Simply Burbidge range hits target

Coventry-based kitchen manufacturer Burbidge has hit its target for its Simply Burbidge range, it has revealed.

Recently celebrating its 150th anniversary, managing director Ben Burbidge (pictured) explained that the range had gone from nothing last summer to almost £2 million a year in revenue.

“It’s doing what we’d set out to do,” he explained. “We launched at the time of the Brexit vote and we really banged on about it being made in the UK. Brexit certainly has helped tremendously. We thought it would do and we also thought that being a UK manufacturer would be a strong influence, and it has most definitely.”

Neil Conway, sales and marketing director, added: “What chimes is the things like the foamex boards and the heritage and the factory being in the UK. And over the past six months, pre-Brexit we’ve been looking to advertise quite strongly that element of the business.”

Burbidge also claimed that as well as pushing being a UK manufacturer, businesses and consumers need to buy from each other to support our economy.

“Hopefully, there is a feeling of the country supporting itself, more than imported products,” he explained. “If we want to be more self-sufficient, we need to buy things from people who make things here [in the UK].”

As part of its 150th celebrations, the company launched a new logo, which it said denotes a more modern, elegant and bold ethos.

It has also launched a number of new product ranges, which include the Gresham range, and the extended Otto and Marlow ranges.

These were accompanied by a ‘nostalgic’ colour palette, which featured six limited-edition colours representing each decade from the Sixties up to the ‘Tenties’.

The firm also branched into the bathroom market two years ago with the launch of its Bathroom Collection, but revealed that has been difficult to break through in that sector.

“It’s quite different selling bathrooms,” Burbidge said. “On the kitchen side, we have the potential to build with consumers, but on the bathroom side, we’re still trying to get the retail base built up.

“The collection was fully launched two years ago now. Our customer base has been growing a lot. Percentage-wise we’ve seen around 300% growth in it and we’re expanding that range quite quickly as well. We’re now trying to get momentum within the market. It’s more difficult in the bathroom, as we’re seen more as a kitchen supplier and we really want to try and be seen in that market as well.”

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