The Hydropool UK team is celebrating record-breaking sales at a mammoth Ideal Home Show, topped off by a royal visit to their prominent hot tub and swim spa stand by HRH Prince Charles – who officially opened this year’s event – officially the UK’s number one consumer show.
Making his second visit to Ideal Home in concurrent years, the Prince of Wales met Hydropool UK’s managing director Jonathan Bunn asking about the business; its products and its history as well as Jonathan’s opinion on the economic climate and future prospects. “It was an incredible honour to meet Prince Charles at the Ideal Home Show both on the stand and at a special reception,” says Jonathan.
“He was interested in business aspects and the longevity of the company; whether we feel there is a positive twist of the economy and whether we were seeing signs of coming out of the downturn and my opinion of where the market is at the moment.”
Jonathan adds: “I was able to reassure him on all counts given that we had our best sales year since 2004. We had a phenomenal show.”
Celebrating record sales at the 17 day consumer show, Hydropool has extended its exclusive exhibition rights as part of a landmark deal with the event organiser Media Ten. As part of the agreement, Hydropool UK will have exclusive rights to exhibit at all of Media Ten’s consumer events including both London and Birmingham Grand Designs events for a five year period. “It is an astonishing deal and Hydropool UK is proud to be partnered with Media Ten who have consistently delivered on their promises,” said Jonathan.
The Ideal Home Show attracts over 270,000 visitors since being bought by top events’ organisers Media 10 in 2009. The Prince’s Foundation for the Building Community has established a five year partnership with the Ideal Home Show aimed at lifting the awareness and showcasing the value of sustainable design through one of the event show homes,The Prince’s Arts and Crafts House is a revolutionary, low energy eco-home designed by The Prince’s Foundation for Building Community and built with a focus on high quality materials and craftsmanship. Hydropool UK has had a presence at the show for 16 years and this was the second year they exhibited on an exclusive spa andhot tub ticket.
“We had to ramp up staffing levels all the way throughout the Ideal Home show,” Jonathan revealed. “Originally, I thought a team of six would be enough to cover out I took it up to eight, then ten – we eventually needed 14 on our busiest days,” he added. “I have to say our planning and preparation paid off. We have refined our sales presentations to ensure visiting our stand is an enjoyable, non pressurised selling experience. “The stand is our stage with lifestyle props like trees and lights,
around the main products, as we present a theatre and every member of our team plays their role.
“By offering such a wide variety of product and price points, we found customers felt they could buy feeling they had compared options with due diligence.”
Sponsors of the Ideal Gardens, Hydropool UK presented the biggest selection of swim spas and hot tubs ever seen under one
roof at this year’s Earl’s Court event which ran from March 16 to April 1 inclusive.
With five different Hydropool swim spas and 16 hot tubs on display, visitors had a unique opportunity to choose the ideal garden
focal point for home entertaining, fitness, fun and relaxation. To complete the outdoor living experience, the Hydropool team
offered a host of accessories for transforming the garden into an outdoor oasis including a brand new barrel-shaped home sauna,
a range of spa accessories from floating dispensers to waterproof toys and games not to mention basic essentials such as spa filters, water treatment chemicals and insulated spa covers.
Visitors to the Ideal Home Show are predominantly from London and Home Counties but Hydropool reported sales from
as far afield as the Midlands, Scotland and Cornwall with several swim spas sales for British customers with holiday homes in
locations such as France and Portugal. Jonathan revealed: “We estimate that about 20% of our Ideal Home sales are to people that we have touched before the show through our various marketing efforts.“Another 10% are current owners who want to change their hot tub or are upgrading to a swim spa. The remaining 70% of sales are from people who we did not know before – half of them did not have any intention of buying a hot tub when they arrived at the show,” he said.
“Having learned such a lot from last year, we took everything on board that we got wrong and worked really blood hard to get it right… days, weeks, months of getting it right with the exception of a couple of tweaks; we have a winning formula. We just got it right,” Jonathan added.
“We were blessed with a great spell of weather which always enhances the feel good factor,” says Jonathan. But I can also see public confidence is returning as we once again have witnessed the influence of exhibitions like this that can only be described as a buying frenzy compared with the High Street which is still downbeat.
Hydopool UK
Tel. +44 (0)1342 311000
Email. sales@hydropoolspas.co.uk
