Retail specialist reports
15 per cent growth in first half of 2014
24th June 2014

Hampshire installer and home improvement specialist KJM Group has reported 15 per cent growth in the first half of this year.

Tapping into product innovation in the window systems sector to expand its own product range, meant that the turnover of the Andover-based retailer topped £3.2million last year – an almost 30 per cent increase on 2012.

Now employing 27 people including eight fitting teams, the G11 and G13 Awards Installer of the Year Finalist, has also seen investment in its online presence drive organic lead generation, supporting sustained growth to June.

Owner and Managing Director, Mark Pearce, said he was now confident that the window and door installer would sustain growth throughout 2014 and into the coming year.
He said: “Growth in the UK economy is releasing latent demand that built up during the downturn with homeowners showing a growing willingness to invest in home improvements.

“We have worked hard to build our brand reputation throughout the downturn, this has included building our presence online so that we were ready for the recovery and are now seeing a return on that activity with 35 plus leads a week, delivered through our website www.kjmgroup.co.uk .

“This has seen continuing growth with a 25 per cent increase in visitors to our website for the first half of 2014 compared year-on-year with 2013.

“We have also continued to invest in our product portfolio adding a number of new ranges, to make sure that we’re able to capitalise on that latent demand, with a particular focus on heritage ranges.”

This has included the addition of the Beaumont range from Dempsey Dyer and Residence 9 from Sternfenster, to exploit new consumer demand for flush casement and traditionally jointed windows in a low maintenance PVC-U window.
Mark continued: “The manual jointing used in Beaumont and Residence 9 ranges give the product a really strong traditional-timber aesthetic in a PVC-U window which we’re seeing a steadily growing demand for, especially among owners of character and period properties. We’re also selling a growing number of foiled and products and composite doors including the ever popular Solidor range.

“Consumers are looking for product quality and performance but also with it the right aesthetic, whether that’s in an aluminium or timber product, or in the replication of those aesthetics in a foiled PVC window or composite door.”
In addition to Beaumont and Residence 9, KJM also caries Veka and Profile 22 U-PVC window systems, wooden windows and doors, including vertical sliding and flush casement windows from Dempsey Dyer and aluminium products from Smart and Sapa.

Triple-glazing is again a growth area for KJM, as consumers look towards energy saving windows and doors. Supplying the 44mm Veka system to achieve an energy efficient triple glazed window with u-values as low as 0.8W/m².K.
KJM has also seen demand increase for conservatory and orangery hybrid products. Pearce addded: “While the housing market has recovered and is again seeing growth, a lot of people have decided to extend rather than move.
“Orangeries are a great but often out of people’s price range. Hybrid products, conservatory crossovers, for example the Ultraframe Livin Room, deliver that space but do so affordably and have huge consumer appeal.”

KJM Group also carries Ultraframe’s Loggia conservatory system as well as hardwood conservatory systems from Dempsey, to provide a fully comprehensive range of Edwardian, Victorian and lean-to conservatories, plus lantern roofs. KJM has also seen growth in sales of replacement roofs.

“Our focus has shifted to a full home improvement service. Whatever it is that our customers want, we have made sure that we have the flexibility in our product range to deliver it to them and have underpinned that with a commitment to quality and service.

“That’s all consumers want - the choice so that they get the right product for their property and to buy it from someone who treats them with respect and who takes pride in the job that they do. If you do that you’re reputation grows and the rest follows. It’s not about discounting, it’s about doing the job well.”

www.kjmgroup.co.uk