Customers
Market cultivation intensified
The most important part of the diverse market cultivation activities is carried out by the employees in field service at the various local sales companies. They are in daily contact with wholesalers, plumbers, sanitary engineers, real estate investors and architects. Despite the challenging market environment with a declining building construction industry, the Geberit sales organisation maintained the number of individual customer contacts at a high level. Additionally, around 50 customer events were held worldwide to mark Geberit’s 150th anniversary, paying tribute to long-term collaborations and reinforcing future partnerships.
Close to the customer
Geberit is convinced that a solid presence on the market, looking for direct contact with customers, and fostering and enlarging the network of contacts is important – particularly in a challenging market environment. With this in mind, the successful “Geberit On Tour” campaign was again carried out in several markets during the reporting year, where Geberit representatives visited local and regional wholesalers, vocational schools and pick-up points for craftsmen. This gave plumbers and specialists the opportunity of finding out more about new products, testing them out in person and sharing experiences with experts. Additionally, Geberit was also present at selected regional and national trade fairs. Important trade fair presentations were made at Swissbau in Basel (CH), Nordbygg in Stockholm (SE), VSK in Utrecht (NL) and at the SHK in Essen (DE), for example.
Close partnership with wholesalers
In Geberit’s three-stage sales model, wholesalers play a key role. Wholesalers offer plumbers the entire range of products across the various product categories in the field of sanitary technology and heating applications. They ensure product availability through warehousing and a comprehensive network of pick-up points as well as the logistics to plumbing companies and construction sites. Furthermore, in many countries they have showrooms where they can advise end users on selecting their sanitary products. The close cooperation between Geberit and its wholesale partners is demonstrated by the following examples:
- In 2024, the Geberit AquaClean Alba shower toilet model, Mapress Therm – a supply system for cooling and heating applications – and Silent-Pro SuperTube for apartment buildings were all launched as the most important new products. Prior to the sales launch in the respective markets, all of these products were introduced as part of personal visits to sales representatives and consultants at wholesalers. As a result, they were able to offer in-depth advice to customers from the very beginning and thus actively shape the market launch.
- The digital sales channel between wholesalers and plumbers has significantly increased in importance in the building technology industry in the last few years, for which standardised product data and documents with verified quality are required. Geberit constantly provides wholesalers with data in line with various standards – such as the ETIM standard (European Technical Information Model) – and sets benchmarks in the sanitary industry in terms of data quality.
- An increasing number of wholesale customers demand transparency from suppliers in terms of their sustainability performance. This is offered by EcoVadis, for example, one of the world’s largest providers of sustainability ratings for companies with a network of more than 150,000 companies in over 180 countries. For its sustainability management, the Geberit Group has recently been awarded the Gold rating in the reporting year, meaning it is among the top five percent of all companies rated by EcoVadis. Additionally, on a product level the number of environmental product declarations (→ EPDs) – which are also important for wholesalers – was further expanded.
Close proximity with the craft sector
Geberit maintains an intensive cooperation based on trust with plumbers and sanitary engineers, who play a key role in successfully establishing the company’s innovative solutions on the market and generating sales at end users. Sharing experiences directly with the craft sector forms the basis for the continuous improvement and practical development of the offering, and for new product ideas. With targeted know-how transfer, comprehensive advice and practical training, Geberit supports the craft sector in mastering their everyday work efficiently and successfully implementing projects.
Classroom training sessions and eLearning courses
In the reporting year, it was possible to provide around 70,000 (previous year 60,000) professionals with face-to-face training on products, tools, software tools and installation skills at the 30 Geberit Information Centres in Europe and overseas. At the same time, counter days and local and digital events were organised in numerous markets – often together with wholesalers – to inform craftsmen about new products. More than 69,000 customers (previous year 61,000) took part in such events, of which 4,000 in digital formats. Web-based seminars and training courses now occupy a firm and important place in Geberit’s training offer. 23,000 participants took part in the past year (previous year 18,000). This figure also includes those who participated in the Geberit Digital Campus, an online training platform that offers eLearning courses on a range of different skills as part of a self-study programme and is now available in ten markets.
Strong partner for project business
Geberit know-how for drinking water supply, roof and building drainage and for the construction of sanitary facilities is implemented in numerous major projects. The installation-friendly, space-saving and durable systems offer significant advantages in planning and design for project managers and craftsmen. Advantages also include expert technical support from Geberit’s Technical Advisory Service on topics including sound insulation, fire protection, statics and hygiene.
In residential construction, manufacturers of standardised solutions such as prefabricated bathrooms and prefabricated buildings are becoming increasingly important in individual markets. This is because industrial prefabrication allows for fast installation and higher economic efficiency. Customers in the prefabrication industry are looked after by a specialist sales team at Geberit. Geberit has been active in industrial prefabrication for years and produces prefabricated frame constructions for sanitary installations and completely furnished prefabricated bathrooms for new buildings and renovations at its sites in Lichtenstein (DE) and Matrei (AT).
