Home improvement and energy

Due to the economic crisis, Greece has been in the world press headlines for quite a while. What effect has this had on the DIY market? DIY International asked the trade journalist and DIY expert Prokopis Karydakis from the Stephanos Karydakis Printing House SA, for his assessment of the situation.How would you describe the current situation in the Greek DIY market?Prokopis Karydakis: The Greek DIY and home improvement market has remained stable in spite of the crisis. The sharp decline in the construction sector hit all companies in this industry very hard and many thought that it would be the end of the whole industry. However, companies dealing with paints and construction elements reacted quickly and won over customers with increased advertising, better price offers and more user-friendly products.This of course helped the DIY stores too and as a result, the industry in Greece was able to improve their export capabilities and deliver their goods to many Balkan countries. Seen from a geographical point of view, Greece has a strategically favourable location as it can serve southern Europe, Turkey, the Arabic region and North Africa. These two factors have greatly helped the DIY manufacturers to stay in the game.What tendencies and trends are there?There are currently two huge trends in the Greek market: home improvement and energy supply.Most Greeks own their own homes. The level of home ownership is probably the highest in the whole of Europe at more than 80 per cent, and more than 30 per cent have a second home. During a crisis, people do not think about moving house but rather about renovating their homes. Those who do actually move, usually move to already existing homes or to older properties. In com­parison to new homes, these buildings usually have more space but need renovating.Furthermore, the situation is such that oil prices have dramatically increased due to higher oil taxes. Thus, more and more people are searching for alternative means of heating and are trying, as best they can, to insulate their houses in order to reduce heating costs. For this reason, many companies have taken on such products in their portfolio and consequently have opened up new fields of business, some of them with great success.What kind of impact will Praktiker's bankruptcy, and the fact that it has been sold to a Canadian investor, have on the market?Although Praktiker's bankruptcy last year had nothing to do with Greece, it significantly set the market back for…