With wiring accessories now available in a wide range of finishes, Steve Moss, Sales and Marketing Manager for Focus SB, looks at how trends impact sales.
Trends in finishes come and go, but quality, innovation and continuity of finish are constants when it comes to the discerning customer.
Longevity vs trends
Popularity of finishes is constantly on the Focus SB radar, as the company offers in-house expertise to professional electricians, design consultants, building contractors and specifiers via project support services. Popularity of finish by can be subjective and when it comes to enquiries there is always an equivalent to the latest trends as published by home interiors magazines or national press, so that wholesalers can easily source products for customers seeking products on behalf of those who may have been inspired by the weekend newspaper style pages.
High quality products paired with bespoke components and finishes that can be matched or complemented across a wide range of standard and specialist smart home products will give wholesalers and professional electricians the edge in conversation with your customers and stand the test of time.
Electrical accessories trends
As a company, Focus SB is continually assessing just how influential trends are on the electrical accessories market and how relevant these might be, enabling the business to best support customers and wholesalers.
Metallic finishes are timeless and won’t go out of fashion. It’s very much down to personal taste when it comes to finishes, but for larger prime residential and hospitality projects it’s crucial to be able to supply multiple finished products to complement an interior designer or architect’s interior scheme. This is where Focus SB comes in with the ability to offer multiple products finished to match, from laser marked low-voltage keypads through to 8G 20A 2 way rocker grid switches or 13A switched 2 gang sockets with 18W Type A and 45W Type C Power Delivery USB ports, down to bathroom shaver sockets and kitchen cooker control units fitted with double pole 45A switches for installations where higher current ratings are required, with the option of incorporating a switched 13A socket, for example.
Finishes for smart home tech
Prime residential designers and architects are faced with multiple options and can choose from touch screen and multi-button scene setting controls or systems utilising simple ‘push-to-make’ retractive rocker, toggle (dolly switches), push button ‘bell pushes’ and keypads of traditional appearance with the latest low voltage programmable technology behind the cover plate. Often these retractive switches will interface with proprietary ‘whole house’ complex control system installations, programmed by the smart home integrator or electrical contractor.
With many city centre commercial, warehouse and office premises being converted for residential or mixed use, the requirement for high quality monochromatic faceplate finishes in matt white and matt black remains popular. Developers and designers will often try to utilise reclaimed building materials and look to use high quality products offering longevity such as switches, sockets and keypads with more unusual finishes to complement an overall theme.
Most clients embrace the benefits of energy efficient LED lighting, however many are less than happy to choose high tech multi-button and touch screen lighting control systems to operate the lighting. These controls in many cases will ‘jar’ in terms of visual appearance with the property’s décor and cause unnecessary complexity. Increasingly touch screen proprietary controls are being replaced (or supplemented) utilising simple ‘push-to-make’ retractive rocker, toggle switches or push buttons for a more traditional appearance.
Often these switches will interface with proprietary ‘whole house’ complex control system installations. Focus SB’s low-voltage keypads can be specified with square and round push button switches as well as with a contemporary toggle switch style, with the option for bespoke ‘hotel-style’ combination plates and are available with the new Renaissance flat screwless plate in order to evolve a one-stop shop offering for wholesalers and their customers.
We’re seeing continued desire to be able to match faceplate designs and finishes across light switches, dimming and power outlets as well as a growing demand for smart home products with a traditional aesthetic. The ability to match finishes across other specialist products such as keypad switches, Focus SB’s panic alarm button and sounder cover plates is useful for customers looking to order from just one supplier – and the fact Focus SB manufactures and finishes in-house means it’s convenient for wholesalers to source options for their customers.
Modern square corner finish
Designed with sustainability in mind, Focus SB’s innovative design-first Renaissance product offers the ultimate in minimalist style complemented by product and functionality options our customers expect from us. A rebirth of a classic style, Renaissance offers a true flat screwless plate with square corners, rather than a formed, or dished plate, or one that sits inside a frame in two pieces, or sits on a visible plastic frame, like the majority of available products on the market.
Modern ‘minimalist’ style continues to be popular coupled with an ability to create bespoke plate sizes which is a prerequisite for most high end residential or hospitality projects.
Total solution for wholesalers
For wholesalers servicing interior designers or other professionals visiting trade counters or for showrooms that want to match faceplate finishes with either existing installations or specialist products, availability of products with matching finishes is likely to be difficult or time consuming to source. As Focus SB manufactures and finishes all faceplates and components in-house, it is able to offer customers an unrivalled design and finish solution which solves this problem.
Wholesalers know that when they order electrical accessories products from Focus SB, they have a straightforward flexible solution from just one manufacturer. Typical customers are not impulse buyers, so Focus SB collaborates with wholesalers who want to offer a standard collection with the advantage of niche, bespoke ‘non counter’ products.
To view the full range of finishes, click here
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