Quickslide Chairman, Adrian Barraclough, explains why the time to sell garden doors is most certainly here.
You need to be selling garden doors right now or you’ll lose out to competitors that are quicker off the mark! I say this because we can see on Google search trends that as soon as we hit mid-June, that’s when the searches for any sort of patio door (and bifold, sliding, French, any!) decline, staying flat for the summer and reaching a yearly low in December. And then, strangely, we hit a yearly high in January. Jan-Jun, there’s consistently high interest, same story every year and something anyone selling garden doors should be aware of.
But you should also get your offer right because there are some distinct trends that you should tap into for your customers. One of these is that homeowners are seeking “less frame, more glass” to create open living spaces with even more natural light and uninterrupted sight-lines with the slimmest of frames. And whilst such doors in the form of ‘traditional’ sliding patio doors have been available for some time, they have been expensive and largely only available from some specialist installers.
That means sliding patio doors are making a comeback, simply because of the increasing availability of more affordable ‘frameless’ doors, something that of course we have jumped on for our customers. Our new offer includes frameless sash for fixed panes, with the IGU slotting directly into the outer frame. Unlike our old system, which had four framed sashes, the new setup will have just one outer frame and two framed sashes in a typical 4-pane configuration with two sliding panes.
They really are a step forward but when you offer these fabulous new sliders to your punters, be aware of some logistical issues and challenges. You will be fine offering your customers reasonably sized ‘frameless’ doors but while super huge doors can be manufactured, you may struggle to transport them and handle them on site. The sheer weight and size can cause huge problems that may only be dealt with by specialist skills and equipment. Less frame might also mean that glass upgrades are the only viable options to meet the regs. This also adds to the weight and cost.
The challenges are for larger sizes, however, which means you will be able to offer these products to the vast majority of your customers. The answer, as always of course, is: check with your fabricator!
There are so many other new products to tempt your customers with: Heritage French doors and internal slim steel-look-a-like doors, popularised by Crittall, are also surging in popularity. They make for stylish room dividers with super slim frames, and the matching in-and-out vibe looks superb!
Folding/sliding/stacking doors have been around a while but are now available with the slimmest profiles yet together with simplified operating mechanisms and minimal, yet robust hardware. Quick-Glide is the most advanced product in this category. The panels interlock into one another which means that the sightlines on this door type are slimmer than on traditional bifolds. Not by a lot, but as that big supermarket puts it, every little helps.
And if a traditional bifold is what your customer wants, then one of the country’s most popular bifold system ‘Visofold’ is now available in the slimmest profile yet, offering reduced sightlines, lightweight operation and a choice of colours. And the installer can also enjoy easier handling and installation with a tap-in bead.
Crucially of course, you should get cracking now if you also want to tap in to this evergreen market: always the optimist, I reckon it’s going to be a cracking year with wall-to-wall sunshine. And most of us are optimistic at this time of the year which is when the decisions are made to open up the indoors to the outdoors. Get in quick before the British weather changes everyone’s minds!
For further information on Quickslide visit Window & Door Suppliers West Yorkshire | Sliding Sash Manufacturers.
