Sarah Wharton

Marketing manager, Mayfair Taps and Showers

How do you view the current kbb retail market?

We believe the market is fairly slow at the moment; however there are a number of factors to consider regarding this. All eyes are focused on waiting to see what manufacturers will be bringing to market in the coming year.

Consumer spending has generally slowed; they're still feeling the effects of the Christmas credit crunch. We can see this is having an effect across the whole of our industry with a number of the sheds extending their traditional January sales in a bid to boost sales.

We also have to consider that the consumer is engulfed with messages from the media that the economy is suffering a decline and the unstable interest rates we've seen over the last 12 months is having an effect on ALL markets from textiles to take-aways!

Would you consider this is a golden age for kbb design?

At Mayfair, we are driving hard the development of our own products as part of our new trends collection. We have introduced seven new ranges in the last year that have been extremely successful and have four more ready for our new brochure and additional concept designs to show at KBB. In addition to this, we're developing new thermostatic shower ranges and working towards offering more water efficient products.

Having said that, we feel the wider kitchen industry is growing more rapidly from a design aspect than our bathroom market. From cookers to worktops, not to mention open plan and small space kitchen design offering the consumer anything and everything they could wish for.

Which new products have stood out for you in the past 12 months?

The explosion of the freestanding bath market is phenomenal and we have seen a knock-on effect as our freestanding stand pipe sales are up a massive 80% on last year. The wide range of products available with varying price points and materials makes the freestanding bath available to most consumers and what a centre piece to have in your bathroom.

What are your predictions for the industry in the coming year?

I think trends show that the consumer continues to look for something different and unique in their bathroom across all aspects, from baths to taps, but they are increasingly savvy about their spending and will look for products that are affordable as well as unique.

Who is the most famous person to have blagged free products from you?

Footballing hero and world cup winner of 1966, Jack Charlton has had free products from us. Jack is Andy Green's [md] godfather, I always wondered where Andy's enthusiasm for football came from!