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14 APRIL 2017 A look inside Bunnings St Albans p14 POS &


INSIDE THIS WEEK


CLEANING & LAUNDRY Key trends and opportunities in the category


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BEST SELLERS What’s sweeping the board in cleaning & laundry


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MERCHANDISING Top tips, expert advice and a look at who’s doing it well p12


WWW.DIYWEEK.NET Late Easter could deliver footfall bounce


Retail footfall over the coming Easter weekend looks set to outpace 2016 levels, thanks to the holiday falling after the national payday and with mild spring weather expected to deliver an additional boost. This is the forecast from retail performance and footfall monitor Springboard, which predicts that footfall in the UK’s high streets will rise by 8.8%, with numbers also expected to be up in retail parks, and shopping centres, boosting footfall after six consecutive months of decline. Springboard believes a continued trend for consumer spending focused on leisure and hospitality trips means that Easter 2017 is likely to outperform the same period last year, when


footfall dropped by 1.9% overall. Springboard insights director Diane Wehrle said: “Last year Easter


took place on March


25, a few days in advance of national payday for many shoppers. This combined with poor weather conditions, impacted footfall, which declined across retail destinations from Easter Saturday onwards. “Mild spring weather is


forecast for this Easter, which falls after the national payday. This


strongly indicates that


more shoppers will visit retail destinations over the weekend compared with last year; on Good Friday last year – the one day of the weekend with good weather – footfall on high streets increased 16.4% compared to


Good Friday 2015.” Easter’s forecast is supported


by March’s positive performance across all retail destinations in comparison to February. UK high street footfall increased 1.7% and retail parks saw an uplift of 1.4%. Meanwhile, shopping centres saw marginal growth of 0.2%. Ms Wehrle added: “The key drivers of consumer spend, confidence and inflation, have worsened over Q1 2017 from Q1 last year, which is likely to be constraining shoppers’ willingness to spend on retail goods. This, together with the increasing importance of leisure and hospitality trips, is likely to bring about uplifts in spend in food and beverage outlets.”


Amazon slashes prices on DIY and garden goods ahead of Easter


As the high street gears up for a predicted increase in footfall this weekend, online retail giant, Amazon is keen to get its slice of the action and has launched a huge sale, with offers on thousands of home, DIY and garden products. The series of DIY Easter deals,


sponsored by Bosch, run from April 4-17, covering the Easter


Bank holiday this weekend. Consumers will be able to take advantage of savings – in some cases of as much as 75% off the RRP – on products across the site, including items from major home, DIY, tool and garden brands.


DIYWK-14APR17-Draper_Layout 1 11/04/2017 10:38 Page 1


Daily deals have included a Flymo Chevron 34 VC Electric Wheeled Rotary Lawnmower


down at half price from £129.999 to £64.99 and a Lifewit 3.8M Telescopic Aluminum Ladder reduced from £138 to £68. Many of these offers are only available for 24 hours at a time but some, including a Bosch cordless leaf blower with 18 V Li-Ion Battery for £58 (down from £110), and up to 30% off Spear & Jackson garden tools


and garden clean-up, as well as up to 50% off Scotts and Weedol Products, Hozelock products and Kingfisher garden furniture, will run until stocks last.


Amazon seems to have all DIY and garden tasks covered, offering deals on everything from Walsall Wheelbarrows and top-brand pressure washers, including Karcher, to Unibond


grout pens for just £3.15. It follows the announcement in February that Amazon plan to create 5,000 jobs in Britain this year, taking its UK workforce to 24,000. It is also opening three new warehouses, which it refers to as ‘fulfilment centres’, in Tilbury, Doncaster and Daventry, and is gearing up to open a head office in London.


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