New potential

The Wendlingen-based company markets its products principally through DIY stores and garden centres. The “Planet Pool” and “Clear Pool” brands are now listed by Hornbach, Obi and Hellweg, and by owner-managed garden centres as well. The company also supplies its products to international DIY stores including B&Q in Britain and Merkur in Slovenia and Croatia. Yet another brand name for large-format stores is “Planet C”, a range of cleaning products originally developed to meet the needs of industry, then modified by Chemoform for the consumer market.
Over-ground swimming pools, water treatment products and accessories by Waterman promise a high sales potential.
Cedrik Mayer-Klenk, the proprietor of Chemoform, expresses his conviction that, “A garden centre can open up an entirely new source of potential sales by offering a selection of above-ground swimming pools, accessories, water treatment products and technical systems. Is not for nothing that above-ground pools are regarded as the starter-price entry into the world of swimming pools.” And a basic range does not even require very much space: two metres of shelving fronted by four square metres of display space are enough. Retailers are given assistance through on-the-spot staff training, displays with an individual assortment of goods, help with setting up and assembling the range, and with positioning the merchandise within the store.
The high season for swimming pool business is from March to July, but Waterman’s production runs as a continuous process. Additional warehouses are leased at the start of the season, so that sufficient stocks of product can be built up to enable the company to fill even orders placed at short notice by its commercial customers.
The water treatment chemicals are manufactured at four production plants in Germany. Not only does Waterman market it products under its own brand names, but also supplies a great number of well-known swimming pool firms at home and abroad. The company’s own selection is complemented by swimming pools and accessories produced by the Spanish manufacturer Gre. The parent company, Chemoform, is considered to be the biggest manufacturer of swimming pool chemicals in Germany, where it employs a workforce of 65. Waterman is now giving priority to the goal of increasing brand recognition in large DIY superstores and garden centres, and among consumers as well.