In commercial construction, such as in logistics, hospitality and healthcare, and data centres, customers benefit from Geberit’s expertise in heating and cooling systems as well as in piping systems for liquids and gases. In project business, great importance is attached to support in the area of BIM (Building Information Modelling) – a digital method for making the planning and building process more efficient. Thanks to BIM, planning errors are minimised and productivity improved. Geberit provides BIM users with comprehensive product data and calculation modules, including a special plug-in for the Autodesk Revit planning software. The large number of downloads – totalling over 150,000 Revit data packages per year – underlines the increasing importance of digital planning. The digitalised operation of sanitary facilities is also becoming increasingly important. With Geberit Connect, a system is available that is used to network sanitary facilities so that they can be centrally operated and monitored – for example, through integration into a building automation system. Thanks to Connect, operators can safeguard the proper operation of their drinking water installation with minimal effort.
Digital tools for sanitary engineers, plumbers and end users
Professional customers are offered support in their daily work that meets their needs as much as possible with digital tools. Fifteen applications are now available for assisting professionals in the planning and calculation of sanitary installations or in the commissioning and maintenance of devices. For example, the Geberit Control app is used in over 10,000 sessions per month, with growth rates of over 50% per year. Using the app, plumbers and facility managers can configure Bluetooth-compatible products quickly and easily via smartphone. Additionally, the app also provides compact usage protocols and statistics, and enables remote diagnostics.
End users can find inspiration for their bathroom design in nine applications, such as the newly launched WC Finder, Washplace Configurator or the established 3D bathroom planner. The different tools are now in use in 38 markets. Geberit Home, an app for interaction with Bluetooth-compatible Geberit products such as shower toilets or the Geberit ONE mirror cabinet, has become well established on the market. It is now used over 300,000 times per month, for example as a remote control, for product configuration or for maintenance.
The digitalisation of technical documentation is also continuing at a rapid pace. Since 2023, customers have been consistently directed towards the online catalogues. As a result, it has been possible to reduce the amount of printed catalogues by around 60% to date. Furthermore, documents accompanying the products are increasingly provided online, meaning users can access digital installation documents and manuals via QR code.
Marketing campaign for end users continued
Direct communication with end users helps establish the Geberit brand among this target group on a long-term basis. The end user campaign “Better bathrooms, better lives” has been running since 2019. The campaign consists of three digital elements: an advertising campaign on online portals, the websites of the local Geberit sales companies with various configurators and planning tools, and a customer relationship management (CRM) system. The campaign was continued, although costs continued to be adjusted in line with the challenging market situation.
In 2024, the navigation of the Geberit websites was revised and rolled out worldwide. The logic of the menus is now based on product categories, which makes them easier to use. At the same time, the previously independent Geberit AquaClean websites were integrated into the country websites. This consolidation led to the standardisation of Geberit’s brand image and an improved user experience. Additionally, large sections of the sites have been optimised for search engines in order to increase the organic hit rates. The number of hits on Geberit’s websites worldwide totalled over 15 million (previous year 14 million). 4.5 million e-newsletters sent out testify to the well-established customer relationships (previous year 2.7 million).
Further targeting of customers via social media
The social media presence was further expanded in 2024. The focal points included targeted support of sales activities. The target groups here were professional decision-makers and end users, who were addressed with advertising formats and editorial content. Geberit used the most popular social media channels for these activities and informed the constantly growing communities on LinkedIn (195,000 followers), YouTube (87,000 followers), Instagram (252,000 followers), Facebook (399,000 followers), X (15,000 followers), Pinterest (8,000 followers) and TikTok (3,000 followers).
Introduction of Geberit AquaClean Alba and continuation of the shower toilet campaign
The entry-level shower toilet Geberit AquaClean Alba was launched in 2024. This offers the most important functions of a shower toilet at an affordable price, and its launch did not lead to any cannibalisation of Geberit's premium shower toilet segment. The launch was accompanied in many markets by events for selected customers, hoteliers, real estate investors and architects, which were met with an extremely positive response.
The strong presence of Geberit AquaClean in Europe was maintained. The revised shower toilet campaign ran in a total of 16 markets. In some markets, local celebrities from the worlds of sport, music and entertainment were again involved in promoting the products. The Geberit AquaClean truck, the exclusive AquaClean WC lounges and the Geberit AquaClean trailers were again deployed in the past year. In countries where the shower toilet campaign is in action, the mobile showroom and test units offered interested parties the opportunity to try out a shower toilet at selected events – such as concerts and sporting events.
The international sales initiative for shower toilets at hotels made encouraging further progress. This meant that prestigious hotel projects could be acquired in the reporting year. The number of four- and five-star hotels equipped with AquaClean shower toilets in Europe is now around 770.