Luxury Italian bathroom and kitchen brand Gessi has found efforts to raise its profile in the UK frustrating. Tim Wallace meets export sales manager Dennis Comunian (above left) and Paul Roberts, managing director of UK distribution partner Chartley (right)...

Gianluca Gessi's timing is perfect. The chief executive arrives in the showroom, flanked protectively by a posse of colleagues, just as I begin quizzing his export sales manager, Dennis Comunian, on why the company has apparently been so reluctant to invest in the brand in the UK.

It seems a fair question. After all, in Italy Gessi is one of the biggest and most respected names in the premium end of the bathroom business.

Despite the country's crippling economic problems, it continues to extend its reach, and in its home market has the same kind of standing and brand recognition as the likes of Armani and Versace. Yet in the UK, Gessi has been accused of being stubbornly and snobbishly reluctant to fund its own expansion.

Also with me in Gessi's vast showroom is Paul Roberts, managing director of UK distribution partner Chartley, who explains the frustrations he's facing in trying to launch the brand in the UK.

"It's a chicken and egg situation," he tells me, "it's been a real challenge to get Gessi to invest. You need investment to gain momentum, but you need momentum before they'll invest. It's all funded by me. In Italy, being a Gessi dealer is like being a Ferrari dealer. But they've got a £30 million turnover in Italy versus peanuts over in the UK."

Now seems as good a time as ever to throw the accusations back at Mr Gessi himself, and unsurprisingly he takes an opposing view: "Our support for the dealers is almost replacing the role of the banks," he argues. "Sometimes we take big risks working with retailers. We contribute strongly to the UK market, not only by offering extended payment terms and financial support but by helping them increase the value of their showroom by proposing a fresh, innovative vision. That's as much a part of our job as offering financial support."

After further swift assurances that the UK market is key to Gessi's plans and that the company is investing in a strategy to support UK retailers, Mr Gessi and his assorted disciples move on, leaving me in the company of Roberts and Comunian who are happy to continue the discussion...

Q: How much investment is Gessi putting into growing its brand in the UK?
Dennis Comunian: We're doing it the right way. We don't do free displays because the message then is that the brand is cheap. We ask for a minimum commitment, it can be as little as £20,000. It's easy to recover, the multifunction shower heads alone retail for £5,500.

Q: It might be easy for some of your bigger customers like CP Hart and West One but for a smaller provincial showroom maybe not?
DC: But in London we have a high concentration of Gessi dealers. Elsewhere it depends on the economic situation, but we need a good reservoir of official dealers. This is only our fourth year of attacking the UK market. We have a completely different strategy now. We've gone from 228 dealers and slashed it to 100. We're looking for quality not quantity. We're not as big as Hansgrohe, we can't invest like they can.

Q: What are the challenges for Chartley Paul?
Paul Roberts: Our frustration is that we want the retailers to embrace the portfolio, but there's a resistance because of the investment they see and the return they think they'll get from it. We embrace the values of the product but it's difficult to replicate it. Most are enthused but then they go back to selling what they're used to.
 
DC: Really you need 15 reps in the UK, a permanent marketing department, a warehouse... This is the dream. What I have is far from that. The aim is to try to achieve results every day, but it takes time to do things. Like in a game of rugby you have to progress a yard at a time.

Q: How easy is it for Chartley to raise Gessi's profile in the UK?
PR: The biggest problem we've had in the UK is we haven't had the facility like this to demonstrate how the product should be displayed. In the past, retailers didn't understand what the product was all about. So we took the decision to bring them over here [Italy]. A lot were keen to put it on but they didn't really sell it because it was too advanced for them. People weren't appreciating why it was expensive. It's not about selling a tap, it's about selling a concept, a lifestyle.

DC: I'm not asking retailers to invest £50,000. I can give you the chance to recover the investment if you focus on selling the brand. Increase the level of your showroom and you'll increase the level of your customers. That's why we need to focus on official dealers. In the same way as if you have a sports car you go to an official main dealer, you presume they are specialists.
 
Q: How do you create demand for the product?
DC: We know that to retailers this is business; this is not about beautiful products, it's about making money. Retailers complain nobody is coming in the showroom. So this is a way to create turnover with less customers. Selling a Gessi bathroom is equivalent to selling 25 Chinese ones. So you can improve the image of your showroom with products nobody else has.

Q: How easy is it to convince UK retailers to make such a leap of faith?
DC: It's tough. But with some brands you don't have exclusivity and people over discount. Nobody will find Gessi around the corner or in the DIY chains and we'll protect you against internet sales.
What sort of UK partners are you looking for?

