Blindly following trends and hunches is not the way to run a business – but analysing market data is, says Tom Reynolds, chief executive of the Bathroom Manufacturers Association. He presents a way to gain insight.
For too long, too many in our industry have been marketing like a blindfolded darts player after 2 pints and a spin on the office chair. Gut instinct, legacy habits, and vibes have had a jolly good run. But if you want to grow a bathroom business in 2025 and beyond, you need more than vibes – you need data.
Proper data.
This is why the Bathroom Manufacturers Association is launching Insights Data – a monthly, anonymised market-sizing initiative designed to give our members the kind of intelligence they need to do more than survive: to compete, grow and win.
We’ve partnered with a third-party data pooling specialist to provide hard numbers on factory gate sales, including value, volume, and segmentation by granular product category. The pilot with shower manufacturers has been a rip-roaring success. Now, we’re opening the doors to all categories. If you’re a BMA member, get in touch with our research manager, Jane Blakeborough, to arrange your onboarding call. If you’re not yet a member, perhaps now’s the time to question why not?
What makes Insights Data different is that it’s not just data for data’s sake. It’s not a glossy PDF of historical stats that’s out of date by the time you read it. This is live, monthly intelligence, pooled confidentially from contributing manufacturers, with the granularity that makes it actionable. We’re talking product-level visibility, not broad strokes. That means sales leaders, product managers, and marketers can all finally be armed with the same up-to-date facts, rather than armchair hypotheses and crossed fingers.
Here’s the thing: market data is marketing. It’s the difference between a strategic campaign and throwing spaghetti at a wall and calling it insight. You can’t optimise campaigns, assess price sensitivity, or anticipate consumer trends without it.
Don’t just take my word for it – Deloitte found that 49% of companies using analytics say it helps them make better decisions, while others say it strengthens customer relationships and sharpens strategic initiatives. Imagine knowing where your category is trending before your competitors do. Imagine pricing with confidence because you know what’s really happening at the coalface. Imagine not having to explain to the board why your product flopped after “just feeling like it was the right time.”
This isn’t just about better marketing. It’s about risk reduction. It’s about agility. It’s about arming decision-makers with something more solid than guesswork. At the BMA, we’re tired of guesswork. We're building the most robust dataset in the UK bathroom sector – one monthly upload at a time.
Let’s turn the lights on, shall we?
