Samsung looks to “reconnect” with kitchen retailers, pushing its Kitchen Circle at kbb Birmingham in March 2022, and providing “blended” learning with a calendar of webinars throughout the year.

Channel manager of built-in appliances MDA Jonathan Hartley said: “We want to reconnect. We want to engage, and we want to get back in front of people.”

As part of these plans, Samsung is renewing its focus on Kitchen Circle retailers, who display its appliances, as the company felt lockdown prevented it from maximising on its relationship with trade partners.

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Jonathan Hartley commented: “We just don’t feel we’ve had the opportunity through lockdown to have that touchpoints that we would want.”

Samsung also plans to reach a wider audience at the trade show, as Hartley explains the programme of support was in its infancy at the last event: “Certainly at kbb, we want to push Kitchen Circle harder.

“It’s about letting retailers know what we do, how we do it and what assets we have to assist them to do it.”

He continued: “What we’re looking at is ensuring we have the best assets, the best training videos, the best engagement tools, the best videos that encompass our products, so we show Samsung in the best light, but also make it easy for the retailer.”

In addition, the company has expanded upon the three webinars it presented during the course of lockdown and now has dates throughout 2022.

The webinars will include features and benefits of the appliance brand to help retailers sell Samsung appliances to consumers.

Having been established in the UK built-in appliance market for four years, Hartley says Samsung has “far outstripped where we expected to be.”

And he attributes the growth to its trade partners stating: “I think a lot of that is down to the retailers – a desire for change, a desire for something different.”

However, Hartley indicated the company’s stock levels also helped, as he said: “We’ve felt a bit of pain around things like factories capacity to get the product into containers and the value of containers -but it still left us with product. It hasn’t left us with gaps everywhere.”

Hartley points out the company has grown share of showroom space and points to year-on-year growth through its national distributor Waterline, adding: “Certainly, as two businesses, we are very pleased with the performance that we forecast, and we are ahead of where we expected to be at this current part of our journey.”

Now the company has a desire to further grow its appliance business, with built-in a “major” focus for 2022.

Speaking about potential targets for the brand, Hartley explained: “Obviously we want to be number one, but we’ve got a lot of work to do to get there.

“If you’d asked me the question four years’ ago, where would we be today, I didn’t think we’d be as far forward as what we are.

“We’re hungry and the trajectory we are currently on is a lot faster than where we thought we would be.”