To kick off the first of a series of interviews with senior people in the flooring industry, we talked to F. Ball’s very own David Hibbert to get his take on where the flooring industry is at the moment, what he thinks the future has in store and, what role the company’s eNewsletter will play in keeping contractors and the wider market up to date with what’s going on.
Ed: Hello David, turning those questions on their head, can we start with an overview of the eNewsletter; what’s its role and what can people expect?
DH: The idea for the eNewsletter came about because we wanted to be able to communicate more directly with contractors, not just about the latest products and new developments that might be helpful to them, along with the special loyalty scheme offers we run, but also about what is going on in the industry to give people some idea of how they’re faring in comparison with their peers, and how industry leaders see the future panning out. A lot of it will be stuff that might make their jobs easier and more productive, give them a better understanding of what we do and why, and also give them a bit of industry insight than we glean from our many conversations and interactions with people across the industry and the country – insights that might provide a bit of context in evaluating how their own businesses are operating.
Hopefully, it will also be entertaining, informative, and might draw some feedback that we can use to make it even better and more relevant to contractors.
Ed: So what can we expect to see in the next few issues?
DH: As you’ll see from the first issue, we kick off with an industry survey, which reflects a nationwide view of confidence gradually returning to the flooring market, and the launch a regular ‘product of the month’ item, which aims to pick out interesting or unusual installations that have a story behind them.
We’ve also got a couple of interesting product snippets, lifting the lid on things you might not know about our products, and we’ll also have the first of a series of ’60 second interviews’ with someone an industry personality.
Ed: So, picking up on the industry survey, do the results tally with your reading of how the industry is doing?
DH: Very much so. In contrast with the stories of global unease reported by the national, mainstream media, the flooring industry is probably reflective of the UK economy in that it is showing an overall gentle upward trend, although not one that is shared equally across all parts of the country.
As you might expect, London and the South East is by far the strongest performing area, with northern regions not yet feeling the same levels of confidence, but still with a positive outlook.
Ed: And what can the industry expect for the year ahead and beyond?
DH: As a company we are very optimistic that things will continue to improve. Throughout the recession we continued to invest in R&D and product development to make sure we could deliver the types of products contractors need. That’s something we’ll continue to do and we’ll be unveiling some new additions to the range later in the year.
The biggest change we’ve seen in products over the last few years is a move towards floor preparation products that work faster and allow contractors to maximise their productivity. We’ve also seen more specialised products being introduced, such as Stopgap 1200 Pro, which have certainly struck a chord with contractors.
Hopefully, the commercial benefits that these products deliver, in terms of contractors being more competitive when business is tight, will also help them to benefit from any upturn in business by being able to get through bigger workloads more quickly and translate that into higher turnover and profit.
Ending on that upbeat note, thanks to David for the first ‘In conversation with’ in the series, and we look forward to the next issue, where we’ll have another interview with a leading industry figure.