Time to look forward

Dan Sullivan, DoorCo MD, reflects on 2021 and talks to Glass Times about what 2022 has in store.

I think many of us ended 2021 with a sigh of relief.

For DoorCo, it was certainly a rollercoaster year: ee had the highs of successful product launches, delivered against the backdrop of a turbulent market; we gained new customers while battling global supply chain issues and being hit with component price increases from all sides; survival came down to sheer grit and determination; and our excellent team managed to navigate the business through the unprecedented situation to finish the year in a relatively good position, with stock on the shelves, increased market share, and our first G Award for the promotional campaign behind the launch of Gripcore and Flip.

All in all, we have emerged stronger with lessons learned and plans to realise.

In November, we revealed our new brand alongside a series of values that underpin the DoorCo brand: conscientious, committed, collaborative, considered, connected, consult, complete, and communicate.

This is not a marketing gimmick. It is based on the fundamental beliefs and behaviours we set back in the early days of the business. These values still underpin everything we do. Unfortunately, not all our new customers – those that have joined us during the pandemic – are as familiar with what we stand for as we’d like, and 2022 is the year to put this right.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m under no illusions that 2022 will suddenly be a bed of roses. It’s going to continue to be a tough market. There is no crystal ball to tell us what’s going to happen with consumer spending, and whether the home improvement boom will continue.

Those that endure will be those that focus on what they can control to remain competitive. One of the most important factors will be service. Underachieving on delivery and service is never something DoorCo wants to do but 2021 has been tough and it was, unfortunately, too often the case.

2022 will see DoorCo concentrating on delivering what our new brand promotes. In the early part of the year, we will focus on our service offering. We’ve experienced exponential growth to become a major player in the UK door market, and it’s very important for us to safeguard this position. The only way to ensure this is to make sure our customers are satisfied, and we have work to do on defining our service proposition ahead of the much-anticipated FIT Show.

The FIT Show will be happening in May and DoorCo will be exhibiting. When we first committed, we had new products to reveal, and although we’ve moved forward, Gripcore and Flip are still largely unseen by the wider market. But, the DoorCo message will go beyond displaying product aesthetics. We plan to be there in force to connect with our customers and help them understand what they can expect from DoorCo.

DoorCo is the only UK manufacturer to supply two types of composite door and their own glazing cassette system. We offer a fully comprehensive prepped door service that has undergone a production efficiency overhaul and seen big machinery investment, including additional CNC machines and paint lines. Alongside this, our distribution capability remains integral to the business. The service offering to our fabricator customers has evolved: it’s a multi-level, hybrid service that can flex to support the customer as they need, whether that is supporting manufacturing with painting or prepping or our ‘just-in-time’ delivery proposition, which is underpinned by integrated IT systems with zero paperwork.

We have developed an extensive marketing portfolio to aid our customers’ own door marketing and sales. But, most importantly, we start the year with a large stock-holding of doors and glazing cassettes that can be dispatched with good lead times.

There’s a lot to talk about, and we hope to see you there at FIT on stand Q11.