Upbeat consumers

“What’s up with you in Europe?” This question is bound to have been put to any European travelling overseas in recent months. Greece is hovering on the brink of national bankruptcy, the government in Italy has collapsed, Spain and Portugal are failing to get back on their feet, and in eastern Europe there is no real sign of a lasting recovery from the financial crisis. What effect is all this having on the DIY market? The situation is not a straightforward one – but when is it ever? Yet it is still offering opportunities to certain market participants, as demonstrated in the current issue of DIY International, which deals with some of these countries. Italy, for example: here the sector has made a good showing compared with the rest of the non-food trade. Or Greece, where the megacrisis is making DIY more popular. It is a known fact that even well-off core DIY countries like Germany, Austria and Switzerland, which form the subject of the regional report in this number, are also threatened by the crisis. Though the consumers in these countries don’t seem to want to know about it: they are simply continuing along their upbeat and pragmatic path of consumption. It is almost 20 years since the German retail trade has seen such high rates of growth as in 2011. Switzerland must be assessed as a special case because of the meteoric flight of the Swiss frank compared with the weakening euro: retailers here have to contend not least with the way consumers in the border areas are turning to the cheaper foreign competition. Observable in both Germany and Austria is the way that individuals seek their salvation in material assets in times of shaky currencies and low rates of interest. This means property first and foremost. And that is now being modernised. So it is being assumed that the German DIY retailers have increased their turnover by some three per cent on average – in spite of third-ranked Praktiker, which has just announced a domestic loss of ten per cent. Incidentally, it is also interesting to note that this growth no longer comes only from the seasonally vulnerable garden side but from the stores’ core business, as revealed by the figures issued by Zeus, for example. DIY has proved its worth in a time of crisis. Rainer Strnad Managing editor P.S. Do you want to obtain a personal impression of the DIY market in Germany? You can take part in the DIY Store Tour organised on 6 March in conjunction with the Cologne Hardware Fair. Information at…