Kitchens & Bathrooms News launches web portal

Leading trade magazine for kitchen and bathroom professionals, Kitchens & Bathrooms News is excited to announce the launch of its web portal at www.kandbnews.co.uk

The portal, which took months of planning, brings together a mix of up-to-the-minute news, exclusive Q&As and jobs, in an easy to access and visually stimulating format. It combines these with its social media channels, which include YouTube for a variety of video content, Pinterest to showcase its readers' projects and twitter for engaging conversations.

Editor of Kitchens & Bathrooms News, Philippa Turrell commented: "I am delighted to announce the launch of our web portal, which delivers the values of our award-winning magazine in a new and exciting format. It offers our readers a new way to interact with our content, adding their own comments where they wish, while beautifully augmenting our print editions."

Kitchens & Bathrooms News reports the launch has been to rave reviews, with readers praising the look and usability of the website.

Plumb crazy!

Isn’t it easy to get kitchen and bathroom showrooms fired up, irritated, irked, downright annoyed even? Just a mere mention of internet sales, in the same sentence as kitchens and bathrooms, and it’s a red rag to a bull. Or, in the case of a certain online bathroom company, advertising on TV, a plumb one! And it’s understandable why there has been frustration from bricks and mortar showrooms, which Victoria Plumb has branded “costly”. This industry has been through some challenging, economic times. And the landscape of high street retailing is changing, forever, and at some pace. Competition – particularly discount online sales – is throwing out new challenges for retailers to attract and win over customers. But and it’s a big BUT, don’t let one TV ad campaign by one bathroom brand throw the entire industry into a spin.

Is the Victoria Plumb customer your target customer? Can you confirm how many sales you’ve lost? A quick question out to over 3,000 Twitter followers drew lots of speculation but not one positive affirmation. Okay, you could argue, the statistical viability of this could be drawn into some question. So, instead, let’s look at some insight on behalf of WRAP, which found 61% of consumers who purchased one or more bathroom fittings in the last year purchased in-store, with a further 12% a mixture of in-store and online. And 90% of these consumers visited at least one store, including 67% who visited between 2-4 stores.

Interestingly, while all attention has been focused on one particular company, there has been no mention of B&Q, running bathroom TV ads at the same time, offering 20% discount. So are high street retailers no longer concerned about ‘sheds’?

Be aware of what is happening in the internet world and how etailers are marketing their wares to boost sales, yes! It’s a challenge that’s not going to go away. But use these potential ‘pitfalls’ as business opportunities, enabling you to show your skills, knowledge and customer service (as Russell Buckley suggests p.20). Perhaps even use it as an impetus to ensure you know your target customers, their wants, needs and expectations – maybe conducting your own market research (p.74 to make sure.

Let’s focus on all the benefits quality high street showrooms offer and how that can be promoted to the customer…but quick because ao.com (formerly Appliances Online) has just started its TV ad campaign…..

Italian kitchens promoted worldwide




Right to left VP of FederlegnoArredo Giovanni Anzani, chef Giorgio Locatelli
and Roberto Snaidero

 As part of a year-long tour to promote Italian kitchens, FederlegnoArredo (the federation of wood, cork, furniture and furnishing), held its Kitchen, Soul, Design event at City Hall, in London.

The event featured a conversation between architect Claudio Silvestrin, former Chelsea manager Gianluca Vialli and Italian-born chef Giorgio Loctatelli about the role of kitchens on the back of the Italian lifestyle.

Vice president of FederlegnoArredo  and CEO of Poliform, Giovanni Anzani spoke to Kitchens & Bathrooms News at the event: “We want this to represent the culture and the tradition that there is in Italy…what is more the mood of Italy with la Dolce Vita.”

He continued: “We want to express and to show around the world that there is a big difference between Italian and German kitchens. Germany has the engineering of the product but we put something more around the product. We want to express that we are not selling a product like it’s an automotive, that is engineered, but we want to sell something that is a memory. It is an impression of family and friends inside the kitchen…. It is more than engineering. We have the same engineering but we have something more – design, craftsmanship, completely different to German kitchens.”

It was the second of five international events, which started in Milan and continues to New York, Moscow and Shanghai, returning to Milan at Eurocucina in 2014.

As part of its promotional progamme, FederlegnoArredo will also publish an image-led book on Italian kitchens and is launching the international Kitchen Award 2014.

kbbLDN daily video diary

For those who didn't manage to make the kbbLDN show, part of the May Design Series at Excel, or if you just want a reminder of the event, Kitchens & Bathrooms News created a daily video diary. The first two days are featured, here, with videos that include exhibitor impressions of the event, as well as visitor feedback, plus a look at just some of the products on display.

