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 Wickes Kitchens & Bathrooms!

Overview of Wickes – August 2024

Company Overview: Wickes is a prominent British home improvement retailer that has served customers for over four decades. Established in 1972, the company started as a single store in Whitefield, Manchester, with the goal of providing building materials at competitive prices. Wickes initially focused on selling products to the trade but soon expanded its offerings to cater to the general public.

Over the years, Wickes grew rapidly and became known for its wide range of DIY products, building materials, tools, and home improvement services. The company focuses on supplying homeowners, contractors, and DIY enthusiasts alike. Today, Wickes operates over 230 stores across the UK.

In 2000, Wickes became part of the Travis Perkins Group, a leading UK supplier of building materials and home improvement products. However, in 2021, Wickes was demerged from Travis Perkins and became a standalone publicly traded company on the London Stock Exchange. The company’s headquarters are in Watford, Hertfordshire, and it continues to thrive as a key player in the home improvement sector.

Wickes offers a comprehensive range of bespoke kitchen and bathroom design services, including installation through its network of 230 stores.

Financial Performance: It’s hard to detangle Wickes bespoke kitchen and bathroom sales from its general business, however in 2023 they reported a slight decline in revenue to £1.55 billion, a drop of 0.6% compared to the previous year, although they appear to have clawed that back in the first half of 2024.

Customer Perception: Wickes has an OK customer reputation according to Trustpilot with 3.8 out of 5 stars from 46,550 reviews.

Wickes generally has a positive customer reputation, particularly for offering good value for money and catering well to trade professionals through its TradePro scheme. The company has also achieved high customer satisfaction scores, especially in areas like Click & Collect and home delivery.

However, some challenges exist, including issues with customer service, product availability, and delays in installation services.

Website: Their website is not a great frontend as their kitchen and bathroom showcase’s are buried in their main online store. However once you find them the kitchen section is very good and although the prices are missing instore the website does show great examples including finish options all priced. The website definitely makes up for the lack of instore information.

Social Media Presence:

• YouTube: 81.5k subscribers and 255 videos, featuring all their offerings including kitchen and bathroom designs and TV style ads with a few of their older ‘how to’ videos getting well over 1m views while their later ones get, on average, less than 2k. Videos were uploaded regularly but they seem to have neglected YT now with their last video being over 4 months old.
• Instagram: 77.6k followers and 993 posts, showcasing all of their products and special offers with mostly low interaction, although they do post regularly and some of their competition posts do get good interest.
• Facebook: 209k followers and 174k likes regular posts products and offers with low engagement.

Finance Offers: For retail customers Wickes offer 4 years interest free credit on their bespoke kitchen and bathroom products. The finance offer is only available on dry-fix installations.

Guarantees: Wickes guarantees its cabinets, drawer runners and hinges for 20 years and its door and drawer fronts for 10 years.

Showroom Visit August 2024: I’ve used my local Wickes for many years for hardware items and the occasional bag of cement but I’d never really considered them as a credible kitchen & bathroom designer retail showroom, more of a supply only outlet mainly for builders, but that’s probably because I’m from the trade.

My local store is a bit rough, it’s been there for as long as I can remember and I thought I knew it well. The car park has the obligatory layer of cement and sand dust over it due to people splitting bags as they load them into their vans and cars, from the now abandoned flat-bed trolleys, that strewn the car park.

As I walk through the doors into the store I’m greeted by all the special offer items they have for builders and DIYers, like masking tape, mixing buckets and a pallet of tiles.

To my right is the main building materials and products area and tills and in front of me is a freestanding bathtub on a wooden pallet and behind that is the kitchen display area. The first display is a modern handled glossy design nicely finished and lit but it looks a little, well exposed under the bright lights and high industrial ceiling of the superstore.

I walk through the displays and although there’s no natural flow to the showroom I find myself next to a nice traditional shaker style display which looks on-trend with a dark green/grey satin finish and solid brass handles, there’s an island and has quartz worktops. There’s (upto 50% off installation) signs throughout and the display is nicely dressed.

As I’m looking over the kitchen design I get a friendly “can I help you” from a desk I hadn’t seen behind a glass panel, it’s the salesman/designer and I ask him how much a kitchen like this would cost to which he says “that would be silly as I couldn’t say, every kitchen is different”, fair enough, so ask, “roughly, how much is this one”? He answers by telling me that this is not the way to buy a kitchen and that what I require is one of their free kitchen designs and he offers to arrange a home visit. I politely refuse the visit but I ask about the installation offer, he says that it is a genuine offer as they have fixed prices for their install service.

He says the process is that they will visit your home measure and discuss your ideas, then invite you back into the showroom a week or so later to view the 3D design. Once you place your order, (they offer 0% finance) one of their installers (I asked if he was employed by Wickes and he said yes), would visit your home and double-check everything will work. After that a date will be set for installation, normally around 4-5 weeks from order, On installation they will remove the old kitchen (they won’t plaster walls or build anything or tile) and fit the new one and plumb it in.

He seemed pretty confident in the process and knowledgeable, however I get the feeling you won’t be getting a cutting-edge design. He hands me a nice glossy brochure and his business card and I continue my way around the showroom.

There’s actually a lot of kitchens on display showing different styles, doors, finishes and worktops. The appliances seem to be a mixture of NEFF, BOSCH, CDA, ELECTROLUX and AEG and once you get under the mezzanine it’s actually quite nice and cosy.

The bathroom display area seamlessly joins onto the kitchen display area, but where the kitchen displays were quite nice, the bathroom area is awful with uninspiring with grubby looking displays that have items missing, it really needs a refresh.

As I walk through the rest of the store I see the ‘take-away’ flat pack ‘lifestyle’ kitchen area, there’s a couple of kitchens on display, they look OK but really low quality and very cheap looking, obviously this is a different market.

The staff in general seem really nice as I head out of the store and back to my car to find a trolley pushed against the passenger door that someone has abandoned.

Conclusion: I know, Wickes is not really a place that you would think of as competition to an independent kitchen or bathroom showroom, but, they are and whether a consumer buys direct from them or through their installer they do have the mid-lower market pretty well covered.

I was surprised at the depth of product on display, well kitchens anyway, and the installation offer, however like most nationals they can’t supply a full turnkey solution as they won’t take on anything other than fitting the kitchen.

It was a bit frustrating that there were no prices, not even a guide or relative price, so I don’t know how much or where they sit in the market pricewise, nor how one style compared to another on price.

The brochure is nice but not very informative and I suppose that’s because it’s just a style or ideas book to get you started, they really want you to use the design service.

The sales/designer seemed knowledgeable and wasn’t ‘in my face’ but gave me enough information to begin my kitchen journey.

Their social media presence is OK but it’s so unfocused as they are promoting everything they offer not just kitchens and bathrooms.

They have a great kitchen website, once you find it amongst their online store.

I think the overall experience was fine although I did feel as though everything was very much on the lower end, quality and cost wise and I would have expected a Wickes kitchen or bathroom installation to be at the lower end of the market. The displays, (kitchens not bathrooms) lacked any feel of quality or design flair, but I guess that’s what you’d expect from a shed.

From this example I feel that bathroom showrooms have little to worry about when it comes to Wickes bespoke bathroom service.

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.