From -80 to +20 per cent

How has the international home improvement industry come through the Covid-19 crisis? This is a question that cannot really be answered by a magazine such as DIY International, as the initial conditions in individual countries across the globe were too different, as were the consequences of the pandemic.
A couple of extreme examples offer a good illustration of this. Spain is one of the countries in Europe that was most heavily impacted. People had to stay indoors for weeks on end and DIY stores were closed from the mid-March until well into May. Sales were down by 80 per cent in April. It was a tough time for the popula­tion and home improvement stores in France, too, with a 60 per cent downturn in sales in April.
Germany, on the other hand, weathered the corona­virus storm relatively well, and the same goes for its DIY stores. In 12 of the 16 federal states, they re­mained open from the outset and reopened everywhere after a few weeks. One figure demonstrates what happened in the country: the sales of Hornbach (third-biggest German DIY retailer) rose by 18 per cent between March and May. On the opposite side of the world, Bunnings reported an increase of sales of nearly 20 per cent from January to May in Australia and New Zealand.
So what happened? Like it or not, consumers set about beautifying the homes (and gardens) in which they were now forced to spend much more time than they would have liked. Paint sales went through the roof, and garden pools - think "holiday at home" - sold out in many countries.

In Germany, however, something else happened too. Here the DIY and garden associations worked together and formulated a joint policy, tearing down the barricades of competition. Admittedly, it didn't stop one or two large DIY retailers from taking advantage of the situation to exert considerable pressure on their suppliers, and not only in Germany. In Spain, for example, the AFEB manufacturers' asso­ciation pushed back against this, and similar confrontations occurred in Italy. To say this was the case everywhere would paint too one-sided a picture, however, as other retailers adopted a fair approach in their dealings.
This issue of DIY International has been a long time in the making, both before and during the…