NORTHERNview
‘ QUALITY IS REMEMBERED LONG AFTER PRICE IS FORGOTTEN’
IAN SHORT, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF UNI-BLINDS ® INTEGRAL BLINDS MANUFACTURER MORLEY GLASS
In a fiercely competitive, highly price sensitive market, it is only natural to be cautious about the products you are offering to customers at the initial enquiry stage. After all, you will want to be competitive on price and a competitor who is prepared to offer seemingly comparable products at little more than cost price is usually never far away.
But there is always a market for quality products. And that means homeowners who are prepared to pay a premium for products if they believe they will get high value from throughout their lifetime.
It all comes down to the difference between cost and value. If you sell a product to a homeowner that is low cost, but it ultimately disappoints them because it is poor quality or doesn’ t work properly, they will feel that it does not represent good value.
A famous quote from the 1930s by fashion designer Aldo Gucci which latterly became the brand tagline sums this up succinctly:‘ Quality is remembered long after price is forgotten’. And Gucci has been immensely successful selling products based on this principle – in 2024, the company’ s brand value was estimated at $ 26 billion!
YOU CAN’ T BUY A NEW MERCEDES FOR THE PRICE OF A DACIA …
If you were selling cars, you would never be able to offer Mercedes quality at Dacia prices. The costs associated with manufacturing a Mercedes and the level of aftersales service that the company provides is factored into the price, so you know exactly what you are paying for. And if that is what you are looking for as a consumer, you will be prepared to pay for it.
On the other hand, if you are motivated by buying a car at the lowest cost and you are happy to compromise on quality or the way it drives, you will opt for something other than a Mercedes.
If everyone made car buying decisions on the basis of the lowest price, we wouldn’ t see any Mercedes or other premium brand cars on the roads. Yet nearly 103,000 new Mercedes vehicles were registered in the UK in 2024 – more than 5 % of the market – and BMWs accounted for almost 6.5 % of all new cars registered.
This reflects attitudes and buying behaviour amongst a large number of consumers who are prepared to pay more for quality and performance. So, it makes good commercial sense to apply this logic when providing a quotation for windows, doors and – importantly – integral blinds, by considering what really motivates the homeowner.
HOW MORLEY GLASS SUPPORTS INSTALLERS TO SECURE QUALITY INTEGRAL BLIND SALES
Ever since we started manufacturing integral blinds in 2004, we’ ve only ever used ScreenLine ® systems from the global
leader in this technology, Pellini S. p. A. We partner with Pellini because we believe their products deliver on the high levels of quality and long term satisfaction that homeowners are happy to pay a premium for, rather than supplying integral blinds that may be cheaper, but ultimately disappoint.
Because we use only ScreenLine ® blinds to manufacture our integral blind units in a process which includes multiple quality control checks, our customers can depend on the highest quality integral blind units every time. And every unit is backed by a five-year warranty for additional peace of mind.
But we also know that many homeowners will need to understand why Uni-Blinds ® represent excellent long term value. This is why we invest heavily in supporting installers with a range of technical and sales resources for those who have signed up to our Registered Installer Scheme including, high quality brochures, samples and point of sale materials – all of which play a vital role during the sales and quotation process.
www. morleyglass. co. uk
CLEARVIEW-UK. COM NOVEMBER 2025
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