The rise and rise of Franz Lorenschitz

What is your industry background?

I started in marketing in 1987 but my first big career move was for Wavin, a plumbing and drainage manufacturer. It was a Blue Chip company and I worked for them for four years. It was a great experience to work for such a large company in the early part of my career and gave me a good grounding for the future. I then worked for Lafarge plaster board, followed by Caradon Terrain, Marley and most recently I was head of marketing at Geberit.

So, what attracted you to the brand Hansgrohe?

It’s a premium brand and it’s a quality brand. It’s got a vast array of products and the company has a real passion for design. It is passionate about water using it efficiently but having as much fun as possible with it. I think Hansgrohe has come up with some unique solutions, in terms of technically-superb mixers and showers.

Hansgrohe is a very consumer- facing brand. So how is consumer confidence at the moment?

It is still a fragile economy but I’m cautiously optimistic that we’ve turned the corner. I think this recession went a lot deeper than people imagined. Obviously, consumer confidence got dented by the recession. But I think we are seeing an upward trend at the moment. I think people have got a lot more confidence now, feel a bit more secure in their jobs, and are starting to spend again.

People are looking for value for money in their purchases. But the confidence to go out and refurbish their homes or buy a new bathroom is slowly coming back.

If the economy is improving, what are your marketing strategies for the brand?

Obviously, I want to continue growing the brand in the consumer sector but we’re strong in other sectors as well. We’re strong in the hotel sector and we supply prestigious housing projects with Hansgrohe and Axor, our exclusive designer bathroom collection, as well. The mainstay of our business is focused on the consumer sector. It’s probably about two-thirds to one-third split, consumer to contract sales.

How are you planning to reach consumers?

We want to strengthen our position with the bathroom showrooms and continue to build our brand there. We recently launched PuraVida and we’re busy placing a lot of displays in the showrooms. The idea was to get all the displays up and running in the Springtime with advertising, later in the year, to consumers. We also want to continue to appeal to architects and designers because they get involved with consumers and some of the commercial sector.

How do you target architects and designers?

Previously we’ve exhibited at 100% Design and for the past three years we’ve exhibited at Ecobuild. We’ve got a number of water efficient products and we’re part of the Bathroom Manufacturers Association Water Efficient Product Labelling Scheme. Clearly in the UK marketplace, with the reduction of Carbon emissions and a move towards sustainability, you’ve got to look at more water efficient products. They are going to become the norm. In the hotel sector, for instance, where they have to pay for their water it’s a big cost for them. And in the housing sector, with the implementation of Part C and the Code for Sustainable Homes, water efficiency is growing in importance. It’s a big area for us.

What is your starting point or your priorities?

Like many companies, the first thing we want to do is achieve our budget for the year. We want to continue building the Hansgrohe brand and increase our market share. There are many routes in the marketplace for us to do that. But we want to be the consumers’ first choice.

One of the biggest things for us to focus on is continuing our relationship with the or dealers. We will be taking a number of them to our head office in Schiltach, Germany. We have over 300 Axor dealers and we want to work as closely as possible with them because bathroom showrooms, across the country, have had a tough time.

How do you propose to work closely with them?

One of the key pillars for us is product training. Dealers can come to Esher for product training. We get them in front of the products and widen their knowledge. We have a technical team to supervise that and we’ve also recently employed a dedicated, full-time training manager, as well. We’ve got a vast product portfolio and it makes it easier for dealers to understand them if they see them in action and speak to the technical staff. It all helps with familiarisation. Training is key for us going forwards.