The latest customer insights from Klober have identified price, availability and lead times as top priorities for merchants for the second year running.
According to the annual research from the roofing accessories company, which investigates how to better meet the needs of its merchant partners, 65% of respondents deem cost, lead times and availability to be most important when working with manufacturers. These factors came out on top in the previous survey, with them being ranked highest in 2022.
Cost was identified as the biggest worry for the 223 merchants surveyed. Anecdotally, individuals expressed concern about passing increased costs onto customers and felt that prices were prompting the trade to “shop around” more so than previously. Further research from Klober reinforced this feedback, with only 37% of installers now having a main supplier – that’s a 10% decrease since 2021.
Pauline Munley, Group Marketing and Strategy Director for components at Klober, said: “It’s clear that there are major concerns about economic uncertainty and customer retention. With the current landscape proving challenging, it’s crucial that manufacturers do their bit to support.
“We frequently review pricing across our ranges and the latest research has highlighted why this is so important.”
Klober says it has reviewed pricing across its range of components, benchmarking against industry standards while also communicating with suppliers to keep costs down. The roofing components manufacturer is also placing its salesforce at the centre of its processes.
Pauline added: “Communication is fundamental. Creating a clear line of communication between merchants and our sales team is vital. Particularly when it comes to availability and lead times, merchant partners need to be kept informed of any developments.
“We are also proud to be part of the BMI Group which enables us to retain more control over our end-to-end supply chain. Having a considerable number of manufacturing plants throughout Europe means we can be in full control of our manufacturing arrangements, at the same time as ensuring effective and consistent product supply.”
Indeed, the company asserts that control over manufacturing is of the utmost importance when it comes to protecting the supply chain for customers and ensuring products are readily available. As a result, it has committed to “always holding a minimum of six to eight weeks stock of all products” at its Castle Donington warehouse.
The space previously underwent a major expansion and re-configuration – which increased capacity by more than 50% – for optimum stock levels and ability to quickly introduce new product lines.
