Covid-19: One year on | FOCUS
Kitchen sales through merchants slumped by 80% in April 2020
-80% £55bn
From the end of March 2020 to now, KBB showrooms have been forced to close to the public for roughly eight out of 12 months. There was bound to be an impact on sales, but one thing that took everyone by surprise was the huge boost to sales that took place in the summer and autumn. With people having been stuck indoors and working from home for so long, money that would in normal times have been spent on eating out, commuting and holidays was now burning a hole in their bank accounts and could be redirected into home improvements.
There was a sudden pent-up demand for kitchens and bathrooms, and The 2020 Renovation Nation Report from mortgage comparison site
money.co.uk refl ects this, showing that consumers spent £55 billion on renovations last year.
Research The latest fi gures from KBB market researcher JKMR on kitchen product sales (cabinetry, worktops, sinks and taps and new-builds) show that sales in 2020 hit £2.5 billion, down 5% on 2019. It predicts that independents will gain market share in 2020 as client spend per kitchen increased considerably. Independents had a market share of 28% in 2019, which increased to 41% in 2020.
JKMR also predicts that there will be enough post-Covid momentum to prevent project volumes from falling further for the rest of 2021.
Richard Hibbert, national chair of the Kitchen Bathroom Bedroom Specialists Association (KBSA) and owner of KSL in Sudbury, is positive moving forward: “Online
consultations, delivering samples to homes and digital brochures have kept retailers busy, and the outlook for the rest of the year is optimistic. Many households cut back on spending on big-ticket items during lockdown and have their homes.”
funds to invest in
Sirius Buying Group managing director Steve Jones shares agrees: “Overall our kitchen business was up, with all of our members reporting it is the busiest they have ever seen or at least for a very long time. We remain optimistic about 2021.” For the bathrooms market, sales fi gures supplied by the Bathroom Manufacturers Association (BMA) show that 2020 suffered a 12% drop over 2019 (AMA Research: £920m, excluding showers at £508m and wet rooms [2018] at £92m). There was a signifi cant bounce-back after
the fi rst lockdown as many people were reinvesting in the homes they had spent months trapped in. It gave the market an overall boost after a generally poor fi rst half. “We learnt how quickly the industry could bounce back,” says Alan Dodds, MD at the Roca Group. “In March, April and May, things were slow because of the lockdown, and then from June onwards, it accelerated to the point that the last quarter of 2020 was very
buoyant. We anticipate consumer
demand for new bathroom refurbishments after this current lockdown.” Adapting quickly was vital for Trojan Baths as neither it, nor anyone else in the industry, had anticipated such high demand for bathrooms in the second half of 2020. David Mosley, managing director at Trojan Baths, says: “As people spent more time at home, there was a signifi cant increase in DIY
Bathrooms • Bathroom product
sales for 2020 down 12% to £1.52 billion
• Bathroom product sales down 28% in April 2020 compared with April 2019
• Bathroom sales for January 2021 up 2% on January 2020 and 3% on January 2019
Homeowners spent £55bn on renovations during 2020*
JUNE 12, 2020 SAVE OUR SKILLS
Kbbreview launches Save Our Skills as a way to keep skilled people in the industry
April 2021 ·
JUNE 15-29, 2020 RETAIL REOPENS
Retail reopens on June 15 in England/NI, June 22 in Wales and June 29 in Scotland
JULY 24, 2020 FACE MASKS
Face masks must be worn in shops and showrooms in England
OCTOBER 14, 2020
THREE-TIER SYSTEM
Three-tier system across England for different areas
OCTOBER 23, 2020 CIRCUIT BREAK
Wales enters a circuit breaker lockdown and KBB retailers have to close again
NOVEMBER 5, 2020 LOCKDOWN 2.0
England enters lockdown again but it is unclear whether retailers can open
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*Source: 2020 Renovation Nation Report
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