With Kaldewei's retailer of the year award under its belt, Plumber's World in Basingstoke has come a long way since owner Clive Bissett (pictured above) took over his father's plumbers merchant business. Tim Wallace went to find out more...

If I'm honest, first impressions of Plumber's World aren't especially good. Stuck on an untidy trading estate well outside the town centre, the anonymous looking frontage hides a slightly cramped interior with an unfinished feel. But first impressions can be deceptive. Although the store might not win any prizes for presentation, owner Clive Blissett has just won Kaldewei's retailer of the year award and clearly knows a thing or two about the bathroom game.

My visit coincides with that of Kaldewei's territory manager James Hardy and national sales manager Adam Teal, who are here to hand over the award. Their views on the wider industry seem carefully guarded ("we just sell baths and shower trays"), but in contrast, Blissett is happy to speak frankly and candidly on just about any subject you care to mention. And it's no surprise to find the internet his first bone of contention.

"What I object to," he says, "is when you've got a showroom-only product and you're 'Smiths Bathrooms' but you open up 'Joe Bloggs Bathrooms' on the internet. You're using your showroom off the back of it to annoy me. If you're offering 50% off whatever, offer it in your showroom as well as your website. Don't just do it on the website to nick my business. That's my gripe."

The Kaldewei guys shift a little uneasily at the very mention of internet sales, which is clearly a big headache for many bathroom showrooms, but Teal is quick to defend the manufacturer's position: "We've developed our business with Plumber's World based on technical expertise and knowledge of the product," he says. "Customers coming in is the start of the story. It's the whole package and you won't get that from buying on the internet.

"It's not easily transportable logistically. You've got the size issue and it has to be correctly packaged and palletised. It's a glass product and has to be handled in the proper way. But yes, Kaldewei is on the internet, as is everyone's product, and it does represent challenges."

But when I ask Blissett if he's ever considered dealing on the web himself, he pauses and smiles. "Yeah, I've looked at it," he admits, "but there's no money to be made in it. I wouldn't want to give it my expertise for such little return. A lot of these websites don't give any form of service. There's very little back-up. Their attitude is, 'it's not my problem.' We're not like that, we care. I don't take any money until I deliver it. We don't take a deposit. Most dealers are on a deposit. They want 50% up front."

Work in progress
Blissett took over the 17-year-old business from his father and moved from a smaller unit on the same estate about nine years ago. From an original floor space of 500sq ft, he now has nearly 3,000 to play with. This includes a merchant counter, now moved inconspicuously to the back of the store, plus a storage area and office space.

The showroom itself, he admits, is normally a bit of a work in progress with bays left empty in readiness for new ranges. The overall strategy clearly works for him though, with business apparently strong in the past few months, particularly on the contract side. Average spend is around £2,500 to £3,000 and turnover has remained at around £1.2 million for the past two years. "The most important thing at the moment is protecting our margins and keeping our overheads down," he says. "I'm looking for top 20 or early 30% margin, which is still realistic."

Aside from Kaldewei, the store also supplies Laufen, Grohe, Cifial, Ellis Furniture and Ambiance Bain. Blissett is clearly a big fan of the Kaldewei product, which he says gives him fewer problems than acrylic alternatives. "I like steel and Kaldewei have got cleaner lines and better designs," he says. "I've been out to the factory in Germany and it's very impressive. Even on the contract side, we've always done the Eurowa range. The only hassle I get with steel is when the fitter marks it with a spirit level, but it's only a case of getting some metal polish and polishing it straight off."

When I ask Teal what the mood is like among his retailer network, he leaves Blissett to do most of the talking, although he does point to an upturn in Kaldewei's higher-end products. "Generally, times are tough, but I don't remember when times weren't," he admits. "It's a competitive market. You need to ask retailers that question."

Blissett's opinion matches that of many retailers we speak to at the moment: "There's no consistency," he says. "Whereas there used to be a pattern, there isn't anymore. It's been up and down for two years. You have a good month, then a bad.

"There's no explanation at all. I spend hours looking at forecasts and while I'm doing that someone walks in the showroom, has a look round and walks out again because I'm worrying about it too much."

