Better Bathrooms Beats The Recession

In times of deep recession, it is often difficult to find any positive news stories in the retail industry, with so many companies struggling to keep their heads above the water and fight off the growing need to make huge cut backs. However, even in these recent periods of financial uncertainty, there is still one retailer out there providing resurgence against the recession.

Better Bathrooms.com, an online supplier of bathroom suites, fixtures and fittings to the consumer market, has remained largely unaffected by the global economic crisis. In fact, in the past 2 years, the company has been in its largest growth period since it was founded nearly 10 years ago. Its managing director, Colin Stevens, is still a fledging in the eyes of the business world at only 30, but he has somehow managed to find the recipe for success, in what many financial experts are labelling as the worst recession the UK has seen for decades.

To put some facts and figures on the table, the company is 300% up on where it was in 2008, and as a result of this unbelievable growth, staffing numbers have increased from just 5 to 70. That’s 65 new staff in the space of just 2 years; figures that any retailer would be proud of in a normal financial climate, but to achieve that when the country is under huge strain, is simply astonishing. Not only do the staffing increases reflect Better Bathrooms’ own remarkable success, but they have also provided a significant boost to the otherwise, struggling local economy.

Although predominantly an online business, when the company was first established, to coincide with the launch of its online site, www.betterbathrooms.com, a physical showroom was opened in Colin’s home town of Wigan, Lancashire. This store remains open today and is the basis for Better Bathrooms’ ‘clicks and mortar’ strategy, offering both online and offline retail outlets to its consumers. This strategy was further developed, when at the beginning of 2009, Better Bathrooms opened a brand new store in Warrington, reaching out further to its offline customers. Although this may have seemed like bad timing with a recession looming, the store has had an unprecedented level of success in its first year. Whilst it seems every other shop on the high street is closing down, Better Bathrooms is planning to launch even more stores in the very near future and have said to ‘watch this space’.
So, how has all this been achieved? Well, Better Bathrooms’ own company slogan of ‘Better Prices, Better Service, Better Bathrooms’ may go some way in providing an explanation. Their online product portfolio offers customers designer products at discounted prices. These discounted prices aren’t just from the occasional sale here and there, they are constantly offering some of the lowest prices to be found online. This perhaps is the reason, why in a recession, they have been performing so well. When consumers have less and less money in their pockets every week, price becomes an even more important factor than ever before when making purchasing decisions. With Better Bathrooms offering quality products cheaper than any of their competitors, why would a consumer shop elsewhere?

However, it’s not just about the low prices and quality products, their slogan also highlights ‘Better Service’, something Better Bathrooms are obviously investing heavily in, with a dedicated UK based call centre. Providing a great service online is so important compared to offline due to the ease for consumers to quickly switch their allegiance elsewhere with the click of a button. Without a strong service backbone, it is unlikely Better Bathrooms would be where they are today, something their managing director certainly emphasises.

"Compare us to our competitors and you’ll find we offer the best products at the best prices, with the best level of service. We have a young, dynamic team behind us who all strive to ensure our customers are given the service and support they would expect as consumers themselves. It is this mentality, combined with our stunning range of products and great prices that has made Better Bathrooms the success it is today and in the future".