Summary
¦ To reach architects and specifiers W Howard has taken a display at London’s Building Centre.
¦ The company sees fully-finished mouldings taking market share.
¦ RMI and retail are becoming more significant markets.
¦ Bar coding and shrink wrapping are key for ease of display and handling.

The mouldings sector has faced tough market conditions and making predictions for the future is a daunting task. But, to get through difficult times, innovation and forward thinking remain key, and marketing and promoting products are more important than ever.

Despite the market background, customers, and particularly architects and other specifiers, remain open to new and innovative products and there are still new ways of putting products in front of them. In fact the opportunities that can be generated are endless.

For instance, targeting specifiers is one of our reasons for exhibiting at London’s Building Centre – a prime location for presenting products to this market. The initial idea came from merchant customer feedback on the need to raise greater new products awareness and present their benefits to market.

The static display sits within an exhibition gallery and allows visitors to browse products and enquire for further information. The interest generated is then fed back, enabling us to send tailored marketing information on new products to potential customers and specifiers.

The exhibition has now been in the Building Centre for four months and has already generated significant interest, especially in our newer product ranges. And all live enquiries are passed on to a merchant nearest the project location.

The display, although static, can be refreshed and updated periodically with new product information, providing ongoing opportunities to present new ideas and respond to latest trends and fashions.

Moving with the times

The need to update this showcase is growing all the time. Like many products, MDF mouldings have developed as fashions have changed in home styling, moving from more ornate profiles, such as Victorian or Georgian styles, to simpler contemporary designs like rounded one edge and square edge and grooved. With the vast array now available we may not see anything revolutionary in style terms emerging in the immediate future.

But while the industry may not be making any huge movements in profile design, it continues to move with the times in terms of manufacturing and materials.

In our opinion, fully-finished products are the ones to watch for the future. The market is definitely moving more towards RMI and retail and this move will see the need for traditional merchants increasingly to supply products shrink-wrapped and bar coded.

Installation

The industry is also always looking at ways to improve the speed of fitting and installing products and to minimise waste, labour time and handling. Products supplied fully finished and ready to install will allow just that. Growth through other routes to market, such as the internet, will also enhance the need for products packaged for delivery and ready to install.

A good example of the latest products we now produce are our new adjustable door lining and casing sets. The benefits of these to our merchant customers are that one door lining or casing suits eight different door sizes. This, in turn, allows greater flexibility and reduction in stock holding. The benefit to the end user is that the product arrives securely packaged and simply needs the head to be cut on site to suit the required door width.

Looking further into the future, as well as an increasing demand for pre-finished products which will reduce on-site installation times, products manufactured in a veneer or laminate will also be presented in a wider range of colours and finishes – and in both unfinished and pre-finished forms.

And the future of the mouldings market will see further new product and market development as it continues to respond to changing customer and consumer requirements. As fashions change we will see new trends in home designs and this, in turn, will increase the importance of marketing to raise new product awareness.

Standing still will not be an option.