NEWS


Contactless spend soars


Card payments grew strongly in March, with the number of contactless transactions pushing ahead and recording a 160% increase in the year. New figures reveal that the number of card payments reached a monthly total of just below 1.4 billion in March 2017 - up by 19 million on February. The main contributors to this increase have been the ongoing migration of cash payments to cards, enhanced by increased use and acceptance of contactless cards.


The number of contactless payments rose to 442 million during the month, accounting for 32% of total purchases, up from 15% a year ago.


Meanwhile, the annual growth rate of the number of purchases continued to outstrip that of amount spent, highlighting a growing consumer preference to use cards more often for lower-value payments. There has also been a 36.6% increase in the number of bank-owned terminals available for UK customers to use to make a contactless payment. The figures reveal that consumers spent £1.76 billion on debit and credit cards in DIY stores in March 2017, up from £1.63 billion the previous year. During the 12 months since last March, the total number of card payments made in the household retail category, which includes DIY stores, garden centres, floor covering retailers and electrical retailers, reached 697 million, with a value of £48.10 billion. DIY retailers took a large


proportion of that share over the course of the year, with nearly £20 billion spent via 345 million card transactions.


Lighting manufacturer fined £2.7m in price-fixing probe


UK lighting manufacturer, the National Lighting Company(NLC) – which operates Poole Lighting Ltd and its Endon and Saxby brands – has been issued with a hefty fine and other firms are receiving official warnings in a major price fixing probe into the industry after witnesses in the case say retail price management ‘is the norm’ in the sector.


NLC became the first lighting company to be fined after investigators from the Competitions and Market Authority (CMA) found that the lighting manufacturer illegally fixed prices on its Endon and Saxby brands, requiring online sellers to use a minimum price for its light fittings.


NLC tried to avoid detection by not committing the illicit


agreements to writing, said the CMA as it imposed a fine of £2.7 million on the company. The penalty covers violations in relation to NLC’s commercial lighting brand Saxby and decorative lighting brand Endon and includes an extra fine because the company ignored an earlier warning letter. A warning letter is issued when the CMA ‘has reasonable grounds to suspect anti- competitive behaviour’. It is not a formal allegation but requires a considered response. The CMA revealed that it has since sent a number of warning letters to other suppliers in the light fittings sector where there are reasonable grounds to suspect they may also be engaging in retail price maintenance. A number of suppliers were named by witnesses during the


investigation as having price policies in place, however, the details of these companies have not been released. CMA Senior Director, Antitrust Ann Pope said of the ruling: “This decision should act as a warning


B&M opens new store, as Aroras see boost from share sale


More than 90 new jobs have been created for people in Ipswich by the new B&M store which opened at Anglia Retail Park, bosses have said. Deputy mayor Roger Fern along with volunteers from Lighthouse Women’s Aid cut the ribbon at the shop when it officially opened its doors at 9am on Friday, June 23.


The latest opening follows news that the two brothers who built up the national discount chain, have cashed in nearly £230m of shares in the fast- growing business – taking their total proceeds from the business since it floated to nearly £1 billion. The latest share sale has cut Simon and Bobby Arora’s stake to 15% from about 21% and was part of a share placing


alongside B&M Retail’s private equity backer, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, which also sold about £227million- worth of shares. The PE firm now holds a 4.9% stake.


In a statement issued to the stock market earlier this month, B&M chief executive Simon Arora and trading director Bobby explained that they are still “fully committed to the business and are confident in the outlook for B&M, both in the UK and internationally”. The brother’s SSA Investments vehicle is still B&M’s largest shareholder and the statement said the Aroras were “committed to participating in B&M’s exciting


to companies that resale price maintenance is illegal and that warning letters issued by the CMA are to be taken seriously and not to be ignored.”


Read more about the investigation on www.diyweek.net


Exclusively shows boast top-quality visitors


The ‘invited buyer’ format of Exclusively Housewares and Exclusively Electrical has delivered a strong visitor profile for exhibitors once again, with buyers from major high-street names and online giants, as well as international retailers. “Senior, quality buyers from


future growth prospects”. It was also reported last week that Simon Arora was awarded a £678,692 bonus after the company met 80% of his target award. As a result, Mr Aurora will take home £1.4 million compared with his £601,638 pay package last year.


Henkel celebrates DIY Week Awards win with £1 million ad campaign


Global adhesives and sealants giant Henkel has invested £1 million in a new TV ad campaign.


The investment aims to raise


awareness of the award-winning Re-New product and the ad will run on major channels in prime slots for three weeks.


Launched on June 21, the 10-second advert, which proudly sports the DIY Week Awards logo, has run several times a day in the commercial breaks of popular programmes


www.diyweek.net


on major networks including ITV’s Coronation Street, Good Morning Britain, Channel 5’s Big Brother and Sky News, as well as major sporting events on Sky Sports channels to name but a few.


The commercial for Re-New, which was named Decorating Product of the Year at the 2017 DIY Week Awards, will air until July 14.


Go online and watch the new TV commercial at www.diyweek.net


across all the different retail categories attended the shows this year,” show director Simon Boyd said of the Exclusively shows, which ran on June 13-14 at the Business Design Centre in London.


Exclusively Housewares & Exclusively Electrical vet all their visitors carefully, inviting only bona fide housewares, tablewares and SDA buyers to attend the shows. The strategy meant that, this year, buyers from major high-street names The Range, TK Maxx, Argos, Robert Dyas, Marks & Spencer, Lakeland and Steamer Trading all attended. The grocery sector saw teams from Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Tesco and Asda attend, whilst department store visitors included John Lewis, House of Fraser, Debenhams, Selfridges, Brown Thomas, Barnitts, Bentalls of Kingston and Fenwick stores.


Read more about the show and the top housewares trends on page 8.


30 JUNE 2017 DIY WEEK 3


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