The Q1 2026 benchmarking report for UK kitchen retailers has just been published. Learn how the top 12 UK kitchen retailers perform across the digital space.

The latest Q1 2026 benchmarking report for UK kitchen retailers has just been published.  It covers the largest 12 national kitchen retailers, including Magnet, Benchmarx Kitchens & Joinery, Harvey Jones Kitchens, Tom Howley, Wren Kitchens, deVOL Kitchens, Kutchenhaus, Kesseler, Howdens, Wickes, Moores Furniture Group, and Sigma 3 Kitchens.

The research gives an inside track on who is winning the biggest share of voice online and quantifies the gaps, risks and missed opportunities for other kitchen retailers to win brand exposure, generate online views and drive in-store footfall, where relevant. The report highlights quick wins that will improve enquiries from your online strategy and identifies the barriers that may be reducing your site’s ability to optimise digital performance.

To see a preview and contents page of the Q1 report, click here. To get a copy of the full report and the key takeaways, please complete the enquiry form or schedule a call.

Q1 2026 WINNERS LEADERBOARD

For a glance into just 6 of the metrics we evaluated these top 12 kitchen retailers on, check out our quick-look table below;

Continue reading for further detail on this quarter's best and poorest-performing UK kitchen retailers or request a copy of the report for the full review.

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What The Industry Research Report Covers

The 70+ pages of research benchmarks each retailer based on 50+ metrics and indicators of successful digital strategy, including organic visibility, domain authority, paid media ads, conversion performance, technical performance, site speed, universal search, content, social ads, accessibility, and mobile performance.  

Driving Optimal ROAS from Paid Media Channels

Some of the leading players in the space are high spenders on paid media channels such as Google, Bing & Facebook - but have a poor or sub-optimal conversion improvement strategy. Without an optimised, sophisticated conversion strategy that maximises the conversion rate, the return on investment is unsustainable or will underperform. Scaling spend on paid media is not achievable unless the conversion rate delivers optimal performance in the sector. Some in the space have paid media spend levels from 30k+ per month but dedicate minimal resources and budgets to conversion testing.  Given the cost per clicks on ad networks will continue to rise, we recommend spending at least 10% of your paid media budget on ongoing conversion optimisation testing schedules to ensure your paid media ROI maintains long-term viability, competitive advantage, and sustainability.

Pay-Per-Click Marketing

Pay-Per-Click marketing is constantly evolving, with more and more advertisers being forced to hand over a lot of control to Google's algorithms as the push for automation grows ever stronger. There are still key elements of control that we have though, the main one of these being budget which is ultimately something the algorithms can't take from you. That's why being smart with your budget and ad coverage is essential to achieving strong results and bettering what your competitors have to offer.

ForQ1 2026, the average monthly budget wastage across these UK kitchen retailers was £68,739 with some of the top players in the market spending a considerable amount on areas and audiences unlikely to deliver a return. We can see this in more detail when looking at the average cost per cost-per-click (CPC) amongst advertisers, with the average of this metric being £8. This highlights how competitive the market is and how important it is to control your budgets effectively.

There are varying monthly ad budgets across the competitors in the report. While this gap highlights the competitive advantage that larger budgets can provide, it's not just about spending more; it’s about spending smarter. By focusing on driving efficiency in campaign management, targeting, and budget allocation ,businesses with smaller budgets can still effectively compete with larger players. Investing in data-driven strategies and refining ad performance can help close the gap and maximise the return on every pound spent, enabling growth even in a competitive landscape. Relative to their spend, Harvey Jones Kitchens reported the lowest monthly cost-per-click (CPC) at £5, and Kesseler has the highest at £26.

The report highlights the importance of budget efficiency by comparing monthly ad spend with estimated CPC in relation to your competitors, see who has the highest and lowest CPC. To maximise the effectiveness of your budget, it’s essential to focus on driving CPC down while maintaining or improving campaign performance. In this report, Tom Howley has the lowest estimate monthly ad spend at £21,000, and Howdens has the highest at £1,180,000.

By optimising targeting, refining ad copy, and leveraging data to identify high-converting opportunities, you can ensure every click delivers maximum value. This approach not only stretches your budget further but also boosts your return on ad spend (ROAS), enabling you to achieve stronger results without simply increasing expenditure.

Technical Website Compliance

Savvy digital marketers know that having a technically sound website is an essential component of a successful fully integrated digital strategy - plus a site capable of maximising conversion performance. Kitchen retailers will want to ensure that key pages, such as style/ colour options, pricing and payment information, and installation guides, are clearly signposted, so prospective customers can get all the information they need to place an order.

In our previous audit, Howdens received the most 404 errors (276). This quarter, Howdens has slightly decreased their 404 errors to 253. Currently, Kesseler is currently the kitchen retailer to watch, with a total of 516. 404 errors can prevent new or updated content from being indexed efficiently. If internal navigation paths are broken, search engines may struggle to discover fresh pages or updated URLs. This slows down content visibility in search results and reduces the effectiveness of content strategies designed to drive organic traffic growth.

Site Speed & Conversion Rate Performance

When 62% of consumers are less likely to convert if they have a negative mobile site experience, ensuring that your site is quick and easy to load makes a significant improvement on your overall conversion rates. As with ensuring their site is easy to navigate with limited 4xx errors, kitchen retailers will want to provide a seamless, fast site experience for their users.

In our last audit, Benchmarx Kitchens & Joinery received the slowest mobile site speed(7). This quarter, Benchmarx Kitchens & Joinery has increased their mobile site speed to 47, moving them up the leader board. Currently, the mobile site speed ranges between 62 and 21, with Kesseler reporting the slowest score. Search engine visibility benefits from fast mobile performance due to mobile-first indexing. Search engines primarily evaluate the mobile version of a website when determining rankings, making mobile speed a core SEO factor. Faster sites are more likely to rank well, gain organic visibility, and attract consistent search traffic. 

