Artificial intelligence will transform the way consumers buy kitchens, but it will never replace the expertise of professional designers, according to new Kitchens International owner Graham Johnston.
Speaking in the latest episode of The kbbreview Podcast, Johnston says AI is already changing customer behaviour and warns retailers that the pace of technological change will only accelerate.
“Every convention is being challenged by AI,” he says. “It’s not coming, it’s here. It’s a major part of every business’s thought process right now.”
However, Johnston believes independent retailers should see AI as an opportunity rather than a threat, arguing that it should be used to enhance the customer experience rather than replace the people at the heart of the design process.
“AI will not replace people in creative thinking,” he says. “Using technology that’s going to enhance the experience of our colleagues, whether they’re in a design environment or project management, and enhance the experience we can provide to our customers, is going to be really important.”
Johnston, who recently led a management buyout of the Scottish luxury retailer after previously holding senior roles at Three UK, Optical Express and Asda, says the biggest change retailers will see is customers arriving with AI-generated concepts before they even walk into a showroom.
“I would imagine anybody involved in designing kitchens or interiors won’t be unfamiliar with somebody turning up with a space that’s been beautifully designed by some kind of AI and saying, ‘Make that for me.'”
Rather than resisting that trend, Johnston believes retailers should embrace it while demonstrating the value of professional design expertise.
“That’s wonderful. We want to embrace that because it’s a customer being really happy with how a space looks,” he says. “We may just need to think about whether that’s going to hit the building regulations or whether the island is actually going to stand up the way you’ve designed it.
“That’s where our expertise comes in because we can take the vision the customer has created and turn it into something that’s actually deliverable.”
Despite his background in digital transformation, Johnston insists technology should complement rather than replace physical showrooms.
During his time leading omnichannel strategy at Three UK, he says he learned that customers “don’t actually care about channels” and instead simply expect businesses to provide a seamless experience across digital and physical touchpoints.
For premium kitchen retail, he believes that still culminates in a face-to-face meeting with a designer.
“You can do a lot through a great website and digital interaction,” he says. “But adding that to a really engaging physical showroom where customers can come in, engage with a person and touch and feel the product is so important.
“It doesn’t matter how good your digital strategy is – it’s the amalgamation of all those things together that really makes the difference.”
Johnston also argues that the growing use of AI makes investment in skilled designers even more important, with human expertise remaining the key differentiator for independent retailers.
“We don’t recruit kitchen salespeople; we recruit designers,” he says. “Our approach is design-led. It’s about understanding how people live and creating spaces around that. Trust comes from knowledge, experience and expertise.”
He adds: “The customer journey is changing very quickly, but the value we bring is our knowledge, our experience, our creative thinking, and the experts we have fitting our kitchens.”