Floorcare Opportunities at the floor level
Although sale of niche products, such as handheld ‘sticks’ and steam cleaners, are growing fast, the real opportunities for the independent remain at the premium end of the market, concludes Anna Ryland.
E
ven in the recession the floorcare market is showing some positive growth. In 2011, its sales value increased by 8%, and although the sales volume didn’t rise at the same pace, with average price growing at by almost 9%, the sector delivered welcome news to the independent sector. “Floorcare is more resilient than other electrical goods sectors, because of the replacement market. It’s a ‘must-have’ in the home, if the current cleaner breaks down then a new one is quickly needed,” says Charles Gordon, managing director of
whatvacumm.com, an online source of advisory and testing information. Market statistics show that although customers are more likely to delay their replacement purchases they are looking for quality. “The floorcare market has grown by 1% for the twelve months to March 2012, with the total value increasing to over £530m. Growth was sustained as price inflations and a shift towards more premium appliances helped counter balance diminishing volume sales. Upright and cylinder cleaners continue to drive value, together contributing towards
86% of the overall category. Upright value sales remained flat over the year, accounting for just below £250m, whilst cylinder vacuum cleaners fell by 2% and are now worth just over £210m,” comments Richard Allen, GfK account executive.
People leading increasingly busy lives not always have time for a major cleaning session every week. However they have to deal with daily accidents around the house for which they need flexible, easy to operate and to store tools. This trend is reflected in a growing demand for smaller lightweight cleaners, ‘handsticks’, that grew by 86% in volume and staggering 254% in value in 2011. “The need is primarily being driven by more purchases of second and third vacuum cleaners for homes, the rise in smaller families and smaller living spaces. The older generation also finds compact cleaners more manageable,” explains Victoria Blasdale, floorcare marketing manager at Miele.
“While UK homes used to be furnished almost exclusively with carpet, we’re now
22 The Independent Electrical Retailer June 2012
seeing the adoption of multi-floor homes. Because of this, consumers are increasingly looking for multi-surface cleaning solutions, an intelligent purchase that can save valuable storage space and provide excellent value for money due to the adaptable nature of products currently on the market,” says Annabel Waite, category consumer manager, Household Cleaning, for Morphy Richards. This trend is reflected in the growth of the steam cleaner category, which enjoyed a 129% lift in value in 2011.
“Steam cleaners have grown rapidly in popularity in recent months and we’ve seen significant growth in sales of all our steamers,” confirms Vax’s director of new product development, Paul Bagwell. Another niche product category showing good growth are robotic vacuum cleaners. Although they are currently produced only by a handful of manufacturers, their volume sales was up by 17% and value by 27% in 2011. “Products with time saving features that make life easier are increasingly being favoured by customers. Robotic vacuum
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