Q&A BKUQ&A Meet the Sponsors
In our continuing series profiling our wonderful BKU Awards sponsors, first up this month is HiB Managing Director Robert Ginsberg, who gives us the lowdown on the company, the importance of the Awards and the company’s commitment to sustainability.
Tell us about your company HiB is a major supplier to UK and Irish bathroom retailers and is a market leader in innovative mirrors, cabinets, lighting and furniture. With more than 30 years in the industry, we are renowned for providing innovative, creative solutions which make bathrooms beautiful and our vision of substantially improving the lives of retailers, partners and the wider community. Since HiB was established in the 1990s, the
company has grown significantly, to more than 140 employees, with centres in North London, an 85,000 sq. ft national distribution site near Tamworth in the Midlands and offices in Republic of Ireland. HiB has pioneered numerous product
innovations including colour changing- technology, steam-free mirrors, LED lighting in mirrors and cabinets featuring Bluetooth and USB integration. All new concepts are designed by our product development team, who ensure that each range adheres to the company philosophy of only bringing to market products which answer a genuine need. We were honoured when HiB’s attention on product development was recognised with a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the Innovation category, placing the company among the top in the country.
HIB is a regular sponsor of the Awards – why was it important for you to sponsor an award this year in particular? We have always regarded the BKU Awards as being one of the most meaningful award ceremonies, due to the winners being voted for by the trade. Being a sponsor is our way of doing our bit to support these awards and the
nominees of the New Bathroom Retailer of the Year category. Retailers play a hugely significant role in our industry, and we are keen to encourage and thank them for their efforts.
This year’s awards are our first carbon-neutral event – how important is sustainability to you (and the sector more widely)? CSR is very important to us, so much so that we have recently launched out 2022 CSR report, which outlines our commitment to improving sustainability, our supply chain, our focus on people and reducing our impact on the environment. Making a substantial, positive difference is part of our core vision, so to know that this year’s BKU Awards is a carbon-neutral event is just fantastic. As an industry we all need to do our bit to protect the planet and everyone on it.
Consumer retail confidence is a hot topic these days – what can the KBB sector do to support consumers in their buying decisions? Consumers look to retailers to give them expert advice and support, giving them the confidence that what they are buying will suit their needs and also create the desired look. In order to continue offering a high level of service to customers, the sector needs to ensure that it invests in its people so that the specialist KBB advice is maintained and that the correct information, latest products and methods are recommended. This is the same for after care and product support. By offering suitable training and development to staff, they’re able to offer correct advice to those who need it.
2021 was a better year for the sector than some had perhaps forecast – how is 2022 shaping up? Over the past few years, the world has changed so much. Working environments, approaches to health and hygiene and the changes in supply due to international situations means that the sector has seen a massive shift in how it operates and what customers are looking for. Many people are working on a hybrid schedule, with working from home now part of the norm. Because of this people are still investing in improving their homes and are happy to spend money renovating rather than moving. There is a lot of work in the pipeline, so we foresee 2022 being a strong year for the sector.
What’s next on the horizon for HIB that our readers should be aware of? New to HiB Novum is our Genesis fitted furniture range. This is a hugely exciting development for HiB and really shows our commitment to developing and diversifying our furniture offering. Genesis offers fantastic style and flexibility, plenty of complementing finishes, configuration options and accessories to enhance the design. But what we’ve really focused on during development, is the ease-of-fit, maintaining a simple, straight-forward approach that benefits retailers and installers. All the carcasses can be used as wall hung or floor-standing and come pre-assembled, plus our swatch service makes it easy to see the finishes in the flesh and get the overall look exactly right. We’re really excited to hear the feedback from retailers about Genesis.
If you had to pick one thing that you think will make a positive difference to the KBB sector in the next year, what would it be? One area that I think would be massively beneficial for the industry would be smoother supply chains. The last few years have given us Brexit, COVID and war in Ukraine, all which have had knock on effects for supply across the KBB industry. We have mitigated this by significantly increasing our stock holdings, but I think every area of the industry would benefit from the challenges easing. Encouragingly there is still significant demand which I believe can be maintained in the medium term and smoother supply chains would make planning more straight-forward for everyone. In the meantime though, we continue to evolve our communication throughout our supply chain to ensure we are delivering the best customer experience we can. We are also developing some fantastic new ranges which we’re looking forward to launching in the coming months.
8 BKU JULY 2022
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