PR: We're looking at the architect and designer market at the moment. We're working on monthly e-shots. Once the product gets asked for retailers will be more confident in showing it. We're also looking at launching the first Gessi flagship showroom in Primrose Hill, London.

Q: Sum up the Gessi philosophy?
DC: The key is not to propose it as brassware or taps, instead it's what we call 'Total Look', just like when you go to a Gucci or Armani boutique and buy not just a suit but sunglasses, a watch, a wallet; you are not just choosing a tap but a way of life. The brand identity needs to be as close as possible to the fashion business. We have a complete range of accompanying products - rugs, towels, robes in different styles, also perfume.

Q: What's your impression of UK bathroom showrooms in general?
PR: Quite poor if I'm honest.
 
DC: The majority of salespeople are just brochure givers, which is not good. What's the point of just sitting there all day giving brochures away?

PR: That's what happens. They just give customers a batch of brochures with no idea of the cost. And they leave them to make a decision on something they came into the showroom to ask their advice on! They're just saying 'go and choose and come back to me when you're ready'. What's the point in that? They don't want to learn some people. All I want to do is educate retailers, but they're set in their ways. The guy who runs it approves it, but it doesn't get followed through to the shop floor. It's frustrating.
 
Q: What do you blame it on?
PR: It's not about lack of passion, they're probably just confused. They over-complicate what they do in the showroom. If you're collecting so many brands with the same portfolios all you do is create confusion for you and the consumer. There are too many products that are too alike. How can you justify why the product is different unless you've been to the factory and can tell the difference?

Q: How do you rate competing brands?
DC: Hansgrohe has a fantastic image and great designers, but they have a different philosophy from ours. Philippe Starck will just say 'here's the design, can I have the cash?' Then they have to make that design work in the factory. But the aesthetic part has to match the technical side so you can keep improving. We're more focused on product categories. We have a team for taps, one for showers, one for sanitaryware, one for accessories.
 
Q: What's your internet policy?
DC: In the UK we have a strict internet policy. We've already stopped working with a couple of accounts who want to sell on the internet. I want my retailers to get the whole profit.

PR: Our key objective is to encourage them to think about increasing the value of the sale rather than trying to take the sale and be competitive against what everyone else is quoting at.

But can you control how your product is sold on the internet?
PR: Dealers can advertise that they're a Gessi dealer on the web but nothing else. We don't encourage them to discount. Anyone we find that is discounting is asked to remove their prices. If they don't, we close the relationship.
 
Q: Isn't that a bit of a risky strategy?
PR: It's Russian roulette for sure but we're not after the quick buck. We may lose some orders as a consequence but the retailers will see what we stand for and have more confidence in our products.
 
Q: How did the CP Hart tie-up come about?
PR: They feel that working with what they consider a distributor is margin erosion so Dennis camped on the doorstep and they've now seen the potential in it. We're also in West One. They haven't committed to it as much as CP Hart but they will see the value as it goes on. As long as they feel they can make margin, they can see the value, but if you start chucking it into every showroom, it has an adverse effect.

Q: Who else are you working with in the UK?
PR: We have a target of about 60 key retailers - people like West One, CP Hart, Europa Bathrooms in Scotland, Zest Bathrooms in Chester. We're either talking to them or there already. What we don't want are the discounters.
 
Q: So you're looking for the big players, not the smaller stores?
PR: Just because you've got a small space doesn't mean you can't do something a bit wacky with it. Giving that feeling of luxury is quite easy to achieve.
 
Q: What's the perception of Gessi among retailers in the UK?
PR: A lot have displayed it but not understood how to sell it. They've spent four or five grand on a display but the sales people are almost frightened to sell it because of the price point. So they're almost using it as a stage and then saying 'we can do something similar but cheaper with these products'.

Q: What's the thinking behind the more affordable Emporio Gessi range?
DC: Our customers were missing opportunities in the upper middle range. Emporio Gessi stands at the bottom of the premium range. Emporio recalls Emporio Armani. It won't dilute the brand.
 
PR: Even the higher showrooms will have a middle-market brand. Emporio Gessi has the potential to open up 200 accounts, these will still be nice showrooms selling quality products like Duravit and Laufen.
 
Q: How is the Italian market faring?
DC: The crisis means the gap between rich and poor is becoming bigger, so there's a high concentration at the top of the pyramid. Luxury goods are fine, but the middle market is suffering.