Interview: Martin Murphy | Flair Showers

Martin Murphy
Martin Murphy, managing director, Sanbra Group

Managing director of Sanbra Group, Martin Murphy, shares his thoughts on the future of the bathroom sector and why leaning into your core values is a winning formula.

As we approach Q4 of the calendar year, our thoughts, naturally, become reflective and forward-thinking – especially in a less than favourable economic climate. For Murphy and bathroom manufacturer Flair Showers, it’s about going back to basics.

“What we’ve learned in the past 12 months is that there’s always price pressure in any challenging economy,” he says. “So we have been focusing on design innovation. We want to make life easier for KBB retailers and installers with choice and availability of stock, a reliable backup service, and making products that are easy to install.”

The supplier of bathroom products is keen to highlight bricks and mortar retail as a critical channel for the business, citing the need for products to be displayed and demonstrated. “There’s nothing that undermines bricks and mortar retailers more than putting the same product up on the internet with a discounted, aggressive online seller,” Murphy explains. “For us, it’s a two-way street and when you make a genuine commitment to retailers, it’s returned positively.

“Our experience with independents over the last year has been them committing to our brand and making a margin, while we offer a strong backup service and support.”

When asked about the future of the bathroom sector, Murphy believes in simplifying the process. “It’s human nature to expect things to get easier,” he says. “Unfortunately, gone are the days of extremely high-level craftsmanship across plumbing, heating, and bathrooms.

“The requirement going forward is to supply easy to install, hassle-free, ‘fit and forget’ products. If something isn’t easy to install, that brand will become less and less relevant.”

That isn’t to say that installers are deskilling or that brand’s are having to ‘dumb down’ their products, in fact, the opposite is true as installers are needing to have more knowledge. Murphy explains: “The feedback we’ve had from installers is that they now feel the need to broaden their generalist knowledge.

“It’s no longer the case that people are specialists in a specific area or with a bathroom, plumbing, or heating product.”

There’s nothing that undermines bricks and mortar retailers more than putting the same product up on the internet with a discounted, aggressive online seller

Flair has experienced growth partly through acquisition. After numerous buyouts in recent years, the brand must be adept at integrating businesses together. As Murphy explains, the key to success is understanding your core values.

“We’re a people focused company. We run each of our businesses independently and like to keep local people involved,” he says. “The world is full of companies merging and taking away the identity of the people that built something – we’re not into that at all.

“We’ve evolved and thrashed out our core values in the Sanbra family group, it’s important to have companies that are all aligned. Our core values are integrity and humility. We try not to get carried away or cocky – a pat on the back is as good as a kick up the backside.”

When it was put to him that values change and evolve, Murphy agreed that it makes sense to be sure of your company’s values as a continuous process. “We recently interviewed for a marketing position at Flair and it was interesting to see a change in the candidates.

“As an employer we’re seeing people pivot away from wanting material things and move towards asking about our own company values. Candidates are not wanting to be part of something they aren’t aligned to, no matter how much money is on offer.

“I’m seeing that with retailers, too. If we were to market an innovative new product that wasn’t particularly innovative, then we’re not genuine as a brand. Bricks and mortar retailers will see through it, so genuine sincerity is a big part of the relationship.”

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