Newsletter
Shop
Login
Menü
Subscribe now
Deep insights, facts & figures: Premium information for the home improvement industry.
- Retailers and suppliers: exclusive insights
- Market analyses and country reports
- Trends in the DIY and garden market
- Latest news and archive
TRIAL OFFER
Online subscription
Continue reading now
Already a subscriber?
Sylvia Herzog, DIY in Europe Germany
Last year the German DIY retail chains managed for the first time to break through the negative sales trend experienced over recent years and record a sales increase of three per cent to around € 17.73 bn (2.1 per cent in like-for-like terms), according to information from the BHB. This association of DIY, building and garden stores says that the large-scale discounting campaigns of the past year have contributed to the development. Margins are however down.
For this year the industry is anticipating a further market recovery. And certain factors point in that direction. For instance, surveys have found that consumers are spending less on holidays or going out, and showing a preference for investing in their homes instead. Since in recent years the emphasis has been mainly on renovations and improvements, fundamental repair work has been postponed, so that an enormous backlog of demand has built up here. Which may well be to the advantage of the DIY retailers.
The recently emerging do-it-yourself TV programmes could also tend to stimulate demand, because they are intended not only to create enthusiasm for a more attractive home but also to convey the knowledge necessary to achieve this. These programmes have proved immensely successful in the United Kingdom, and in every respect, for the sales figures of the DIY retailers as well.
However, the consumer, who has over the course of many years developed into nothing less than a bargain-hunter, could foil the entire plan for the market recovery. This smart shopper has his eye on the price alone, an attitude that retailers themselves have been inculcating in him for years now. He hunts for one bargain after the other, actually making his purchase only when the price is right. Uppermost in his mind is the thought that perhaps the product could be offered at a better reduction somewhere else tomorrow. So best wait and see.
It is still not clear whether the whole business of special offers and discounting campaigns will in the longer view have any positive effect on sales at all. However, one thing at least is certain: that there will be no end to the continuing pressure on margins.
Last year the German DIY retail chains managed for the first time to break through the negative sales trend experienced over recent years and record a sales increase of three per cent to around € 17.73 bn (2.1 per cent in like-for-like terms), according to information from the BHB. This association of DIY, building and garden stores says that the large-scale discounting campaigns of the past year have contributed to the development. Margins are however down.
For this year the industry is anticipating a further market recovery. And certain factors point in that direction. For instance, surveys have found that consumers are spending less on holidays or going out, and showing a preference for investing in their homes instead. Since in recent years the emphasis has been mainly on renovations and improvements, fundamental repair work has been postponed, so that an enormous backlog of demand has built up here. Which may well be to the advantage of the DIY retailers.
The recently emerging do-it-yourself TV programmes could also tend to stimulate demand, because they are intended not only to create enthusiasm for a more attractive home but also to convey the knowledge necessary to achieve this. These programmes have proved immensely successful in the United Kingdom, and in every respect, for the sales figures of the DIY retailers as well.
However, the consumer, who has over the course of many years developed into nothing less than a bargain-hunter, could foil the entire plan for the market recovery. This smart shopper has his eye on the price alone, an attitude that retailers themselves have been inculcating in him for years now. He hunts for one bargain after the other, actually making his purchase only when the price is right. Uppermost in his mind is the thought that perhaps the product could be offered at a better reduction somewhere else tomorrow. So best wait and see.
It is still not clear whether the whole business of special offers and discounting campaigns will in the longer view have any positive effect on sales at all. However, one thing at least is certain: that there will be no end to the continuing pressure on margins.
Newsletter