Jim Moore, Managing Director of Vaillant Group UK & Ireland, has issued a statrement outlining new developments for the Group, both in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The statement reads:
‘You will no doubt be aware that in the heating industry, the boiler market has become highly competitive, especially around price point and product innovation as brands compete for market share. This is great news for installers who can benefit from access to market-leading products, support and training, as well as receiving rewards for their loyalty.
In light of this competitive landscape, we are announcing a new strategy for the future prosperity of Vaillant Group in the UK. This new strategy will enable the business to respond to the needs of specific markets and allow the brands, Vaillant and Glow-worm, to enhance its market offering through a wider product portfolio and targeted customer support. The outcome of this business strategy will help drive growth, with each brand focused on the sectors where they can deliver the greatest value.
Vaillant Group UK employs over 800 people with a turnover in excess of £500m and the new strategy aims to grow the Vaillant brand sales by over 20% over the next 2 years to help the Group deliver a combined volume to secure the highest domestic boiler market share.
Within this new strategy, Vaillant will reaffirm its position as a premium brand, and will be resourced with industry-leading sales and marketing support to grow its prominent brand status in the industry. As well as continuing to offer innovative products for installers, Vaillant’s portfolio will grow to offer dedicated products and support to new build, social housing and renewables markets. This reflects customer feedback and demands.
Glow-worm will now focus entirely on the one-off installer by maximising its merchant partnerships to offer simple, easy-to-use product ranges including exclusive boilers supported by the best installer loyalty programme – Club Energy. This means merchants will continue to offer a recognised and trusted brand at highly competitive prices, while installers will be able access a wider choice of Vaillant Group products in response to their customers’ budgets and needs.
Furthermore, from listening to our valued installers and building on the success of Club Energy programme, Glow-worm will support heating engineers who want to engage with us at their own convenience by developing easy to access digital support and resources.
We have also reflected on the UK renewables market, which has faced slow growth. In addition, current demand is for premium brand products. We are therefore focusing on our Vaillant renewables portfolio for the UK market. Being part of the international Vaillant brand, we are better positioned to bring new technologies and products to the UK, with a recent example being our 3kW geoTHERM mini ground source heat pump and there are a number of new innovations planned for next year.
There are exciting times ahead for us in the UK and we hope that installers will see the benefits of this new direction, focused on supporting them and their business aspirations.’
