Everest Double Glazing are offering free triple glazing upgrades in their latest promotion campaign. The majority will be aware that in the selling techniques of the big nationals, there is probably no such thing as free, nonetheless to the buying customer (and plenty continue to choose Everest) the perception is that they have had a major upgrade to their double glazing in the form of triple glazed units.
With Everest Double Glazing choosing to offer triple glazed windows as a free upgrade, will the sector follow suit in 2014?
Triple Glazing is not a new thing but in any competitive sector a business has to think of ways to stand out. The free upgrade by Everest to Triple Glazing is just that. This is not a new concept. Several years ago when the housing market was at its peak Estate Agents started to extend their opening hours with some now open till 10pm. In home improvements and consumer goods, the larger companies went that bit further whether it is competitive finance deals, free upgrades, longer guarantees or anything else that made them stand out.
Is Triple Glazing going to be the product of 2014?
Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of triple glazing. However, as with any product that they may not have much knowledge about, they will be relying upon the advice of the sales professional to guide and educate them. Some consumers will simply want “the best” in the same way that some people buy the top of the range model of car or the highest specification computer. Chances are they will not use many of the features, but they have the comfort of having “the best”.
Others will be guided by the sales person and the value of the sale. There will arguably be situations where one salesperson will suggest not bothering with triple glazing citing additional cost and the price outweighing the benefits. Others may promote triple glazing as the must have product of today and extol the virtues of energy performance and sound insulation as two examples.
Whilst triple glazing does offer some benefits over double glazed units, there are also window and door systems that on testing at least show little or no tangible improvement using the same profile with an upgrade to triple glazed glass. The test reports are based on systems designed from the outset for triple glazing, however simply changing a window from double to triple glass does may not in practice improve its performance.
To adopt triple glazing, the entire fenestration sector needs to adapt.
This year will see many seminars and briefings take place around triple glazing. If indeed the industry is to shift to this glass as the “standard” product then manufacturers, logistics and systems need to adapt to this and make the necessary changes.
In the aluminium sector, whilst triple glazed window and door systems exist, the take up is quite low and systems companies are on extended lead times with profiles designed for triple glazing. The sales are presently not there to warrant holding anything other than limited stocks in unpainted mill finish. No company wants to stock hold material that is not selling well.
For the home improvement industry a general adoption of double glazing as the core product brings manufacturing, transportation and handling issues. The extra weight of the glass unit brings issues to the standard hardware many windows and doors already use. Heavier duty hinges and friction stays may be required.
The double glazing sector also has to deal with the extra cost of the glass itself.
Whilst the entire home improvement sector is subjected to annual price increases in glass, raw material, gaskets, hardware and transportation, it is also well known that many simply absorb these price increases fearing passing them on to the end user will make them uncompetitive. It remains to be seen how a wider adoption of triple glazing will affect the prices of windows and doors. However, with Everest Double Glazing choosing to offer triple “glazing” for free, we could soon see other companies following suit.
The post Will Triple Glazing be the must have product of 2014? appeared first on Aluminium Trade Supply.
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