Today we're looking at that tricky yet often desirable symbol of growth for an independent kbb retailer and that's …..the second showroom.

The vast majority of kbb independents operate out of one showroom, but many often seriously think about another. It's an obvious way to expand the business but there are plenty of cons to go with the long list of pros.

Finding the right location, spreading yourself too thin, finding people you trust to run it and starting to build a whole new customer base in a different area.

So we're going to talk it all through with a couple of top retailers and friends of the show - Mark Butler from Butler Interiors and Liz Pantling-Jones of Lima Kitchens. Mark took the plunge on a second showroom a few years ago and Liz is seriously considering that move right now.

Host Andy Davies met up with them a few weeks ago and this is a really interesting conversation that gets right to the heart of finding that showroom as well as weighing up all the pros and cons...

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Welcome to The kbbreview Podcast, your host is Andy Davies and this may be the last episode of Season 11 but we've got a couple of very interesting bits for you

First up we're talk about manifestos - we all know there's going to be a General Election this year so if you were running for Prime Minister, what would be in YOURS to help kbb businesses?

While we were at the KBB show we took the opportunity to ask this very simple question to some leading industry figures.

And then we go from Prime Minister to prime time TV. Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen made an appearance at the KBB show supporting Caple so kbbreview editor Rebecca Nottingham caught up with him to hear his views on kitchen and bathroom design. Warning, this next interview contains flamboyance...

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Welcome to The kbbreview Podcast, your host as always is Andy Davies and this week we're looking at the communication between suppliers and their retailers.

Since Covid there has been massive shift in how this is done, the traditional rep-on-the-road model has morphed into a hybrid of some area sales managers and a lot more emails, portals, Zoom, Teams, webinars and the like.

From the suppliers point of view it's not hard to see why. Reps are expensive and can only cover so much, but technology allows direct communication and exchange of important updates and information easily.

For the retailers, however, they like face-to-face, it's their bread and butter after all, plus they have potentially dozens of suppliers and that means dozens of portals, emails, updates and Zoom calls to get through - and the onus is on them to do it.

So it's time consuming AND the volume of information coming this way means that they may miss important updates such as price changes or stock availability.

Andy caught up with a few key suppliers to ask them what they think. Is there still a role for the rep on the road, and how do you get important messages across when the inbox is so noisy…

But do retailers agree? We ask them too....

What do you think? Email Andy at andrewdavies@taylistmedia.com or find him on LinkedIn here

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