As we near the end of the year and we review our performance over that period, I wanted to take a little time to reflect on how we have delivered against our key themes and on our overall performance as a UK and Irish business. At the start of 2022, we identified two themes to prioritise over the 12 months ahead – service and people.
Looking back over the year, it almost feels strange that we have had a “normal” year, at least compared to the two years before. However, we have continued to face the fallout from the pandemic and the issues that have been affecting everyone, like inflation and availability of components and raw materials which resulted in some significant product shortages. I am pleased to say, though, that over recent months we have seen major improvements in availability due to the hard work of many people and I am confident we will see further improvements in the months to come that will return us to more normal levels.
Service is not just about product availability, though. It is about end-to-end customer service and ensuring our various channels have a service proposition that works for each of them, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. To address this, several workshops and follow ups have taken place to develop these bespoke propositions and much progress has been made, but with still more to be done.
Now, onto the people side of things. During 2020 and 2021 we had periods where there was a freeze on recruitment and we also had a number of leavers which created a challenging time for everyone in many ways, so it has been wonderful to see so many new starters in 2022. We have brought onboard 61 new colleagues and it has been my pleasure to meet so many of you. I look forward to meeting the rest of you soon.
As well as being busy recruiting, we have also made some strides on development with the start of the 2022/23 Talent Programme and the launch of the training hub earlier this year to name just two. The latter is giving colleagues a hands-on learning experience with new product launches and the feedback we are getting is that this is giving them real confidence in their knowledge when they are talking to customers about these ranges.
We also commissioned The New Street Consulting Group to do an independent review around employee engagement and we are now in the process of turning thoughts into actions. I would like to say a big “thank you” to everyone for their input into the initial report and the engagement we have had so far in setting up the workstreams. We have already started the initial working groups this year and I’m looking forward to really delivering on them in 2023.
Re-starting the “Circle” meetings has also been brilliant for engaging with people across the business who may not normally have the opportunity to talk directly to me and other members of the Cluster Leadership Team. We have done four so far with more than 40 attendees in total, with many interesting and enjoyable conversations, and I’m looking forward to continuing these in the new year.
So, to summarise on people and service, we have made some progress towards our goals but there is much more to do and these will remain a key priority into 2023.
As well as working on the overarching people and service priorities, we have also focused on our core strategies of Reinforcing Our Foundations and Building New Strengths. Our core specification markets have shown a remarkably resilient performance this year, with many key project and developer wins, and are showing good growth against last year.
Some really impressive Atelier showrooms have been brought on board, including several “flagship” displays, which gives us more prominence in the retail channel we are re-engaging with after several years of focussing on other areas. Our range of Silk Black products is also really starting to get a foothold in the market.
The launch of i.life, one of the biggest franchises for a long time, has been a huge effort by lots of people across our business. Displays are now installed in merchants across the country, the marketing is in place and we are beginning to see our sales colleagues securing orders from these ranges.
Our export business continues to grow as we expand into new markets, including China and Taiwan, and e-commerce is showing solid growth. DIY has faced some challenges this year, particularly with B&Q, but offset by Screwfix going from strength to strength.
The outside environment has not been without challenges, including rampant inflation, energy costs, ocean freight delays, product availability, difficulty in recruitment, not to mention a number of our key customers changing ownership and significant customer destocking as they manage their cash targets.
Yet despite all of those challenges, we have a performance that has shown growth over 2021 and one we believe will be better than the market; a performance I think we can all be very proud of.
Thank you to everyone who has helped to make all of these new developments happen and for all of your hard work during 2022. It has been another year where the people of the business have worked tirelessly to overcome the challenges we and others in our industry are facing. To be here now, expecting to have outperformed the market, is a testament to your efforts and gives me great confidence as we look ahead to 2023.
I’d like to end by wishing every one of you a happy Christmas from myself and all the Cluster Leadership Team. Have a restful and enjoyable break with your friends and family, and I’ll see you all in 2023!