Bathroom trends for 2022
The bathroom market in the UK saw demand explode during 2021, which helped drive the specification for high quality, German-made components. Bohle’s Dave Broxton believes this change in consumer behaviour shouldn’t come as a surprise.
What will be concerning for many companies is if this shift in demand can’t be met by the current inventories.
“We worked closely with our customers for many years, and we have seen the market grow for bigger products, with components that are better engineered and made from better quality material,” says managing director of Bohle, Dave Broxton.
“As a result, we have adjusted our ranges accordingly, so that we are providing not only what homeowners want, but which are in stock, are straightforward to install, and are unlikely to result in call-backs.”
One popular recurring theme that has caught Dave’s eye is the trend for black industrial hardware, including ancillary components that create a Crittall style installation. Bohle’s product range includes a black anodised bar that can create that look, as well as the corresponding hardware, such as the Bilbao Premium HD shower fittings and Juna shower door hinge.
The recently launched Juna hinge not only promises to bring quality and class to the top end of the market, but also offers significant benefits to the installer, including the zero-position adjusting screw which is easily accessible and enables convenient adjustment.
“We are seeing larger bathroom products, which require quality hardware to fit,” continues Dave. “Tested to 100,000 cycles, the Juna shower door hinge is made from brass and stainless steel to help guarantee a long service life, and it has a load capacity of 50kg per pair.”
Bohle’s recently launched MasterTrack ST system for shower cubicle also caters for the high-end aspirations of homeowners improving their bathrooms to a high value – and heavy – standard.
“Accommodating glass thickness from 8mm to 12.76mm and maximum weights of up to 150kg, MasterTrack ST is ideal for those high-end projects where size and quality meet ease of installation and quality through-life performance,” says Dave. “As a result, you can deliver large and complex projects simply and easily, which gives you more margin.”
Bohle has seen an influx of interest from homeowners and installers turn to European suppliers – and away from the far east – for their bathroom products. The shift in consumer behaviour towards the quality end of the market is one reason for this. The other is surety of supply.
“We have relied for too long on low-cost supplies from China,” explains Dave. “That whole model came under real scrutiny when ships got held up at the Suez Canal, and when goods were delayed because shipping containers were in the wrong place.
“Bohle’s model is one that works, and one that has stood up to the pressures of the last two years: quality goods, fully tested, made in Germany, and ready for when you need them.”
Strategic stockholding, as well as investment in its own thoroughly tested quality products, has gone a long way to meeting the shift in consumer demand, according to Dave, but so too has a realisation that those changes have slowly been taking place for a number of years.
“If consumers are offered something that is demonstrably high value, then they are often prepared to pay a bit for the reassurance that comes with that high quality,” concludes Dave. “While this concept was already slowly percolating through the supply chain, it took the pandemic and corresponding supply issues to make it really hit home.
“People are not fools, and a race to the bottom on price does no-one any favours. By confidently supplying high quality, well-tested, German-made hardware, margin is built-in throughout the supply chain, and homeowners get the bathrooms they desire.”
