Bathrooms.com Moves 25% of Manufacturing to the UK

LONDON, July 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

British-based manufacturing is more cost effective, flexible and faster than overseas options for introducing new product ranges

Bathrooms.com announce they will start to manufacture 25 per cent of their products in the UK. The decision to move to domestic manufacturing means Bathrooms.com can now take products from design through to production in just six weeks, a timescale that overseas manufacturers were unable to match. This initial one-year investment is worth £2.5million to British manufacturers.

Local production will allow Bathrooms.com to be more responsive to customer demands and trends in the market place. It will also reduce the shipping times for the customer, meaning they will get their products delivered in less than HALF the time.

Bathrooms.com is projecting that it will increase revenues in their bathroom furniture category by 50 per cent within 12 months without increasing the costs to consumers. This will come from a combination of increasing sales in bespoke products and attracting new customers.

Key information:

• The initial contract will see Bathrooms.com spend £2.5 million with UK manufacturers over the next 12 months.
• All new products will be manufactured in the UK will use sustainable materials.
• The move will increase speed of delivery to customers; delivery from China normally takes six to twelve weeks whereas UK manufacturers can turn products around in one to two weeks.
• Design to manufacture process from China is typically six months, the same process can be done in under 6 weeks through domestic manufacturing
• The two factories being used are, Dash Virdee and Collexion located in the West Midlands, an area historically renowned for its industrial areas.

This initial investment will allow Bathrooms.com to fully test out the benefits of British manufacturing with the aspiration to move further work to UK soil in the next two years.  

Ian Monk, CEO and founder of the bathrooms.com, said:

"The home improvement market is highly competitive, with the internet shoppers can go virtually anywhere for the latest designs and trends Long gone are the days where one range would last a decade consumers want the latest designs at an ever quicker pace. Therefore it is important that we can turn around certain product ranges as quick as possible."

"There are a lot of talks surrounding the issue of British trade but businesses like ourselves cannot make changes simply to support our domestic trade. So while China is great for snap bangles and commodity products, certain high-end, high-design products you have to be there to ensure quality. By bringing our manufacturing to the UK, we shorten our supply chain and have greater management oversight. This will halve the time it will take us to design and ship a new range to our customers."

Bathrooms.com are not alone in this move, a study from the Manufacturing Advisory Service found that confidence among British manufacturing SMEs is at a 12-month high, with nearly two-thirds of companies questioned expecting to increase sales over the next six months.

Jax Art owner Dash Virdee, one of the UK suppliers for Bathrooms.com said: "As a result of the new business, we've been investing in new machines and we have had to recruit extra staff due to this contract alone with more almost certainly needed in the future. The new business also means the rest of the team feel more secure about their futures and are enjoying earning some extra money for their holidays with the overtime hours now available!"

Lucy Powell, buying director at Bathrooms.com, said:

"The decision to move manufacturing from China to the UK was a huge one. The process of curating new designs takes up to 6 months overseas, but we are able to bring several complete ranges to the market in under two months using British manufacturers. This allows us to be leaders in design rather than followers."

"The speed to market of new design changes in export pricing have meant that this was both a tactical and financial move that will also improve internal communications and customer service."

Powell added, "Understanding the pros and cons of both overseas and domestic and source products from both locations was the tipping point for the decision. Entry level products with low design cues are likely to be more effectively manufactured overseas but high end design which one wants to bring to market quickly has a number of advantages through British manufacturers."

AboutBathrooms.com

Bathrooms.com was founded in 2004 and have been providing the UK and Ireland with affordable bathroom design ever since. Bathrooms.com believe in nurturing long term relationships with designers and craftsmen to give customers good design at prices that will help them create more than they ever thought possible. Based in Watford, the Bathrooms.com team are on a mission to democratise good bathroom design.