However, we would also like to hear your impressions from the show - which will be featured in a kbbLDN show review in our next issue. Email the editor at pturrell@hamerville.co.uk

kbbLDN Conversation Series spurring designers on to visit show

Leading kitchen and bathroom designers and retailers are set to attend kbbLDN, part of the May Design Series, at ExCel in London from May 19-21.  Among those who have committed to visit the show are Nicholas Anthony, C.P.Hart and Halcyon Interiors.

Aside from finding new products, networking with suppliers and like-minded retail businesses, they have indicated the Conversation Series has been instrumental in their decision to visit. It underpins the notion that kitchen and bathroom trade exhibitions must now also offer points of learning to take away, as part of the overall visiting experience.

Organiser of the show UBM has developed an App for the exhibition, to help visitors plan their time at the show. It includes an A-Z listing of exhibitors, as well as complete Conversation Series listing.

Sales director of C.P.Hart, Adrian Smith commented: “There’s a lot of exciting seminars going on and I think that’s one of the key drivers for me.” He added: “If you can be better informed at the end of the show, that’s got to be a good result.”

NEOBankside "encapsulates spirit" of May Design Series

Brand director of the May Design Series, Andrew Vaughan said  award-winning housing development NEOBankside, in London, "encapsulates the spirit of what we are aiming for with the May Design Series." And he indicated the type of interior fashions shown in the housing development will be similar to those on display at the four co-located shows of the May Design Series, which include kbbLDN (sister show to kbbBirmingham), Interiors LDN, DX and Arc.
Vaughan added: "It epitomises the spirit of the visitor and exhibitor and the beauty and luxury we want to offer."
Alike The May Design Series, this London construction shares the Rogers name - with Rogers Stirk & Harbour having designed the housing development and Ab Rogers creating the look of the show's interior.
The May Design Series takes place at ExCel in London from May 19-21 and to win a free VIP ticket or £100 of Amazon vouchers, follow the instructions at the end of the video. There is also an app available to download with details about the show.

For more on The May Design Series or any other industry news and views, subscribe for FREE to Kitchens & Bathrooms News.

Pop-up studio opening for Keramag Design

Luxury bathroom brand Keramag Design has opened a pop-up studio at Chelsea Harbour, London, to showcase its products to retailers, interior designers and prestigious house builders.

Open for six-months, although on a rolling contract, the studio features its four designer collections Citterio (shown), Preciosa II, Myday and Silk.

The pop-up studio has been designed so it can be transported to other locations, with plans to move it outside London at the end of the year or beginning of next year.

Firstly, Keramag Design is looking to establish a UK network of retailers, with a target of 60 by the end of the year, and 120 in total. Ideally, the company would like to attract retailers which also work in the small contract market and will give an area to Keramag Design. This area can then be designed and fitted out by a team from the company.

Retail national sales manager of Keramag Design, Lynn Dale continued: “Because there are only four series in the range, what we are looking for is for them to take a spread of each of the four ranges.” stating “in an ideal world”, Keramag Design would like for retailers to group the product together, and stated “that’s what we’re finding more people want to do”.

She believed the more retailers who visit the pop-up studio; the more likely they would be inspired to do a similar design.  

However, managing director of Keramag Design John Blackburn pointed out: “We don’t want to go into the market arrogant. It’s not the way I do business, so therefore I wouldn’t send the values into the brand into that way. We have a standard but we also want to have some flexibility.”

Keramag Design is already a third of its way towards its number of targeted retailers for this year. Lynn Dale said: “We have been out in the marketplace for four months now actively selling into showrooms. We’ve already got 19 showrooms and we have another 20 prospects. So, in a short space of time, we’ve actually achieved quite a lot.”
The brand is dealing through national distributor Robert Lee, regional distributor for the North of England and Scotland City Distribution and is seeking a regional distributor for the South.

Lynn Dale added: “They both have got stock on the shelves, so they can currently supply a next-day delivery, if needed. On the Keramag Design product, it is a three week lead-time and that is what we will always tell our customers. So that can be passed onto the consumer just in case, for whatever reason, stock isn’t on the shelf.”

But stock is being carried and Dale continued: “At the moment there’s quite a few pieces going out for displays but, equally now, we are stocking to get the pull-through from the showrooms that are live.”

And the aim, as John Blackburn, stated is for the company to be “number one or two brand in the luxury brand sector.” And he stated the brand would be looking to take market share to reach this position.

However he added: “The prediction in 2014, 2015 and 2016 is going to grow. For 2015-2016, the prediction is 4-5% [growth]. That’s why we think the timing [of the launch] is right because we believe we are now at the bottom, so we are only going to be in a position of growth.”

To visit the appointment-only, pop-up showroom, email Lynn Dale.