A YEAR IN REVIEW: INDUSTRY COMMENT


“NOT RESTING ON OUR LAURELS”


New products, but maintaining business culture, is the key to success, says UK sales manager at Barrettine, Phil Gibbins.


This year we at Barrettine are celebrating over 140 years of supplying products to the professional trade and DIY markets. A very successful family business based on the outskirts of Bristol, we supplying the whole of the UK. We manufacture a wide range of products such as wood preservers, wood treatments, traditional creosote, decorating materials such as white spirit, sugar soap and our branded paint strippers Peelaway and Paint Panther. For customers that have their own specific requirements, we also offer contract manufacturing. The Barrettine Group is still a British owned traditional family


business with family values offering a personal service on delivery, technical support and working close with customers to make sure we give the best possible service and support. For 2020, the company is


not resting on its laurels and has a very active new product development programme, creating new and innovative products such as new Armourflex; a high performance flooring/wood varnish with the very latest technology and highest quality resins built in. The Armourflex range is aimed at the contractor, trade and serious DIY end users. Continuing to identify new products for the Construction, maintenance and DIY market sectors, such as the


all new wood preservers and UV protection products for the cladding market. For the New Year we look


forward to sharing our ideas and new products with our customers to help them grow their businesses with high quality new products, whilst maintaining our business culture and traditional family values.


“TIME TO GET ON WITH IT” Will Jones, chief operating officer at BHETA, discusses what happens next in the Brexit conundrum


The fact that we finally have a decisive election outcome is probably one of the most positive things to happen in the whole of 2019. At the very least, we now have a degree of clarity, but which will now enable the industry to refocus on dealing with the challenges and embracing the positive opportunities. In short, to ‘get on with it’. And there are plenty of challenges and opportunities to be addressed. A case in point is the impending legislation around recycling and packaging waste. This has clear negative implications for unwary suppliers and retailers; but can equally lead to positive actions which could prove ultimately beneficial. BHETA is engaging with the implications of new packaging laws – just as it has been doing on the responsible retail of bladed items in the light of the new Offensive Weapons Act. This time last year


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I suggested that the environment and recycling will become ever more crucial to industry’s approach to product and packaging design, whether as an influential ‘nod’ in terms of colour, or as something more fundamental in the use of sustainable and / or recycled materials. Consumers are rightly asking questions about both materials and processes, and the need to make radical changes to the latter to justify the former seems daunting; but will prove an opportunity, and a necessity, in the medium term.


Other major challenges include US


tariffs on tools, the changing nature of retail, the changing priorities, from things to experiences, of the younger consumer and the growing importance of real sustainability in product development and in the increasing interest in repair, rather than throw away. The latter is just starting to take root in the burgeoning of ‘maker spaces’ and community repair ‘shops’, but this


could eventually prove a real positive for both the skills and the tools needed to sustain the DIY industry. In terms of the changing nature


of retail, we have seen the effects of old retail models combined with entrenched sourcing policies in the B&Q sales decline in the third quarter of the year. The home and DIY giant recorded a 3.5 per cent drop in total sales at B&Q to £820m, down 3.4 per cent on a like-for-like basis in the quarter to October 31, with performance hampered by ‘organisational complexity’. In contrast, the fresher approach of sister brand, Screwfix saw sales up by 7.9 per cent to £477m, up 3.7 per cent on a like- for-like basis, albeit still behind the innovative Toolstation.


Another significant opportunity both for home décor and garden leisure is the one presented by the Olympics. At BHETA, trend forecasting is an absolute commitment and the team frequently work with trend forecaster, Scarlet


Opus to explore both supplier and retailer opportunities – and it is safe to say that the Japanese influence will be a certain opportunity thanks to the Tokyo Games.


So, while the drama of Brexit unfortunately continued to be a dominant factor for many throughout 2019, I like to think we are entering times of more certainty, making it easier for businesses not only to strategise for the UK leaving the EU, but also to plan for changes in general, legislative and otherwise, which have been delayed or influenced or interrupted by Brexit itself or the elections it has spawned. My hope is that now that we are ending 2019 with more clarity, the opportunity as ever is to study the trends, to invest in the ideas and innovations they suggest and to appreciate that no supplier or retailer can afford to stand still. For those that can embrace the inevitability of change on all levels, the opportunity for 2020 and beyond could be exciting.


23 DECEMBER 2019 DIY WEEK 17


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