Fabricators Share Optimism, Concerns in
Poll
Today’s solid surface fabricators, while generally optimistic
about the future of their industry, are concerned about losing
market share to competitive products, rising material prices and
conflicts with distributors and manufacturers.
At the same time, they believe that the solid surface industry
needs to do more advertising to educate consumers and specifiers
about the benefits of solid surface, feel the installed price of
the material will continue to rise and see their role in the
industry continuing to strengthen.
Those are among the key results of a recent nationwide survey of
more than 300 fabricators conducted by Kitchen & Bath Design
News’ sister trade magazine, SolidSurface.
Among the survey’s other major findings:
- 86% of the respondents reported they are either optimistic or
have a favorable outlook for the future of solid surface. - Competitive products, such as natural stone, will have the
greatest impact on the solid surface market in the future,
according to 34% of the solid surface fabricators surveyed.
At the same time, the development of new markets for solid surface
(22%), the creation of new solid surface products (16%) and the
trend toward mergers and consolidation (14%) are also seen as
important forces impacting the market, surveyed fabricators
said. - Competition from other products (30%) is viewed as the greatest
single threat to solid surface. Other threats include the costs of
overhead (22%), conflicts between members of the supply chain (20%)
and changes in consumer attitudes and buying preferences
(18%).
Editor’s Note: A more thorough report on the results of the
fabricator survey is being published in the September/October issue
of SolidSurface magazine.