In a week which saw a magnificent display from England at Cardiff in the Six Nations, the industry getting back on track, and the leads and sales taps turned back on again, it’s time to review the posts that were covered on DGB this week.
Over the past few years our industry has undergone somewhat of a transformation. The recent recession years has allowed the very best to make their moves in the market and swallow up companies that would help either expand their product portfolio or fill the gaps that were there to be plugged. However, whilst companies have been buying other companies, it has been bringing much of the industry closer together, whether that was an intended side effect or not.Summary
I began the working week on a blurry note, well, rather the analysing of how continued industry buyouts and mergers continue to bring previously far apart areas of our industry together. Quite a popular one this one was on social media, with the story being shared 29 times so far on LinkedIn alone. It did also draw a comment from Mark Hanson of Ultraframe, who raised a good point that it was better a company gets bought than let it go to the wall and let hundreds of jobs go to waste.
As you may have seen on Monday evening, Design, the new online magazine feature I have been teasing over the past week or so, went live. And the reaction to it has been so overwhelmingly positive! I have mad message both on social media and in private to tell me what they think of it and I’m glad so many of you think this is a good thing.Summary
Tuesday saw me launch the much anticipated new online magazine feature I had called Design. After teasing it and writing about it, I had finally got the magazine into a position where I was happy to show it off to everyone else. The reactions to it were fantastic. One or two little tweaks here and there, but hugely positive so far. All being well it will grow steadily over the coming years into something great.
We’re proud of the products we install in our industry in this country, and why not. They look good (they didn’t always), they’re much more energy efficient than in previous generations, there’s far more choice in the marketplace now and the range of colours and woodgrains is beyond what we thought it could be just a few short years ago. Things have really progressed here. But lets take a rain check. On the European stage, we’re massively behind. Some say at least two decades behind countries like Germany, Austria and Scandinavia. But why? We often compare our wares to those on the continent.Summary
Wednesday’s post saw me pick apart the reasons why our window and door industry in the UK is behind the German market, and will continue to be so. It was a critical look at the reasons why we are at least two decades behind their market. In the end, it was a bit of a negative post, but an honest one I believed.
Within the past 12-months, Everest has implemented changes within the company that has seen many positive changes.
Gradually, the wholesale changes made at board level are filtering through the halls at Head Office and the staff are collectively ensuring their new brand messages are reaching the customers via social media channels, television ads and last, but by no means least, the Everest sales team.
Summary
Next up was a sponsored piece from the guys at Everest. As a big company they often get some stick both from the industry and the general public. But with this post, it was a fairly candid statement to acknowledge that they know there have been issues and are changing things to make sure everything improves in the future. It got a fairly good response from readers too.
It may have gone under the radar for many of you, but I spotted a tweet on Wednesday which announced that systems company Eurocell is to float on the London Stock Exchange. This news comes after one of the industry’s biggest installation companies, Safestyle UK, floated on the FTSE AIM All-Share stock market.Summary
Another day, another major UK fenestration company prepares to float on the London Stock Exchange. This was the news that Eurocell was to float on the LSE in order to raise extra funds to help move the business and it’s product portfolio forward. A move I think that has both massive risks and rewards.
Despite our directors having over 40 years’ combined experience in the fenestration industry, The Window Outlet is a relatively new business. We started off in September 2014 with huge ambitions to become one of the UK’s biggest fabricators and trade suppliers of aluminium products for domestic and commercial use, and already we’ve come a long way!Summary
One of Friday’s two posts was a sponsored post from the guys at Purplex, which went through the story of The Window Outlet. A brand new aluminium fabrication business that many on social media will already be familiar with. It’s fair to say that Ben Warren, the big cheese of The Window Outlet, has done a sterling job so far in what continues to be a very challenging market.
Of course these contemporary options aren’t the only variety of alternative door handles on the market. Traditional iron-mongered handles designed to replicate handles on doors from hundreds of years ago have been around for a couple of years now, as have the super modern lever handles – many of which Solidor do, but are available from other outlets too. So what’s my point? Well, when you look at how far the door hardware has come along in the past few years, it demonstrates that window hardware still has some work to doSummary
Last but not least, my final opinion post of the working week saw me attack the boring side of window hardware. Door hardware has been stealing the show the past few years, with many parts of window hardware land being ignored. This post saw me argue the case that window handles shouldn’t just be functional, but fashionable too.
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