Country leader of Grohe UK & Ireland said the business had been through change, strengthening in retail and taking market share.
Speaking at the opening of Grohe’s Specification Hub at the Business Design Centre in London, Chris Dodds stated: “We’ve gone through a lot of change, over the past couple of years, both as a brand and as a UK business.”
He stated Grohe has concentrated on making its product easy to buy and make margin, with the back-up of support, and now needed to better communicate the size and scale of its offer.
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“In retail, we’re in early days of strengthening our customer base and Grohe Spa, which was relaunched in Milan, will be a big part of that at the premium end”, Dodds stated.
He continued: “I’m very conscious, from a retail perspective, they need to make margins, especially nowadays, and a service level that means we are easy to deal with, and the path of least resistance.
“Customers have been receptive about what we’re doing. It’s been a busy couple of years but we’re in a good place.
“In 2025.2026, retail is a big part of our plans”, he added.
Talking about the overall progress of Grohe UK, Dodds stated: “We’re having a good year; we’re growing. The market seems to be slightly down, so we’re taking share.”
As a multichannel bathroom business, Dodds reported the business was growing well through merchant and retail channels, as well as projects, especially hospitality.
“It is one of the reasons we wanted to have this space”, he said, talking about its appointment-only Specification Hub for designers, specifiers and architects.
Dodds explained the hub would be used for events, training and product launches, and run by its sales and projects team.
Taking a year to come to fruition, it held a soft launch during hotel design exhibition – Hix.
The hub features Grohe’s core collections for the projects sector, including Cubeo, the Rapido shower frame and fittings from Grohe Spa range, as well as seats by Mater made from its recycled flush plates.
Explaining why it opted to open the space at the Business Design Centre rather than Clerkenwell, Dodds stated: “We were quite clear from Day One, this wasn’t going to be a showroom, it was going to be somewhere we were going to bring customers and work on projects.
“The Business Design Centre is a great destination for A&D customers,”
