Exhibitor interview: Michael Spadinger, head of global sales, Neue Alno
Q: Why should retailers come to shows like this? What are the benefits to them?
A: The dealers have the possibility to have a look at the current trends and to place orders but also wishes. For us, fairs are very important, so that we can maintain business relationships.
Q: How’s business compared with last year?
A: The past year was positive and showed us that we can look forward to the year 2020 full of positive expectations of new things to come. We are planning further innovations, further developments of the existing portfolio and have set ourselves ambitious goals.
Q: How do you view the health of the UK KBB market? In what ways could it improve and how can the industry improve it?
A: The UK market is definitely an improving market and it is one of the most important in Europe. The increase in demand for European kitchens over the past few years is very visible in every kitchen outlet across the UK.
With the recent Brexit turmoil, the kitchen industry has seen a bit of an impact, as kitchens are mostly a luxury purchase, but this is now starting to improve and 2020, by all expectations, is going to be a year of growth across all the sectors. Builders are starting to build again and households are now starting to look at investing in their homes again.
Service is key in all aspects of the market. Showrooms need to look at their supply chain, become specialists in their fields and pick suppliers wisely – ones who can work with them to help grow consumer confidence.
Q: How do you think the relationship between supplier and customer is changing?
A: The relationship between companies and customers is becoming increasingly important. Every customer wants a reliable partner at his side. The most important thing in the relationship between company and customer is trust.
Q: What are the main challenges you will face as a business this year and how will you overcome these?
A: The demand for individual furnishing solutions is growing beyond borders. The complexity associated with this is best served by our product portfolio and production set-up. We produce our fronts to order in Pfullendorf. In combination with our Tailor concept, this enables us to offer our customers a particularly high degree of flexibility in kitchen planning.