Weakening growth

As expected, data from the Italian office of statistics, Istat, relating to the first six months of 2009 show an industry at a standstill caused by the crisis. The food industry, which has also been affected, recorded a drop of 1.6 per cent, while the non-food industry has landed at -2.2 per cent.
In the case of the DIY market, a sector with a volume of € 11.4 bn in 2008 that amounted to 10.6 per cent of the non-food market overall, it is a momentary weakness after five years (2004 ? 2008) of growth at 2.3 per cent. By comparison, the total non-food market grew by 2.0 per cent on average.
A substantial shift in the channels of distribution became evident during these five years: the market share of the large-format specialist stores saw steady growth, eventually reaching one-quarter of the total market. This came at the expense of the traditional retail segment, though this still remains the most significant channel at 65 per cent, and of the non-specialist food trade, which represents less than ten per cent of the overall market.
A look at the geographical spread of all the sales outlets of the Italian DIY retailers reveals their presence mainly in shopping centres (23.6 per cent) and trading estates (52.3 per cent).
While no reliable data are available for the hardware market, information on the DIY and builder stores goes right through to the end of July 2009. Its source is the GfK Panel, which was introduced on the occasion of Bricoday, an annual get-together of the industry organised by the trade journal Bricomagazine, and which has collected data from two channels, DIY superstores (in excess of 800 m²) and mass merchandisers (hypermarkets, mercatoni, cash & carry, pure players) for the past two years.
According to the Panel, the DIY superstores achieved sales of € 1.673 bn in the first six months of 2009, or 2.9 per cent more than the same period the year before. Though it must be said that the increase in the first half of 2008 amounted to eleven per cent. This growth is rated as moderate, especially since it is strong-ly dependent on new openings.
Moreover, the traditional DIY range (tools, hardware and paint, etc) has dropped below 50 per cent by value. Despite this the channel of distribution has grown by two per cent, mainly because the operators have developed new product categories. Worth mentioning here are the following: garden (six per cent up), household products (care and cleaning materials, 32 per cent up), particularly minor electrical…