When Ultraframe launched their new product last year, they said that they wanted the Loggia to be the product that revolutionized the conservatory market. Indeed, according to their market research and their own beliefs, the conservatory market as we knew it was dead, and we had to play a completely different ball game if the glazed extension sector was to survive. They hoped that the Loggia would become a product that did just that. And it appears those gears and moving into motion.
We have had a Loggia on our showsite since January, as you will see as per the featured image for this post, and the post I did here. Since then, the response has been fantastic. We have 5 conservatories on display on our outdoor show site, and since the Loggia was completed, I haven’t seen a single person go in any of the others! It has been the main draw of their attentions. However, and most importantly, we haven’t quoted for a standard conservatory since the Loggia was put up. It’s not that we have been pushing people towards a quote for a Loggia, it is the customers themselves that are asking for them. Which is a very telling sign.
The one thing people have been most impressed by, apart from it’s looks, has been how warm it is. During all that snow we had on Saturday, we have a couple venture down to have a look at the Loggia, and they immediately commented that despite no sun, no heating, that it wasn’t cold! And truly it wasn’t. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t warm, not take-your-jacket-off warm, but not shiveringly cold either. Much better than a normal conservatory would perform under the same conditions. And this is one of the massive USP’s that I believe will help shift quite a lot of Loggia’s this year.
I think one area that Ultraframe could improve on is the aluminium cladding for the columns. If they were to bring it all in house they could remove some of the little errors that were experienced at the start. A company the size of Ultrframe would suit that. Other than this, I think they have the Loggia project running quite smoothly now. From what I hear from other installers, their feedback is just as positive and people are really warming to the idea of a Loggia quicker than any other new product!
Job well done so far I’d say!
How many have you sold though?
We are delighted with such positivity, we are getting similar feedback from other showroom based retailers. We always value input from our dealers and the comments you have made have been noted. In fact, we have had similar feedback and have reacted with some improved detailing to eliminate the claddings fit issues. Also, we have evolved the cladding with a new fluted column which we will be launching at the FIT show. Last week the development team met in a blue sky session where our external designer showed some stunning alternative designs and treatments to Loggia, it firmly places Loggia… Read more »
Pete Gray beat me to it… its all very well quoting on lots of loggias but how many have you sold. It would be interesting to see how many of these you have converted or even more interesting to see how many of these loggia quotes maybe decide to buy a conny instead (due to price)
Dean, Peter – we only had the Loggia completed mid to late January, so we’ve only been able to push the Loggia for around two months. We haven’t had any confirmed orders for these Loggias yet. However, would you go and spend £15k or more on a whim like that? I suspect we’ll be seeing some of these quotations coming to the fore very soon as the feedback from those we have quoted have said it is worth the extra money. In terms of conversions Dean, I’d say we’ve had about half a dozen people who came looking for a… Read more »
so surely the title should be:-
No Loggia or Conservatories
I would agree David, if you could spell engineer right in your email address!
my surname is benginer so its spelt correctly fyi
In that case I stand corrected and apologize.
To answer David and Peter, we have had our best Loggia sales week this week with despatches of over 100 columns, most Loggia have an average of 5 columns so you can do the math.
Traction is bang on where we were expecting it to be with a similar adoption curve of Livinroom which now accounts for around 10% of our roof volume.
You guys may be used to working with unprofessional, unstructured suppliers, thankfully, we are neither!
It was a very straightforward question which seems to have been answered very defensively!? Was interested to know the reality between people showing an interest in something because it’s new and actual sales. Nige – I would expect nothing less of a man of your calibre ;-) joe – what makes you think I am used to working with or that indeed my suppliers are unprofessional and unstructured. Of the 100 columns ( I notice you use the word dispatched rather than sold) how many were given away as showrooms?
I`ve quoted 1 Loggia, and sold / installed 1 Loggia.. I`d call that 100% conversion !! ;-)
the only thing unprofessional is that comment, for all he knows we all could use Ultraframe that have commented on here