As Independent Kitchen, Bathroom, Bedroom showrooms we sometimes find it difficult to get out and check out the competition. In this series of posts I want to do this for you, taking an in-depth look at the national retailers that, whether we like it or not, are taking a lot of our customers money and attention. These companies have huge marketing budgets along with a high profile national presence which makes it hard for us to compete. If you are an independent KBB retailer and you need help to stand out with your marketing, online or traditional, please contact me today I’d love to help. terry@cloud3.co.uk 07747 016264

OK let’s take a look at Wren Kitchens!

Overview of Wren Kitchens – August 2024

Company Overview: Wren Kitchens is the UK’s largest kitchen retailer, operating over 110 showrooms across the UK. Founded in 2009, Wren designs, manufactures, and installs kitchens, with its manufacturing facilities located in Barton-upon-Humber, Scunthorpe, and Howden.

Financial Performance: For the fiscal year ending December 2022, Wren Kitchens reported a turnover of £1.06 billion, with a gross profit of £517 million and an operating profit of £112 million.

Customer Perception: Wren Kitchens enjoys a positive reputation, with a 4.5-star rating on Trustpilot from over 87,000 reviews. While customers praise the design and product quality, some have raised concerns about installation and after-sales service. Google Reviews also reflect this sentiment with similar ratings.

Wren offers extensive guarantees, including upto a 25-year warranty on cabinets and a 10-year warranty on doors.

Social Media Presence:

• YouTube: 10,300 subscribers and 369 videos, featuring kitchen designs, customer testimonials, and DIY tips with some of their older videos getting over 1 million views although their later ones get around 1k.
• Instagram: 212,000 followers and 2,457 posts, showcasing kitchen designs and customer projects with good interaction.
• Facebook: 133,000 followers and 122k likes regular organic posts of real life makeovers and showroom updates and offers.
• TikTok: 33,900 followers and 265k likes

Finance Offers: Wren Kitchens provides various financing options, including up to 7 years of interest-free credit, making it easier for customers to afford their dream kitchen, however this is only on their premium offering the regular product gets 5 years interest free all require a deposit is required.

Wren Kitchens is a market leader with strong financials, a broad showroom network, positive customer reviews, and competitive financing options, although post-installation service has some room for improvement.

Showroom Visit August 2024: My local store is, like most of Wrens stores, set on a busy out of town retail park, the front of this particular store is neat if a little uninviting from the outside but that’s possibly down to this retail park requiring modernising.

From the front it looks quite a small store, however once inside it is massive and makes up for the small frontage by being very deep.

As I enter the store I am greeted by a smart salesman/designer sitting on a stool behind a little desk, he, like every other member of staff is dressed in the standard Wren uniform of a green branded shirt and smart trousers. He asks me if I require help and I tell him ‘I’m just starting out and could I just have a look around the showroom’ I also ask if I can take some photos and he says ‘no problem and if I need any help just ask’.

The showroom displays are well laid out enticing you to explore and there’s a natural flow taking you from the more on-trend designs, through to a more budget area at the rear. There’s a massive selection of modern, traditional and classical options all displayed in ‘real world’ size areas and dressed appropriately and marketed with helpful information, I counted 27 plus full displays. Although not fully priced per display, each kitchen has a small plaque displaying an L shaped example of units with a price giving you a relative idea of pricing.

They offer 4 different kitchen options, the fully built Easy-Fit and Infinity ranges which both had lots of 18mm door and frontal options (Infinity has an extended range of doors) both utilising the same carcass. Then they have the Infinity Plus range their premium range which is fully bespoke and can be supplied with thousands of door and drawer options including hand painted with 18-22mm fronts. They also offer a flat-pack version of some of their ranges which can also be installed by their installation service, however the guarantee is slightly less.

After 10 minutes of looking the salesman/designer guy that had greeted me came over and asked my name and what type of kitchen I was looking for, I said I didn’t really know but could he give me an average price for a fully fitted kitchen from Wren? He said that on average you’d be looking at £15-20,000 for a fully fitted finished kitchen including appliances, tiles, work surfaces, everything. He said the best way to start was by using their free kitchen design package which included a home measure. I asked about time frames and he said delivery was 7 days for supply only (bespoke is 28 days) and fitted they were working on 4 weeks.

He handed me a leaflet which suggested Wren were 32% cheaper than Magnet, 46% cheaper than Wickes 16% cheaper than B&Q and 20% cheaper than Howdens included in the leaflet were the next step I needed to take to move the forward.

I asked about appliances, and he said there was no reason not to buy from them as they guarantee to be cheaper than anyone else online or off and they supply almost all brands including Neff, Rangemaster, SMEG and Miele. He then left me to look around some more.

The showroom is very impressive immaculately clean, including in the cupboards and drawers and pleasantly lit. There was lots of little touches like fake doors with built in TV screens showing information about that kitchen and promotions.

After about 20 minutes I had walked through the ground floor and was naturally led to the stairs (they had a lift) to the mezzanine floor above. This area had nicely displayed, worktop, handles,  door and finish options, sink variations and a brilliantly presented ‘clear front’ kitchen area showing all the internal storage options.

While I was upstairs I was asked by another sales lady/designer who was at her desk, if I needed help, I saw she had a design in front of her on the two large screens on he design station (there were probably 6-8 of these throughout the store) she said ‘of course’ and she showed me some fantastic previous designs she had completed for clients all perfectly rendered in real time 3D, I asked about the design package she was using she said it was Wrens own, it was very impressive and all running in a browser.

She said the best thing to do was to get them to come out and measure (they have a team dedicated to this) then they could send over the measurements directly along with socket placements etc and she could design our dream kitchen, all free of charge, usually takes a day or so. She gave me her details and said I should follow her on Instagram to see her work, she was very informative, and I actually didn’t feel like she was being pushy. She walked with me as I left the showroom handing me 3-4 brochures as I left.

I found out their installers are sub-contracted however the price can be included in the kitchen price, the installation is a dry-fit only so you would still need to get your own plasterer, tiler, electrician and plumber/gas fitter.

Their website is very good with a basic online planner, the website reflects the displays in the showrooms and the brochures.

Conclusion: This is a very slick operation and I can see why they have become the number one (in terms of kitchen sales) in the country. They’ve tried to cover everything and from this experience I can say they are a compelling option for the lower to mid-market consumer however they do have flaws and there are plenty of areas we can attack as independent kitchen retailers. However they are a major presence with a massive marketing spend and their physical geographic locations means they are a serious apex-predator that could really affect your business.

If you would like to discuss the flaws I’ve found and my strategies to allow you to compete as an independent please visit my website at www.cloud3.co.uk or drop me a line at terry@cloud3.co.uk or give me a call on 07747 016264.