Curious about what’s going on in the boiler market right now?
Well, from last year’s sales, it looks like Ideal is hot on Worcester Bosch’s heels and about to give ’em a run for their money! I’m actually now a fan of both brands, so it’ll be interesting to see how this all plays out.
Especially when you hear how all this started and why it’s taken Ideal so long to catch up again…
As a seasoned engineer, let me tell you why Worcester Bosch should be worried, and what’s happening right now with Ideal as a brand.
First – a little bit of background
Around 12 years ago, Worcester Bosch took over the no.1 slot from Vaillant, and became the market leader. This means they’ve been selling more boilers in the UK than any other brand for the past 12 years. What happened? Well, they brought out a condensing boiler, and got it right first time.
A lot of others had gone before them, and were a bit hasty with releasing condensing combis. Ideal, Baxi, Ariston and Malvern were included. The result was that a lot of the boilers they released had problems with faulty manufacturing and technology. Leading to what? A lot of unhappy customers.
Worcester Bosch, on the other hand, were a bit smarter. They took a good look at all of these boilers that were being released, stripped them down, located the problems, and then built a better one. Essentially, they learned by the others’ mistakes. Because of this, they quickly gained market share and an unblemished reputation.
It took Ideal around 15 years to recover from the fallout of what happened. Worcester Bosch had essentially done the same thing as the Japanese when it came to motorcycles. They looked at their British counterparts, and built better ones that didn’t leak, whilst being more robust and reliable.
Now the British motorcycle market’s just about recovered, but it took a good 40+ years. Moral of the story? It can be a costly mistake if you don’t get the product right!
Is Worcester Bosch’s position under threat?
Unfortunately, I’d say yes. If you’ve read any of my other blogs, you might already know I’m a huge champion of Worcester Bosch. However, now I’m seeing the likes of ATAG offering a 10-year guarantee with additional energy efficiency features such as outside temperature controls and flue recovery.
And I’m also seeing brands like Ideal and Ariston offering amazing 12 year guarantees. This is putting a lot of pressure on Worcester Bosch, and it’s become apparent that the brand can no longer just rest on its laurels. Where will they go from here?
As an example (and this has me worried), Worcester Bosch sold 490,000 boilers in the UK last year. Ideal sold 415,000. That’s not a huge gap to close!
Why are Ideal boilers so popular right now?
Like I said above, Ideal took a while to recover from selling some unreliable condensing boilers back in the day. But now, they’re back at the top of their game. And even more shockingly, they’re now offering 12-year guarantees to back it up!
Ideal are really doing a lot right now to offer unbeatable customer service, and they’re investing £3 – £4 million in UK support centres. They’re also listening to engineers about how they can improve, and do things better. That says a lot to me, because it takes a lot for a brand to own up and say they could be doing better at something.
They’re putting the energy and time into their customers and their engineers now, which is just so impressive.
This is great for Ideal as a brand, and they’re gradually rising to the top. If they become Which’s ‘Best Buy’ then that’ll potentially be another nail in the coffin for Worcester Bosch. Not that I think Worcester are in any real danger of disappearing – they’re not.
However, one last thing to consider: I’m sure you noticed above that 12 years ago, Vaillant were no.1. In stark contrast, they only sold 40,000 boilers last year. What happened? Who knows.
Advice from a seasoned engineer
Ideal are putting lots of investment into ensuring their products are maintained and the customer service is there. They’re also looking after engineers to ensure they stay loyal to them. As an engineer, if Installers sell 100, 200, 300 boilers within a 12-month period, the manufacturer will offer rewards for their loyalty and sales.
That’s just one of the things they’re doing now to look after engineers – along with listening to them more. However, if a product’s faulty & unreliable and we hear from a lot of unhappy customers, we’d still jump ship! No amount of pampering from a manufacturer is worth a bad business reputation.
So, I may have changed my tune a little bit in the past year or so, in that I would absolutely recommend Ideal as a brand. They’re the one to watch right now! In fact, I’m even getting one installed in my own home.
Conclusion
I hope this blog has given you some insight into the currently boiler market. There’s some big changes coming, and I’ll be curious to see how Worcester Bosch fair and what they’ll do – if anything – to maintain that top spot against Ideal.
Do you have any questions about Ideal boilers vs Worcester Bosch? Let me know in the comments. I’ll be happy to help!
