Q&A INTERVIEW WITH ST JAMES Mark Davidge
St James
While at kbb Birmingham, Matt Broughton caught up with Mark Davidge, GB Sales Director at St James.
Matt Broughton: Mark, please tell me about the new products that you’ve introduced here at the show? Mark: Well, bigger than new products, there are two new portfolios. We’re known for St James, and off the back of that already strong brand, we’ve launched St James Living Bathrooms and St James Living Kitchens. In the St James Living Bathrooms we’ve got 13 new ranges of brassware in up to six different colours, positioned mid to high-end, not online, ready to hit the market in the next couple of months.
MB: Is there a big advantage to introducing products as a portfolio? MD: It really works for us. What’s become really evident at this show is that, when you ask somebody ‘where can you buy a tap from’, you can buy a tap from a thousand places. If you ask somebody what brassware supplier can I go to that only does brassware, nobody really knows how to answer it. Five years ago there were five of them - the big players. Now we represent the largest portfolio of taps and showers from one company that offers a £100 tap through to a £650 tap - and that’s unique. So we have a new brand, not online… and that’s our differentiator.
MB: Your product is all hand-assembled in the UK. What can you tell me about that side of the business? MD: Where on the stand you’ll see we’ve got St James “Made in Britain”, all of that product has the casting done in Europe - mainly northern Italy - it then comes over to the UK where we finish it, assemble it, test it, box it up and it goes to the customer. So we’re adding value to the product that way.
MB: And can you tell me a bit about how St James is supporting its retail partners? MD: I think number one for any retail partner is that they want to retain gross margin. The first step to doing that is to not be online. So, our Living collections are not going to feature online with a reduced price tag, but we do encourage our customers to promote it online but not sell online because a lot of people do their investigations that way and we’ll support them with that. So that’s margin protection. Also, we’re not overexposed in the market - we’re a quite a new brand; St James Traditional has been around for 40 years, so we’ve got heritage, but the new portfolios that we have are really coming to the market with the full range and breadth (and colour) supporting bricks and mortar customers.
MB: And I’m guessing the response to the portfolios has been good? MD: It’s been phenomenal - it feels like we’ve arrived, you know. The whole team is just absolutely stoked, and the feedback we’ve got from our customers is that they love it, and they want it in their showroom.
MB: How long has the build-up to showing the portfolios been? MD: This has been work-in-progress since they acquired the company - before I joined even - which was just after Covid. So it’s been slowly but surely building up from there, with the real momentum being in the last year where the rebrand was established and where product development was ramped up to meet the KBB.
MB: And what’s next for St James? MD: Really for the rest of the year we’ve got a huge number of leads to follow up on. A lot of people want us to get in there to get displaying the products, so it’s reignited what we already have with Traditional, which is really nice - so that’s an extra cherry on the top of this exhibition. But really it’s all about getting out there, discussing the clients’ needs, how do we get the products displayed and then supporting them ongoing with that.
MB: Will you attend other shows this year? MD: We’ll be doing the Installer Show, which is mainly focused more for the plumbing and heating side of the group, but have nothing else planned for St James this year.
20 BKU JUNE 2024
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