The Changing Product Landscape – Kitchen & Bath Design News

CHICAGO — Kitchen and bath design professionals, facing inflationary pressures, lingering supply chain issues, brand-insistent consumers and other market headwinds, have increasingly been embracing alternative product lines – a several-year trend that, while seemingly moderating, is expected to continue in the foreseeable future.

Kitchen and bath space planners, at the same time, are apparently relying on a widening range of factors – including availability, price, supplier reputation and recommendations from colleagues – when making decisions about the products they recommend and specify for the remodeling and new construction projects they design and sell. Their relationships with independent and factory sales reps also play a key role in decisions to change or retain product lines, they report (see related Editorial, August 2024).

Those are among the most insightful findings of a nationwide survey conducted by Kitchen & Bath Design News in conjunction with its exclusive research partner, Houston-based Bryan Research. The online survey, fielded in May, involved 200+ kitchen and bath dealers, designers, remodelers and other product specifiers across a broad spectrum of company sizes, specialties and market niches.

According to the survey’s findings, a considerable percentage (66%) of the design pros polled said that, in the past two years, they’ve specified or recommended a product brand that they’d never specified or recommended before. The average number of alternative product brands specified in that time span was 4.4. In contrast, only 34% of those polled said that they’d remained completely loyal to longtime product brands in the past two years (see Figure 1).

In a similar vein, a significant percentage (24%) of those surveyed report that they’re more likely than ever in the next 12 months to specify or recommend an alternative product brand they’ve never specified or recommended before. Only about 10% say they are less likely to do so, while about two-thirds say the likelihood of them shifting to alternative product brands in the next year is roughly the same as ever (see Figure 2).

Of those who specified an alternative product brand in the past two years, kitchen cabinets (37.1%), bathroom vanities (35.3%) and countertop surfaces (35.3) are among the most likely alternative products to have been specified, although a wide range of additional product categories – including kitchen/bath sinks and faucets, flooring, lighting, appliances and hardware – were also impacted (see Figure 3).

A similar mix of product categories are in play regarding alternative product brands likely to be specified in the next 12 months, survey respondents reported.

Decision-Making Factors

According to the survey’s findings, there are myriad factors that design pros consider in their decisions to specify or recommend a product brand that they’ve never specified or recommended before.

Most significant among those decision-making factors are persistent quality- or factory-related issues with a former product line. Other factors impacting a change to an alternative product brand include more advantageous pricing, the reputation of an alternative supplier, recommendations from colleagues and client preference for a particular product brand (see Figure 4).

Similarly, clients themselves play a key role in roughly half of product decisions, insisting on a particular product brand for about half the kitchen/bath remodeling projects surveyed design pros undertake, regardless of the designers’ recommendations, the KBDN survey found.

A designer’s relationship with a product supplier’s in-house or independent sales rep is also seemingly integral to the product-buying decisions of kitchen and bath design professionals. Indeed, when asked how important suppliers’ independent or in-house sales reps are to product-buying decisions, a whopping 89.9% reported that sales reps are either “very important” or “somewhat important.” In contrast, only 10.1% said the reps are “not very important” (see Figure 5). Roughly the same percentages were reported regarding the impact of sales reps on designers’ decisions to continue carrying a company’s product. 

However, while the majority of those surveyed (73.3%) report that they’re in contact with either all or some of their manufacturers’ independent or in-house sales reps enough to satisfy their needs, a significant percentage (26.7%) say those reps do not call on them enough, and only a scant 19% say that all their sales reps call on them enough.

Other Survey Findings

Design professionals, as in the past, play a critical role in clients’ decisions to include a particular product brand in a kitchen or bathroom remodel, the KBDN survey revealed. As if to underline that finding, more than 97% of the space planners surveyed reported that their influence is either “very important” (62.4%) or “somewhat important” (34.7%) when it comes to the product brands that are ultimately decided upon by clients. By comparison, less than 3% of survey respondents reported that their influence on consumer product decisions is “not very important” (see Figure 6).

In a similar vein, some 90% of those responding to the survey reported that they either “often” or “occasionally” change a client’s mind about a specific brand, while only 10% said that they rarely do so.

Brand name is either “very important” or “somewhat important” in most (82.4%) client decisions regarding product selection, according to surveyed design pros. In contrast, only 17.6% of those surveyed say brand name is not very important (see Figure 7).

About half the clients they serve either “often” (2.4%) or “occasionally” (45.9%) insist on a specific product brand when the designer recommends a different brand. The other half of their clients rarely do, survey respondents said.

A considerable number of survey respondents reported that they often (30%) or occasionally (60%) change a client’s mind about a specific brand to include in a project. Only 10% said they rarely do.

In Other Survey Findings:

• Clients are apparently playing a more active role now than in past years when it comes to determining (or shopping for) the products that kitchen and bath designers specify in their projects. Indeed, 70.6% of those surveyed said that their clients are more involved in product selection compared to the past few years. Less than 30% said their clients’ role in product selection is roughly the same as in the past.
• Roughly one-third of those surveyed reported that they would specify a product brand they don’t currently offer if a client insisted on using it. Only about 7% said they would not. Another 30.4% said their decision would depend upon the particular client, while 29.8% said it would depend upon other factors. 
• 16.5% of those surveyed reported that they’re more likely now than ever to shift to an alternative distribution channel to obtain a particular product. By comparison, 17.6% of survey respondents said they are less likely than ever to change a distribution channel, and 65.9% reported they are as likely for the foreseeable future as in past years to utilize the same product-distribution channel.