Another common complaint from showrooms is that every customer is now looking for a deal, perhaps inevitably in the current climate. Discounting to win sales is bound to be a big temptation, but Blissett takes a strong stance when he can. "I don't play those games," he insists. "I say 'here's my price, take it or leave it'. But I will do a deal, you have to be realistic, there's the internet out there. We give customers a detailed quote with all the individual prices. But there will always be someone on the internet doing it cheaper. It amazes me what people will buy on the internet."

So are some dealers turning the KBB business into little more than glorified car dealing?

"Absolutely not," Teal counters. "Bathroom products need designing and installing. With a car you just get the keys and drive away. You can't make a comparison between the two industries."

"There are people out there who will sell you anything," Blissett admits, "but they usually come unstuck and they don't stay around for very long, I'm not here to make a quick buck, then leg it and try something else."

Commission
Blissett is also keen to stress the difference between his own store and the multiples. "Customers don't necessarily get it cheaper from the sheds," he argues. "If you could buy your whole suite in a Bathstore sale, I couldn't touch it, but it's all about marketing. That's why I haven't got certain things on promotion; customers will centre the whole bathroom round that product because they think they're getting a bargain. That's not what we're about."

He also avoids putting his staff on commission, which he says can quickly turn designers into hard-nosed salesmen. "We give staff an end-of-year incentive, but they're not commission-based," he explains.

"The trouble with selling on commission is that it makes it more like selling double-glazing. It's a hard sell - push, push push.

"And if someone comes in for a quote, I don't say, 'if you order it now, I'll give you a couple of per cent off'. And I don't ring you up in 10 days and offer you a bit of extra discount. We're not into that. The other thing is with commission-based people they won't necessarily sell the person exactly what they want. They want the sale because that's how they earn. That's why there are no prices in my showroom. If there was, I'd never sell anything; they'd say, 'Oh my God that basin is twelve hundred quid', and 'that bath's four grand'. I tell people not to worry about the individual prices and just wait until we get to the bottom line."

Interestingly, for a company serving Plumber's, Blissett admits he has very little time for them, and describes the standard of fitting in the UK as "shocking".

"Plumber's World was originally a Plumber's merchant," he explains. "One of the reasons I get someone else to do the trade counter is that Plumber's moan too much. Tradesmen are too quick to say something's rubbish because they don't understand the product. The trouble is the customer sees the plumber as the professional and me as just the salesman, but the 'professional' is usually wrong.

"Installers are too quick to get out of the job and leave us with problems," he explains. "It normally happens when I've not been involved with the whole thing. It's where you recommend a fitter and then the customer gets in someone completely different. But I'm very lucky that I have a good group of people I recommend and I'm happy with them. What's nice is they're not scared to get on the phone and ask for advice."

Blisset ends with a less than optimistic outlook on the market. Although many at kbb Birmingham were reporting tentative signs of a recovery, clearly the retail landscape in Basingstoke has a way to go yet to get back to pre-2008 levels.
"I don't think it's going to get good for a long time," he concludes. "There are people out there making money, but is it just a short-lived thing? The only way to do it is to offer a deal, but you can't sustain that, you can't keep offering it for nothing. The most important thing is to remember that whether they're buying a £20,000 suite or just coming in for a washer, you treat all your customers the same."


Clive Blissett on...

    ...Margins
We could sell a £200 suite, but it's too much hassle, when there's a problem it costs me. When someone spends three or four grand, you don't mind because there's some profit behind it. If they want a £500 bathroom, it's not worth my time and effort to design it.

    ...Tiling
Tiles are quite new to me. I didn't want to get involved with it, but it's a company called Easy Tile and it is easy. The best thing is they're all the same price, which is nice.

    ...Design
I still draw it by hand. I'm seeing Virtual Worlds next week. I've got it, but I can't get my head round it. They keep telling me every room is a box, but it's not, it's got alcoves and all sorts. I'll get my head round it eventually.

    ...Discounting
We do a deal all year round. The internet doesn't have a January sale does it? The days of supply-only and giving retail and trade price are gone. It's an open market and you have to accept that. The only gripe I have is when they change the name of the internet business to protect their little showroom. That's wrong. The big boys like Halfords and Currys have online prices, but you can normally get that in the shop. That's the way to do it.

    ...Suppliers
I've never kicked any supplier out, you just move on. We did a lot of RAK, then we moved away, now we do them again. I don't get problems with Kaldewei, from the £100 products right up to £6,500 it's the same quality, so is Laufen. But there's no Ideal Standard in my showroom because I refuse to be a showroom for Plumb Center.