July/August 2022

Contract Retail Therapy Talk
WHY PREMIUM PRODUCTS ARE KEY
TO YOUR GROWTH
In the first of a new series of columns from Listers, Group MD Roy Frost explains why
premium products should be high up on your agenda if you want to grow your company...
The window and door industry is great at
reinventing itself. Colour, foils and flush
systems are a big part of the current
reinvention of PVC-U windows and doors.
It’s worth remembering for a moment that pre-2011,
PVC-U flush casements didn’t exist; The Residence
Collection revolutionised window and door design.
Flush casements are now a very familiar, if not
quite assuming the status of a ‘standard product’.
I’d argue among them R9 and the Residence
Collection is still the standout flush casement
window, something which is a credit to Dan Gill’s
vision more than a decade ago.
Designed way before the current round of revisions
to Part L, with nine chambers, it still comfortably
meets requirements for new build as well as home
improvement, with U-values as low as 0.84W/m 2 K
and A++ Window Energy Ratings.
R7 does the same in a 75mm system. These are
top performing products in a premium tier of the
PVC-U market.
With Timeless, our third flush PVC-U casement, we
offer each in a mitred or traditional 90 butt joint.
In fact, we’ve doubled sales of Residence
Collection products in the last 12 months,
redefining the layout of our factory to allow us to
meet increased demand by doubling the space
allocated to our premium PVC-U lines.
The growth that we’re seeing in aluminium is also
exciting. We’ve been manufacturing Reynaers for
some time but added Sheerline to our range at the
beginning of this year carrying its complete Prestige
offer, including its installation time-saving bi-fold.
Residence Collection, Timeless, Sheerline,
Reynaers – it all adds up to what we see as a very
comprehensive premium offer.
Listers Group MD
Roy Frost
We can also colour match standard colours
across our PVC-U ranges on the same lead times,
including agate-grey-on-white.
This premium offer becomes more important
now going into a period when it appears that the
market is becoming less buoyant.
The pandemic (supply chain disruption aside),
and the ensuing home improvement boom, made
it comparatively easy to make money for most of
2020 and 2021.
As furlough cash has dried up and the costof-living
crisis has hit home, those impulse
purchases which drove sales during consecutive
lockdowns have disappeared.
Instead, what we’re seeing is a clear divide
between people for whom inflation is noticeable
but ultimately won’t change their behaviours, and
those who are now really struggling and have to
reign in their spending.
It’s not so much a contraction but a redefinition
of the market, putting increased focus on
premium products.
And the incentives to spend on home
improvements are now even greater if you
still have the cash to invest – and believe me,
people do.
There are lots of homeowners out there who have
either delayed improvements because it’s been
difficult to pin down a good contractor because
they’ve been so busy, or have perhaps delayed
works in the hope of a better deal.
Energy price increases are also influencing the
market. They represent a double-edged sword for
the window and door industry.
With average bills hitting £2,000 per year and
forecast to hit £2,300 this autumn, energy wholesale
price increases have been a root cause of inflation.
At the same time they deliver a very clear
incentive to make energy efficient home
improvements. If you have the cash, spending
money on new windows and doors to lower your
energy costs is simply logical.
And if you’re in the bracket where inflation isn’t really
hurting you too much and you’ve decided to invest in
your property, it is likely that aesthetics are going to
be as equally important to you as energy savings.
That makes premium products doubly important
in supporting future growth in retail and on two
distinct fronts – energy efficiency and aesthetics.
The products that we offer – Residence Collection,
Timeless, Reynaers and Sheerline – deliver against
each and are available from us on the same lead
times.
You can also hear Roy explain why there is such
demand for high-end products, along with why Listers
is investing heavily in machinery, on Glaze Tube. View
here: http://glaze-tube.co.uk/investment-growthat-listers/
Contact Listers:
01782 391900
www.listerwindows.co.uk/
@ListerTF
14 T I JULY/AUGUST 2022 PRACTICAL CONTENT FOR THE GLAZING INSTALLER & HOME IMPROVEMENT SPECIALIST