Sales on the rise worldwide

The worldwide DIY market attained a volume of € 391.7 bn in 2011, according to the World DIY Report 2012 that was recently presented by the European manufacturers’ association FEDIYMA. On the basis of the preceding report, this means that the market volume has seen growth of four per cent. North America represents the biggest individual regional market, with sales of € 234.3 bn (US $ 302.7 bn) amounting to a share of 59.8 per cent. The European market is valued at € 129.6 bn, or a share of 33.1 per cent. The Asia-Pacific region takes a 4.7 per cent share of the global market at € 18.5 bn. By comparison with the previous year the 4.5 per cent growth achieved by the North American market was somewhat stronger than that of Europe, where the DIY market volume rose by 2.9 per cent. The Asia-Pacific region’s market share was down slightly because growth here came to just 2.8 per cent. China, which is included in this region, evidently pushed ahead more strongly, for its share of 2.1 per cent is 0.3 per cent above the previous year’s figure. Other major countries belonging to this region are Japan, Australia and New Zealand. America is of course the biggest individual market by a long way, achieving a volume of € 220 bn. However, second to fourth places go to Europeans: Germany (€ 37.8 bn), France (€ 24.0 bn) and the United Kingdom (€ 15.8 bn). The report deals with 74 countries altogether. Its content not only includes general indicators such as per-capita expenditure in the relevant country – top here again is the United States, clearly ahead of New Zealand, Norway and Germany at € 700 – but also details the main protagonists in the different countries. The DIY retailers are listed, together with their sales figures and number of stores. What is more, the activities of the DIY retailers beyond their home markets are analysed. The European DIY groups prove to be downright expansionist in this respect. For example, French companies are not only actively involved in practically every part of Europe except Scandinavia, but also have a presence in South America, North Africa and China, among others. Altogether French companies accounted for 620 branches in 23 countries at the end of 2011. But German DIY retailers are even more active on an international scale: they had 801 stores in 30 countries at the cut-off date. This is in contrast to the Ameri­can retailers, who concentrate more strongly on their own continent. Here it is only the cooperative organisations that…