Left to right: CEO Richard George, head of marketing and product Kim Cooper and head of retail customer experience Brett Jenkinson

Distribution has had its recent share of issues, with administrations, consolidation and brands previously sold through distribution, opting to sell direct.

But PJH mustn’t have received the memo, having recently made a multi-million pound investment into a flagship distribution centre, with purpose-built showroom.

Measuring 205,000sqft, it is double the size of its Cannock branch, which it has replaced, and having taken 14 months to complete, it now positions the company for further growth.  “We’ve racked this currently for circa   20,000 pallets. It can hold more. This is all about growth. Our view is this gives us around five years’ growth”, says CEO Richard George.

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Against the backdrop of an uncertain market, he states: “The market is challenging. The economy is tough, with increasing costs of doing business, but the bathroom market is big.”

Bathroom focus

The £175m business supplies bathrooms as well as kitchen appliances, sinks and taps,  to independent and national retailers, alongside housebuilders.

Located in Wolverhampton, the distribution centre is twice the size of its Cannock depot, which it replaces, and features a showroom

But it is bathrooms which is a growth story for the distributor, accounting for 70% of its business.

CEO Richard George states: “In retail, if I look over the last five years in our bathroom sales we’ve grown 200%.”

And PJH points to industry reports which suggest steady – albeit single digit – growth of the bathroom market.

Head of marketing and product Kim Cooper states: “People are still willing to do bathroom projects and updates to give the space a new look and feel.”

And PJH is positioned to serve a wide range of budgets with its Bathrooms to Love showroom offer and trade-focused Bathroom to Go, positioned at an accessible price.

“We are really passionate about the quality of our products. Even our entry level products in our Bathrooms 2Go collection  are quality  products at  great prices – such as the 2GO rimless WC with soft-close seat”, adds Kim Cooper.

Branded and own bathrooms

The additional distribution space has enabled PJH to introduce “hundreds” of new products in its Bathrooms to Love collection.

The Distribution Centre features a trade showroom for its retail customers, featuring its Bathrooms to Love Collection

“We were probably slightly constrained in the latter years of Cannock”, says Kim Cooper, adding “and we’ve got one of our biggest launches coming up for Spring/Summer, including Fitted Furniture in wall-hung and floorstanding versions.”

As part of its portfolio, PJH has also become an exclusive distributor for Abode’s Focus 60 Bathroom Collection and Fibo.

Kim Cooper comments: “Fibo is a complementary range, as we didn’t have wall panelling.

“We’ve worked with Abode on its sinks and taps. We have a really good relationship with them and the Focus 60  bathroom offer is quite different to the products we have within Bathrooms to Love.”

Has PJH felt pressure to seek out suppliers for exclusive partnerships in such a competitive market?

Richard George says: “I think it’s more the other way around. They want the exclusivity because of our service.

“You both have to win out of a partnership, which sometimes leads you down an exclusivity route.

“Suppliers have more exclusive relationships with a distributor because they can have more debate about how they jointly service customers.”

Commenting about the prospect of more exclusive distribution partnerships, Richard George adds: “We don’t want to be just a collection of brands.

“That doesn’t mean we won’t have more brands in the future, but they need to fit, strategically, and offer differentiation for our customers.”

Added value service

At the heart of the  business is product availability, and PJH offers next-day delivery for 93% of UK postcodes.

Racked for around 20,000 pallets, the warehouse can be configured to hold more product when required, and provides next-day delivery to 93% of UK

“We hold anywhere between £25million-£30million worth of stock across the business. Product availability is key.

“Customers want to call, get it next day, and know it’s a great product. Now they want you to take product to their customers’ homes. So service is so much more important”, explains Richard George.

The focus on enhanced service also translates into communications, for partners and consumers. Its Bathrooms to Love consumer website has reported an 180% growth in traffic and PJH has recently expanded its Augmented Reality, so consumers can see how its bathroom will look in their own home.

Kim Cooper adds: “We’ve got our Partners Portal, which is our b2b website, which is fundamental to customer service.

“Not only can they transact on there, but they can check stock levels. They can make payments, check paperwork and track deliveries, so customers have full traceability of their order.”

It all helps form a partnership with its customers, as Richard George adds: “You’ve got to be innovative not just in product but how you work with customers.

“Some of that is the portal, some of that is how we trade with them in commercial terms and how you interact.

“Anybody can negotiate customers down to make more money, but that’s not long long-lasting and we want to work with our partners over the long term”, with Kim Cooper highlighting the company’s philosophy of “together we’re better”.

Costs to business

But with the unavoidable hike in National Insurance contributions (NIC) and inflationary price increases, impacting the industry, will it mean passing on costs to its customers.

Employing 570 people across the business, Richard George says the NIC cost runs into several hundreds of thousands of pounds.

“We will have to look at how we’re pricing things but we’re always doing that.

“We’ve got to look for more efficiencies in our business, but again we’re always doing that, and then there’ll be more pressure on us to drive more top line sales.”

He adds: “Even if people put prices up this year it won’t necessarily just be National Insurance, there are also inflationary pressures of the last couple of years.”

Instead, Richard George believes the company’s biggest challenge will be maintaining sales growth: “I genuinely think we’re a fantastic place, so how do we keep moving the dial? Our strategy is trying to grow by 10% per annum profit.”

Market share opportunities

Re-iterating the “enormous” size of the bathroom market, Richard George says the opportunity is gaining share, by finding new retailers and encouraging more members of buying groups to trade with the company.

PJH has the ambition to become bathroom retailers’ first choice

“Our competitors do some really good things, so how do we how do we turn their customer’s head to trade with us? It’s as simple as that from my perspective in retail.”

But the ambition for PJH is not to be the UK’s Number One distributor as Richard George states: “You can always say we want to be the number one distributor but what’s your definition of that?

“We want to be first choice with our customers and first choice for our employees. They can define whether we are number one.”