At its annual general meeting in Berlin last week, the MHK Group vowed to open up even more sales and growth prospects for its more than 4,300 members across Europe.
According to the buying group, it saw an impressive 77 new members join its European ranks in the last year. Additionally, the number of UK suppliers on MHK’s roster has now surpassed 60 brands, with the buying group still believing it has the highest number of supplier members in the country.
David Morris, sales manager at MHK UK, also discussed the buying group’s plans for growth in the United Kingdom, explaining: “One of the things we’re using as a benchmark for our future is asking: ‘where do we want MHK to be by 2030?’. We realised the key to growing to the size that we want is by adding people.
“The whole point of taking on more people, and investing in people, is to get in front of more retailers. So it’s certainly about growth, but one area where we can grow is with all these new suppliers coming on board. We added some new suppliers in the last year, and for us, growth is all about adding more suppliers that give us access and support to more retailers.”
Morris also said that during the last year, brands such as Rotpunkt, Pronorm, Natural Stone Surfaces, Schüller, 1810 Company and JJO had also joined the buying group’s UK roster.
Outside of just the UK, MHK has also launched two new franchise systems in Europe, with the aim of “opening up additional sales opportunities with new customer target groups”. Ycon is the buying group’s new kitchen franchise concept, and Bad & Body is launching for the bathroom market.
However, MHK CEO Volker Klodwig was also quick to clarify there are currently no plans to bring this model coming to the UK any time soon, owing to market and consumer differences.
Reflecting on the wider market challenges this year, Klodwig commented: ” We are now using the year 2025 to expand the range of our business models so that our European shareholders can expand their business with new customer target groups. For the MHK Group, this is the core of the association group concept – as a community, we can achieve what strengthens the individual.”
In other news, David Morris recently shared his assessment of the market, relaying how MHK members have reportedly seen furniture volumes increase by as much as 25% in the last year.
