Standing With Retailers: Stability, Value and Sustainability in Uncertain Times

Whilst many suppliers to the KBB sector continue to raise prices and pass on rising costs, Edward Smith, Managing Director of Caesarstone UK and Ireland, explains why the leading surfaces brand is taking a different path – lowering prices, offering stability, and delivering sustainable alternatives without added premiums…

Over the past few years, we’ve watched the same concerns arise across the KBB market in the UK and Ireland. Retailers are being squeezed by constant price increases from suppliers, sometimes more than once a year, and often with little notice. It’s left many showrooms under pressure, caught between protecting their own margins and maintaining customer confidence.  At Caesarstone, we decided that simply following the trend was not good enough.

Our partners deserved better, and that’s why we’ve taken a different path. In the stone category, price sensitivity on kitchen projects has also seen studios forced to lower standards when it comes to engineered stone choices, which in a ‘word of mouth’ consumer category, can be dangerous. So to support the KBB sector, our aim was simple – add the value back in the market and make premium branded Caesarstone products as competitive as their unbranded, uncertain competition.

Why we restructured our pricing

Caesarstone 5151 Empira White

Earlier this year, we introduced a brand-new pricing structure. Six clear price groups – Essentials 0, 1, 2 and Premium 3, 4, 5 – now give retailers a simpler way to present our collection, with complete clarity over where each design sits. Just as importantly, we made the conscious choice to lower the price of some of our most popular designs, including 5151 Empira White and 4033 Rugged Concrete, delivering reductions of up to 17%. For us, this was about more than numbers; it was about sending a signal that we are on our retailers’ side.

5143 White Attica from Caesarstone’s expanded Essentials offering

We also extended our volume pricing model for our Essentials colours to all channels, not just commercial projects. That means every partner, whether large or small, can now access better value when they specify our most in-demand surfaces.

Offering stability where the market does not
We know that many suppliers have passed cost pressures straight onto retailers, resulting in a cycle of instability that has become almost expected in the industry. But the reality is that independents, in particular, are already carrying a heavy load. Rising business rates, increases in National Insurance, higher energy bills and wage inflation are eating into margins long before a supplier invoice even lands.

5100 Vanilla Noir from Caesarstone’s Essentials offering

For small and medium-sized showrooms, those extra costs aren’t just numbers on a balance sheet; they’re the difference between reinvesting in their business or holding back, between paying staff comfortably or tightening belts. We understand how draining that can be. That’s why at Caesarstone we chose to act differently. By reducing and stabilising our prices, we aim to remove one source of uncertainty, giving retailers a chance to breathe, to plan with confidence, and to know that at least one of their major suppliers is firmly in their corner.

Sustainability without the price premium

4033 Rugged Concrete, using Caesarstone’s new ICON CSF technology

But price is only one part of the story. Our industry also faces a responsibility to deliver products that are not only beautiful and durable, but safer and more sustainable. That’s why we have invested heavily in developing our ICON Crystalline Silica-Free technology, which use an advanced fusion formula comprising of high-quality, post-industrial recycled materials – in some cases up to 80% recycled content. These products are not niche, premium-priced novelties. They’re designed to sit alongside, and are priced similarly to our traditional quartz surfaces, with some of most popular designs that have already transitioned to ICON now cheaper than ever before.

In doing so, we’ve removed the barrier that often prevents choices centred on sustainability from being commercially viable; for us doing the right thing shouldn’t be a premium but should be the standard practice for suppliers across the sector.

Our commitment to retailers
For us, this is about more than innovation or competitive positioning. It’s about showing our retail partners that we understand their challenges, and that we’re here to support them with clarity, stability and meaningful product alternatives. We believe retailers should never have to compromise between offering the best design, the fairest price, or the most sustainable option. With Caesarstone, they don’t have to.

In a market where uncertainty has become the norm, our message is simple: we are committed to being the reliable partner you can count on – today, tomorrow, and in the years ahead.