We are building a business we are proud of, by helping our customers save energy and reduce the carbon footprint of their homes.
Products that support sustainability
Providing customers with energy saving advice
Understanding our customers’ needs
Products that support sustainability
At Wickes we aren’t only looking at ways to reduce our own environmental impact, we also want to help our customers save energy and reduce the carbon footprint of their homes.
According to the Energy Saving Trust, the energy used to heat and power our homes accounts for around 22% of the UK’s carbon emissions. Reducing carbon emissions and improving energy efficiency of the nation's homes in a fair and cost effective way remains one of the greatest challenges for the country to become net zero by 2050. The UK also continues to experience an increased cost of living that makes energy efficient homes even more essential to combat rising energy bills.
Our Homes pillar aims to address these challenges through the products and services we offer. We are focused on increasing the range of our products which support our customers with the transition to a low carbon economy and we are working towards achieving 50% (by revenue) of our own brand products classified as supporting sustainability.
We already sell a wide range of products that help our customers improve the energy efficiency of their homes, including insulation, double glazing, lighting and smart heating systems. We have recently expanded our product ranges to also offer products that help with reducing the carbon footprint of homes, including air source heat pumps, solar PV products and electric vehicle chargers.
For further information on which types of products we classify as supporting sustainability please visit our Responsible Business page on our customer website.
We talk about our overall performance in our annual Responsible Business Reports.
Helping our customers save energy
We provide information and guidance on our customer website and in store to help our customers make informed choices on how to save energy and reduce the carbon footprint of their homes. On our website we provide an interactive guide to an ‘Energy Efficient Home’. We also provide buying and installation guides for solar PV products and heat pumps, and How-to guides for insulating lofts.
We partner with the Energy Saving Trust to provide our customers with impartial and independent energy saving advice on our website, and have specific advice on insulation, heating, lighting and draught proofing.
We talk about our overall performance in our annual Responsible Business Reports.
Understanding our customers' needs
We know we can do more to support home owners in the UK to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions of their properties and this starts with understanding the needs of all our customer groups, Local Trade, our DIY customers and customers looking for support with Design and installation.
We conduct ‘customer closeness’ focus groups to better understand their needs and concerns, including on environmental issues. Through this research we have established that although home improvers and tradespeople are concerned about climate change, in reality few people have installed products that will result in a lower carbon home. There is an opportunity for retailers to play a far greater role in educating and supporting consumers and through continued engagement with our customers we are focusing our products, ranges, and services on what they want and need.
We talk about our overall performance in our annual Responsible Business Reports