Building Competitive Advantage with Domain Authority

Domain authority is an essential metric for measuring the effectiveness of SEO performance, and helps create a reliable overall gauge of how effective your site is at achieving organic traffic, i.e. ‘free’ traffic that isn’t gained through sponsored ads. Kitchen retailers can look to creating content that home, food, and lifestyle publications will want to engage with, something that a digital PR specialist can assist with.

A ‘good’ DA really comes down to how your competitors are performing, however it’s generally considered average between 40 and 50, good between 50 and 60, and excellent above 60. In our previous audit, Moores Furniture Group reported the lowest DA score (9).This quarter, Moores Furniture Group remains the retailer to watch, and they’ve since decreased their score to 7. Domain authority scores are influenced by the quality and health of a website’s link profile, and 404 errors can weaken this significantly. When backlinks point to broken pages, the site loses valuable link equity that would otherwise strengthen its authority score. Without proper redirects, this lost equity cannot be transferred, reducing the overall strength and credibility of the domain.  

Organic Performance – Mobile & Desktop

A strong organic performance is strategically important as it ensures your site ranks above competitors for key, transactional keywords. When 93% of your customers won’t go past the first page of Google, your absence or lack of targeting for essential keywords will cost you conversions. Due to the cost of living crisis, we'd expect to see a fall in traffic to the kitchen retailer sector, due to consumers holding back on non-essential purchases, such as new kitchens.

Four brands reported a drop in organic traffic on desktop, with deVOL Kitchens receiving the biggest loss (-14%). On mobile, Moores Furniture Group received a drop in organic traffic (-86%). Consistent content updates can help maintain and increase organic traffic over time. Refreshing existing pages with new information signals relevance to search engines. Outdated content may gradually lose visibility to more current alternatives.

Universal Search Opportunity

Google Universal Search Results is an evolving opportunity to make your pages visible on a SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Universal results often appear before traditional listings and are eye-catching for users. Universal search results refer to rankings on a SERP that are not the traditional ‘blue line’ Google link, and a retailer can appear for universal search results without being strong in standard rankings. For kitchen retailers, 'image pack' is a strong opportunity to sell products directly from the SERP, with high-quality product images that engage prospective customers.

Howdens has secured the most Universal Search appearances (29,557) — an increase from 18,397 previously. 

The Longtail Keyword Opportunity

Longtail keywords are often considered high intent and potentially more likely to convert as a searcher is being more specific. Optimising for longtail keywords also puts your content strategy in a strong position to rank for retailer new search terms as they enter Google’s index. Kitchen retailers should look to consider phrases that include high-conversion intent terms, such as 'installation next week' or 'payment plan options', as a way to secure traffic from visitors specifically looking to buy.

Howdens continues to secure the most longtail keyword appearances for position 3 (5,873) — an increase from 5,002 previously. Howdens continues to secure the most appearances for positions 4–10 (16,318) —an increase from 11,932 previously. Longtail keywords are far less competitive than broad, generic terms, making them easier to rank for. This allows smaller or newer websites to gain visibility in search results without competing directly with high-authority domains. Over time, this builds organic growth in a more achievable and sustainable way.

Facebook Adverts

With the number of Facebook users in the United Kingdom (UK) hitting over 44 million users in 2023, it is not surprising that companies have jumped at the opportunity to advertise on the social media platform. Facebook’s UK digital advertising revenue has been estimated to have breached 2.6b GB pounds in 2019. For UK kitchen retailers, Facebook ads are an opportunity to ensure customers see availability, products, and deals.

We’ve included screenshots of Magnet’s sponsored Facebook posts. This UK kitchen retailer utilised vertical videos/imagery to optimise their content for those using a mobile.

Top Social Shares & Content

When it comes to social media and on-site content strategies, it is important to release content that has a longer shelf life. An article is considered 'Evergreen' if it has maintained its relevancy to an audience for longer. It's great for your retailer engagement, but great for Google too, who will recognise content which achieves traffic over a long period of time. As with developing their digital PR strategy, kitchen retailers can look to developing content that fits with home, food, and lifestyle, in order to appeal to a wide variety of users.

Wickes secured the most Facebook Likes (211,600), and deVOL Kitchens secured the most Instagram followers (872,300). Twitter was the most popular social media platforms of all brands. deVOL Kitchens received the highest total engagement rate (2,640) and the highest average engagement (377).

Website Readability & Accessibility

20% of people in the UK have a disability – 2 million of which are people living with sight loss. In addition, 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women have some degree of colour vision deficiency. When websites are not designed to meet these needs, retailers lose customer interest as they turn elsewhere. For brands operating within the home improvement space, accessibility should be a key consideration for their site, as it will help convey that accessible design is also part of their approach to home solutions.

In our previous report, Magnet flagged the most accessibility alerts (126). This quarter, Magnet has decreased their accessibility alerts to a total of 94, no longer making them the kitchen retailer to watch. Currently, Wickes reported the most accessibility alerts (125). Videos without captions exclude users who are deaf or hard of hearing, while audio content without transcripts limits access for many users. Automated tools often flag these omissions, particularly on marketing pages that rely heavily on video. This issue is common when accessibility is not considered during content production.

GET THE FULL 70-PAGE Q1 2026 REPORT

To get a copy of the full report, please complete the enquiry form. If you want to talk to us about accelerating your digital performance, please call us on 01543 410014 or schedule a call with Rory Tarplee.