Conservatory Magazine Article
Falling house prices, a global credit crunch and rising energy bills don’t make for comfortable reading for anyone in retail. But according to Ian Cocken, national sales manager of conservatory roofing systems company Quantal, while uncomfortable, they shouldn’t be seen as 'terminal' for the conservatory industry.
He argues instead, that opportunity remains in the high end conservatory market but suggests that within that market product choice and particularly choice of colour are critical.
"While there will always be customers who want white, there is unquestionably major demand for coloured products," says Ian. "It’s been a growing trend for the past three or four years, customers expect choice and you have to be able to offer it if you’re going to win new business.
"Things are tight but companies who adopt a flexible approach can continue to win new business and grow. Offering a range of products, including colours can increase footfall through your business, generate leads and with the option of higher end products, increase margins."
And Cocken is anything but a voice in the wilderness. The Halifax Home Improvement Survey published earlier this year revealed that homeowners continue to look to home improvements for added value. Meanwhile as house prices flatten, more than a quarter of homeowners said that they were planning to undertake home improvements in the next 12 months.
The findings of the Sainsbury’s Home Insurance Survey, published this summer, also provide a welcome shot in the arm.
It revealed that 21 per cent of homeowners questioned said that they intended to make home improvements. Even better, placed over a population map of the UK, the survey suggests 5.3million property owners intended to make some sort of major structural work in the next 12 months and of these 1.2 million were planning a conservatory.
That puts the total conservatory market based on current prices and according to the survey at £9.6 billion. "The £9.6million figure may be a little optimistic", says Cocken "but it does show that there is still a market to go at. You simply have to be able to deliver more to get it.
"This will frequently mean up-selling, people are prepared to pay for quality. The addition of colour gives you just that opportunity. The additional processes involved in the manufacture of coloured conservatories means that they are going to come in a little higher on price.
"And having the flexibility to offer a customer a product in a choice of colours will support fabricators and installers in meeting the customer expectation of choice, to close sales and to take advantage of the higher margins that the high end market still offers."
Quantal is one of the few conservatory roofing systems companies to operate an in-house spraying service. It says that this means it can offer its customers greater flexibility, at the same time retaining control of the operation safeguards quality. It sees the opportunities that colours offer conservatory fabricators and installers as being of such importance that it has recently announced six-figure investment in trebling the size of its paint shop.
Cocken says: "We can manufacture roofing systems in a comprehensive range of Ral colours. The investment is worth it because we can see the potential in the market.
"The major advantage that we have over other systems providers is that because the Quantal system is aluminium and doesn’t 'flex' with temperature change, paint sticks so that we’re able to offer a 10-year colourfast guarantee."
While the industry has dallied with colour before, a number of dowdy blues and racing greens, surfaced and then sunk rapidly in the late nineties, demand for the new generation of colours has tended to be concentrated on much more subtle pastels and heritage colours.
"There are a lot of buyers, particularly in the high end market who own period properties and who want to choose a colour, for example, a heritage green or cream that matches the character of their home," says Cocken.
He adds that the simple addition of a coloured conservatory to your range can generate new interest in your business. "We have a customer in Northern Ireland who added a heritage green conservatory to their showroom and footfall doubled. Many customers opted for white conservatories after further consideration but the colour ignited interest and got people through the door.
"The conservatory market is maturing and as it does it companies must be able to offer customers greater choice and a higher standard of product and service, if they are going to succeed in maintaining growth."
