers want to know that


these products do their job and are waterproof and suitable for the applications they are using them for.


In shower and bathroom,


combatting bathroom mould is a big consideration for consumers when they are choosing a product.


A growing trend for large-format tiles means consumers need an adhesive that is strong enough to fix and support the tiles


Effective merchandising For retailers to maximise sales of tiling products in store and use their shelf space or merchandising fixture to its full potential, primary space should be given to anti-mould products. They’re the ones people want and are willing to pay more for. It’s what he consumer wants and DIY retailers with staff on hand are able to have a conversation with the consumer about their DIY project and advise them, communicating the benefits of products.


Retailers should separate adhesives for wall and floor, so you have a wall tile section and floor tile section, with all the specific products you need for each job. Prominently display ready-mixed products at eye level, so that consumers can spot them easily. Powder mix, which is typically heavy at 20kg, can go at the bottom of the fixture because tradesmen know where to find it and they’re not going to browse. There are those people who will always go for the lower price in a shop but, as a retailer, you should put that out of a consumer’s eye line. Put the high-value items at eye level, where they can be spotted more easily. You should have a good, better, best offer in terms of


price structure and organise it with low, middle and high price points positioned in that order on shelf. You want people to understand what they are trading up to. We did this at Kennedy’s Mica


Hardware in the Hand it Over to Henkel project and the store saw a 22% uplift in sales. Don’t have products displayed higgledy-piggledy in store. It won’t help your sales.


Other opportunities There is also a big opportunity in remedial renovation products, such as grout reviver products and sealant Re-new. Sales of tiling products are directly proportional to the housing market and, if the housing stock is turning over, people are moving and doing up their house. Last month mortgage approvals declined for the first time in three years. But, the other side of the coin is that, if people are staying put, they’re investing in doing up their current homes. There has been a 20% decrease in new housing, so we have seen a direct impact from that. Meanwhile, there has been an increase in sales of grout reviver, so it goes hand in hand. People want to maintain what they have. Remedial renovation is a huge growth area.


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