Interview

“In terms of cookware, I think consumers will be looking for longevity and quality”

Future proofing

Horwood’s head of marketing Richard Sharp talks to Kitchenware International about solidifying the Stellar and Judge brand identities

How would you sum the past year up for the Horwood brand family? Whilst the challenges everyone faces are well known, we’ve had a really positive year at Horwood. The team is growing and we’re bringing some great new talent into the business in key areas. From a brand perspective we’re working really hard investing in them to make sure they are fit for the future – focusing on every area from product packaging to social media so we can really start to give both Stellar and Judge a really strong identity which appeals to a wide range of consumers. We’re already starting to see the benefit of this from improved recognition from customers and retailers.

What kitchen-focused trends do you see emerging for the year ahead? In terms of cookware, I think consumers will be looking for longevity and quality. With so

Did you know?

Horwood are working on a new brand identity for Stellar.

much time spent at home, there is a much better understanding of how performance and design can improve the cooking experience. The trends for different textures and more flamboyant colour look like they will be important for tableware.

What exciting developments can we expect to see from Stellar in 2022? With a new brand identity in the works, we’re preparing to present our product range in a much more modern and customer-focused way. We’ve launched our first range of triply cookware and also have a new brand website launching in the early spring so really the direction of travel is to reinvigorate Stellar and be much more consistent in brand execution for both retailers and consumers.

And the same questions applies to Judge, what can you tell us about the brand for the coming year?

“We’ve had a really positive year”

Judge is a fantastic brand with a loyal following and great retailer support so the key task here is to make sure we continue to drive stock availability for our retailers while working hard to update all our customer touchpoints to keep the Judge brand relevant and appealing in a crowded space.

How would you describe your relationship with retailers and buyers? We’re fortunate to have a great team of regional sales managers which gives us first class relationships with retailers across the UK and Ireland. We’re also adding to that team to ensure we continue to give enough focus on traditional and emerging customers. Has supply and demand been an issue for you over the past year or so as a direct result of Covid/ Brexit etc, how have you approached the issue? Despite the headwinds, we’ve had a really positive year and seen strong growth, primarily due to the hard work of everyone in the business. We have a great procurement team and strong supplier relations so in as many key areas as possible we’ve focused on maintaining and delivering the crucial, established lines which our customers are looking for. This necessitated a slightly lesser focus on NPD but we will put that right in 2022.

Judge (l to r) The Stellar Eclipse range

Thoughts on trade shows...

“We have really strong contact with our customers through our regional sales team and that remains our best route to maintaining those relationships. I think the landscape and expectation that all retailers will always attend every trade show has probably shifted, although Horwood will still be attending those which are tactically important to our business.”