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kitchens & bathrooms
STARTING WITH THE business end of kitchens and bathrooms, both the KB specialists and DIY retailers and merchants are pleased to see supply chain issues settling down.
Mark Bruce of Designmarked in Cambridge, speaking on behalf of the specialists as President of the NKBA and as a qualified designer and cabinetmaker, says the supply chain now is “not so bad.”
Indeed, suppliers and
manufacturers have the stocks “but
whether they can get it to you in
a timely manner is now the issue,”
he says referring to the ongoing
disruptions around local freight and deliveries.
In this respect he adds: “I have to say that over the next five or so years there is going to have to be some really hard thinking from the supply side about where their products are and how quickly they can get them to installers and manufacturers.”
Serial price increases have also touched the kitchen & bathroom specialists, for whom fixed price contracts are still widespread. To mitigate, some have started adding 30-day limits to their quotes and many are showing installation as a variable cost to give them some wiggle room in that area.
In terms of a market outlook, Mark Bruce says although
NKBA members are not quite as “manic” as six months ago, demand is certainly above normal levels for this time of year, and many have already closed their books, months ahead of time.
“Everyone is waiting for a downturn, but so far, it’s not been felt. I’d be surprised if any companies go quiet in the next 6-12 months – there should be enough work coming through to keep them busy,” he says.
Having said this, labour shortages remain the elephant in the room.
TOWARDS A “BLENDED” OFFERING
How does all this look from a DIY retailer’s perspective?
Liz Aitken, Mitre 10 NZ’s Category Manager for Kitchens
& Appliances, agrees that while the supply chain is “starting to level out,” the big issue is indeed “not being able to find good people or experienced people.”
Plus, she admits: “We’ve got a little bit of churn with kitchen consultants, greener pastures elsewhere and all that. We’re trying to keep that side of it up but yeah, that’s a bit of a challenge.”
Liz Aitken also agrees the market might not be declining but it is changing: “Forward work is good,” she says, adding that there’s been some softening in footfall, perhaps driven by the cooperative doing more with digital, which of course is where most kitchen and bathroom customers do their research before coming into store.
Mitre 10 customers are currently looking for higher spec
Mark Bruce, President of the NKBA: “Everyone is waiting for a downturn, but so far it’s not been felt.”
Where to for New Zealand’s kitchen manufacturers?
Is the historic shape of the Kiwi kitchen industry’s engine room – a plethora of cabinet manufacturers of all scales, each with their own brands and retail front ends – destined to become a legacy system?
NKBA President Mark Bruce for one thinks it is. Already he says:“I have noticed that there are a lot of manufacturers turning their back on the retail side and just feeding independent designers.
“They’ve got rid of their showroom up front and are just dealing direct with designers as opposed to with the end user.”
This is very much the situation in the UK, where you have very large-scale manufacturing serving a raft of independent kitchen sales outlets.
“Our industry will also end up going that way, for good reasons and perhaps some not-so-good reasons,” believes Mark Bruce, adding the caveat that “We could also start losing that craftsmanship base that we’re all so very proud of.”
Be that as it may, he says:“In order to be competitive, in order to optimise your big capital investment in machinery, you need volume. “And working with 20 independent designers as opposed to two
front-of-house designers is far more efficient.”
Already, he says:“Our larger manufacturers are owned and
managed by businessmen these days as opposed to joiners and they are successful.
“So that’s how the UK and Europe work and we’ll have to go to that path.”
Although Auckland’s population density would allow such a shift, smaller towns would probably still need those jacks of all trades
style cabinetmakers that can tackle jobs from re-facing through to restoring tables through to making kitchens.
After all, says Mark Bruce:“In a two- or three-man business, the CNC machine will be sitting idle 60% of the time, which they’re not intended to do – the whole idea is to create volume.
“As we move forward, those smaller companies might just outsource all that carcass work and use their skills to assemble and install, which is where the skill set really needs to sit.”
And, with skilled installation remaining not only a bugbear but also a common pinch point for the kitchen industry, would this shift towards large-scale manufacturing centres be such a bad thing?
24 NZHJ | AUGUST 2022
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