Record sales prompt major expansion
Andy Slater- 6 years ago
Booming HotSpring dealership UK Leisure Living is planning a major recruitment drive and a showroom expansion initiative after a sizzling summer of record-breaking hot tub sales.
Gareth Jones, MD of UK Leisure Living. Picture credit: GINGER PIXIE PHOTOGRAPHY.
Winner of the ‘Outstanding Entrepreneur’ category at the 2018 Global Business Excellence Awards and UK Leisure Living founder and Managing Director Gareth Jones, pictured, has set his sights on further success following the summer heatwave that has helped drive additional growth; combined with new sales from its range of composite decking, along with the summer opening of the company’s second showroom at the Gordale Garden Centre in Burton, one of the North West’s biggest garden and home centres.
Thanks to a strong wave of bumper demand during the record-breaking summer, UK Leisure Living has been celebrating the fact that it has sold 170 hot tubs and expects to hit the 250 mark by the end of 2018. It means the three-year-old business, which currently has plans to expand its showroom presence in Mochdre, North Wales and its new Cheshire site that was launched in June, is on track to more than double turnover from last year’s £750,000.
To complement its status as a flourishing HotSpring dealership, the company also promotes two other hot tub brands. These are the Elite Holiday Compliant Range and its own River Range; with prices ranging from less than £3,000 to more than £20,000. The company also supplies swim spas and pool kits, while its new dedicated range of long-lasting composite decking products has also proved a hit since being introduced at the start of the summer; and one of the recent customers is a CEO of a Premiership football club.
Along with domestic customers UK Leisure Living also has commercial customers; with clients including Bourne Leisure, and the five-star-rated Plas Coch Holiday Park. It is also approved by the Federation of Master Builders.
Now, thanks to the record-breaking sales this year, UK Leisure Living is aiming to build on the success with plans to attract suitable candidates for a further six roles across sales, engineering and administration to meet the increased demand. This will eventually increase the size of the team to 16.
As part of its expansion initiative, the company has also reported that it is also investigating further showroom openings within the North West and Midlands regions.
“We’ve enjoyed consistently strong growth throughout 2018, but the long, hot summer definitely helped to bring more customers through the doors of our showrooms,” divulged Gareth, who is a former President of the Federation of Master Builders for North Wales.
Among the hot tub offerings that have been attracting new customers to UK Leisure Living is the WhatSpa? Best Buy Award-winning HotSpring ranges from Watkins Wellness that have gained a trio of accolades in the latest edition of the consumer magazine.
This ‘hat-trick’ includes the state-of-the-art HotSpring Highlife Envoy NXT, which incorporates a backlit Moto-Massage lounge seat within its advanced five-seater design that comes in at 236 c 231 x 97cm and has been bestowed with a WhatSpa? Best Buy Award in the £15,000+ price category.
The HotSpring Highlife Triumph, which comes in at 236 x 188 x 84cm, has also been bestowed with a WhatSpa? Best Buy Award in the £10,000 to £14,999 price category; thanks to its luxury design that incorporates dual-lounge seating and capacity for four occupants.
From the revamped Limelight range, which has been rolled out to showrooms this year after the entire range was redesigned by Watkins Wellness for 2018, the compact four-seater HotSpring Limelight Beam that comes in at 203 x 203 x 84cm has made an immediate impact with a Best Buy Award in the £8,000 to £9,999 price category.
In the WhatSpa? Verdict the Limelight Beam is proclaimed as a ‘true show-stopper’ and is praised for its lighting system, as well as contemporary ergonomics that are ‘stunning’. It also states: ‘True to its name, the Limelight Beam really comes into its own after dark with an amazing array of interior and exterior subtle lighting’.
Gareth believes that along with the benefit from the summer heatwave, the increasing exposure of hot tubs on television has helped to boost sales among families; who are seeking to expand their home lives with quality hydrotherapy capability that they can enjoy throughout the entire year, rather than an occasional foreign holiday.
“Hot tubs are being featured more and more on TV shows and recent research suggests that 1 in 10 of us now owns a hot tub,” revealed Gareth.
“It is now widely seen as something all the family can enjoy – without the need to go abroad on holiday.”
