Q&A BKUQ&A


Meet the Sponsors


The 2022 BKU Awards may now just be a happy memory but as we look ahead to 2023’s event we continue to highlight the sponsors who make our Awards so special. This month we’re delighted to hear from Group CEO Simon Oliphant at market leading kitchen door and component supplier Uform, who talks about the business, recent investments and what lies ahead in 2023.


Tell Us About Your Company Uform is an award-winning company based in Toomebridge, Northern Ireland, manufacturing and distributing a comprehensive range of doors and accessories to the kitchen trade throughout the UK & Ireland. Our mission is to enable our customers to create aspirational living spaces by supplying unrivalled products focussed around the heart of the home. Our diverse product range spans 22 door ranges, 30 Paint to Order colours, 12 special stains, 6 metallic paints, a Colour Match Service, and a Made to Order service, as well as a selection of complementary products including lighting, handles and internal storage solutions. The versatile nature of our doors and accessories also allows retailers and kitchen manufacturers the option to offer furniture solutions for other areas of the home, meaning additional sales opportunities for them to further grow their business.


Why Was it Important for you to sponsor the BKU awards this year? As one of the leading kitchen trade suppliers in the UK, it’s important for us as a company to show our support and the BKU Awards is the perfect opportunity for us to do this as it celebrates the good and the great! It’s a fantastic opportunity for us to network with other forward-thinking suppliers and retailers and help recognise the fantastic work which takes place in such a resilient and fast paced industry. We always look forward to seeing our customers and it gives us the chance to meet prospective customers also.


2021 was a better year for the sector than some had perhaps forecast. How has 2022 been so far? 2021 was exceptionally busy for us and 2022 has proven similar! Despite the obvious challenges and continued growth, we have successfully maintained our premium service levels. Uform’s annual growth rate of 40% over the last three years has continued this year as consumers continue to place increased value on kitchens post pandemic, which is driving positive trends around premiumisation, more bespoke options and shorter replacement cycles, all of which Uform is ideally positioned to deliver on. We kicked off the year with a successful attendance at Kbb 2022 back in March where we showcased recent


10 BKU NOVEMBER 2022


investments in our product and service offering including our dedicated partnership with a leading UK distribution network. We continued to invest in our Uform Online ordering platform and have rolled out several new features this year, providing customers with a seamless online buying experience. We recently unveiled our ‘Think Finishes’ product launch campaign which has been exceptionally well received by our customer base and has garnered interest from lots of prospective customers. This latest launch has helped increase our ex-stock offering to 93 ranges in a selection of different finishes, colours, and price points as well as a comprehensive handle offering. We are nearing completion of the latest £10


million investment phase which takes our footprint to an impressive 225,000sq ft, featuring state of the art robotic spray-painting technology which positions us as having the industry’s largest in- house painting capacity throughout UK & Ireland. This will allow us to continue to offer the


shortest lead times in the industry and meet increasing demand for painted finishes. Our 7,000sq ft award winning Design Centre


has also been revamped to exhibit the very latest in cutting edge showroom displays and we have also invested in an in-house Showroom Design service to provide customers with effective design solutions using the most commercial mix of products with every detail tailored to their business. We have recently developed a dedicated


Uform Contracts kitchen brochure which has been specifically designed for Housebuilders, Property Developers and Architects when specifying kitchens in small to large scale residential projects. This new brochure will in turn support our network of accredited Contract Kitchen Partners.


Consumer Retail Confidence is a hot topic these days – what can the Kbb sector do to support consumers in their buying decisions? Over the past 2 years the industry has experienced every form of complexity that could arise whether it’s been Brexit, supply chain challenges or Covid-19. We have also seen an increase in consumer knowledge of design and interior trends and with the kitchen being considered ‘the heart of the home’, it’s valued more now than pre-pandemic times. Therefore, there remains a requirement to ensure skilled


people are there to deliver on the service proposition. This spans the initial design consultation process, the installation phase and the after sales offered. A kitchen is a big-ticket item and something homeowners want to get right so an increased focus on training and development to address the skills gap in the industry is vital. The online channel is becoming increasingly


important in the consumer research stage. Social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and even more recently the rising popularity of Tik Tok have all led to a more engaged and inquisitive end consumer. Organisations across the Kbb industry should therefore be looking at implementing an effective digital transformation in line with changing technologies and consumer buying behaviours.


What’s next on the horizon for Uform that readers should be aware of? We have recently agreed to a Private Equity investment with Cardinal Partners Ireland which will allow us to further expand the business and deliver on our strategic growth plan. Uform has always had the ambition and the ability to grow so we see very considerable opportunity in both the Irish and UK markets. This investment by Cardinal will allow us to realise that potential. The journey will continue to focus on bolstering our expertise, capability, and capacity in Paint-to-Order products, providing customers with a selection of colours and finishes and will also see increased capacity at Andoras, Uform’s Donegal based sister company which specialises in luxury made-to-order artisan kitchen furniture through the recently launched ‘Novelle by Aisling’ brand. A dedicated Brand Manager for our consumer


brand Kitchen Stori will help drive an increased focus on our channel of approved independent retailers. We are also investigating a more flexible supply chain to include more made to measure options, such as panels and other door frontals. Our Product Development team are working on our next phase of design innovation with exciting additions planned for 2023, which will enable us to access new markets. Watch this space! These latest developments will place us in a


firm position to be able to deliver on our company vision of being easy to do business with through extensive choice, quality and convenience whilst offering a world class customer service.


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