At yesterday’s annual Kitchen Bathroom Buying Group (KBBG) general meeting, managing director Owain Harrison gave his frank overview of the state of the independent kitchen and bathroom market, describing the situation as “tough but not terminal”.
Discussing how the market had performed since last year’s meeting, Harrison began by telling attendees: “I’m not going to sugar coat things, the last 18 months have been pretty tough, but they’ve not been terminal. It would be churlish not to discuss some of the industry challenges out there. There is a really complex mix of headwinds right now.”
He continued: “We’ve got a supremely cautious housing market, the persistent skills shortage is obviously limiting capacity and pushing labour costs even higher.
“We’ve got inflation, which for the last few years has been rocketing out of control. And then we have to mention there’s obviously huge geopolitical uncertainty right now, and I think that’s probably making a few consumers nervous about taking the steps to invest more in their home.
“Giving these factors, they mean we need to stay agile as an industry, and maybe diversify wisely where we can and look at value driven brands that provide support to us as a sector.”
Harrison also discussed the buying group’s performance over the last year, saying: “2025 is looking better already. We’re already in good single digit growth for the first half, so things are looking more positive. So we’re 65 new members in the last year since we last met, and our turnover’s gone up for the 13th year in a row, and we’ve added nearly one new supplier every single month, and we’ve added new categories to play with as well.
“So thank you everybody – and the fact that things have improved since 2024 is better is a real testament to you and your membership.”
