NEWS


n A British Home Enhancement Trade Association (BHETA)


NEWS IN BRIEF team


is set to walk (or run) over 500 miles between now and Christmas to raise money for the industry charity, The Rainy Day Trust. The specific target is 509 miles, that being the distance between BHETA’s most northerly member, housewares manufacturer, Aydya based in Dundee and the most southerly, heating and plumbing supplier, Select Products in Torbay. n Tong Garden Centre has donated £1500 worth of dog of leads, collars, bowls, snacks and portable pet carriers to Rotherham based charity, Helping Yorkshire Poundies (HYPS). n Planning permission is being submitted for the opening of a new 23,800 sq ft Homebase store in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. If planning permission is granted, the store will open on the Fairacres Retail Park in late 2021 – making it the first new Homebase store opened in over six years. n Latest data from retail experts Springboard reveals that footfall across all retail destinations declined in the first week of November by -15.4% from the week before, when footfall had increased by +6.2%. However, the result for the week as a whole disguises the mini-boom which inevitably occurred in the days leading up to the lockdown 2. n Government U-turn on gas boiler ban in new homes is welcome but further clarity needed to protect consumers, says Gas Users Organisation, which speaks for the 24 million households who use gas for their central heating.


Global DIY Market grows 4.2%, breaking the 600 billion ceiling


In 2019, the DIY/home improvement


world market


turnover reached €618 billion, breaking through the €600 billion ceiling, an increase of 4.22% compared to last year (€593 billion), according to the latest Global Home Improvement Report which has just been published. North America and


Europe combined represent approximately 86.6% of this market, although


their joint


population accounts for only 16% of the world population. The DIY markets of these two continents sum €535 billion, an increase of 3.68% to the 2018 value of €516 billion. North America and Europe reach 58% and 28% of the world market respectively. North America had the highest average DIY expenditure per capita in 2019 at €972 compared to €932 in 2018. Approximately 81% of the Global DIY market (€502.2


Profits are up at Notcutts in last year up to February 2020


Notcutts recorded another year of profit growth in the year ending February 2020 with operating profit up 13.5% to £1.72m. This followed a 52.5% increase in operating profit on the prior year. Gross margin improved by 1.4% points to 48.9%. Total sales of £76.1m were up 1.9% despite significant disruption


to normal trading


patterns as Notcutts continued with its progressive redevelopment and garden centre improvement programme. Capital expenditure was


£9.2m in the year. Restaurant redevelopments were completed at


Woodbridge, Cranleigh


and Ashton Park. Full centre redevelopments, covering


both retail environments and


restaurants were completed at Booker, St Albans and Garden Pride (Ditchling). In each of these schemes Notcutts’ trade mark show gardens were included as part of the developments. Two further show gardens were added in Maidstone and Victoria (Pontefract) and a woodland heritage walkway was opened for customers in Woodbridge. Commenting on these results


Chief Executive, Nick Burrows said: “We are pleased with our progress during a year in which we were able to deliver further growth in operating profit. A continued focus on margin and a successful cost efficiency programme helped underpin this achievement. This during a year when we completed further exciting projects to bring customers ever improving experiences in our garden centres. In addition the investment we made in our e-commerce platform has put us in a good position to serve customers through this growing sales channel.”


Half of Brits set to spend £47 billion on home improvements in 2021


Next year is set to be one of transformations for British homes, with more than half of Brits (59%) claiming they will be making home improvements,


with the


average spend at £6,531 per


household. Decorating


is revealed as the top home improvement (69%), with grey being named as 2021’s colour of choice, followed by cream and blue, according to new research by Attic Self Storage. The new research uncovers


that more than two in five (43%) Brits are looking to upgrade their garden and outside areas; 34%


4 DIY WEEK NOVEMBER 2020


are buying new furniture; almost a fifth (18%) are looking to extend or build an outhouse and 14% a work hub.


On the contrary, only one in five Brits is looking to take advantage of the stamp duty holiday - with 61% believing it’s a bad time to sell their property, with safety


(43%) being the


number one reason not to buy. When asked, 35% said it’s too challenging viewing properties with the current restrictions; 29% think the market is too confusing and 16% believe they would lose too much money on their current home.


billion) is concentrated in only eight countries: USA, Germany, Canada, Japan, United Kingdom, France, Australia and Italy. Moreover, the three major DIY markets in Europe (Germany, France and United Kingdom) represent 50% of the continent’s market. The top 10 major DIY


retailers worldwide are: Home Depot (USA), Lowe’s (USA), Adeo (France), Kingfisher (UK), Menards (USA), Bunnings


Crown Trade gives apprentice decorators chance to shine


(Australia), OBI (Germany), Bauhaus (Germany), Ace Hardware (USA) & Sodimac (Chile). Home Depot and Lowe’s alone account for 26.3% of the global market share. More detailed information, including


a Global Analysis,


detailed data on over 50 of the largest DIY Markets as well as the top 10 home improvement groups worldwide, is contained in the new edition of the Global Home Improvement Report 2020.


Earlier this year, it was


announced that the 2020 Apprentice Decorator of the Year competition, which Crown Paints has sponsored for over 40 years, was being put on hold due to the Covid- 19 outbreak. While that means


that the


best and brightest apprentice decorators won’t get to shine in front of the judges at the Skillbuild UK final this November, Crown Paints has decided that up-and- coming decorators should still have the opportunity to show off their skills to the world! That’s why the leading paint


manufacturer has launched its own virtual Apprentice Decorator Challenge, which any apprentice can get involved with, from the comfort of their own home or college. Crown is releasing details of what would have been this year’s regional design for the Apprentice Decorator of the Year competition and asking budding decorators to have a go at tackling the tricky artwork using the skills they have learned as part of their apprenticeships. Apprentices simply need to shoot a quick video of themselves with their finished design, talking the judges through how they approached the challenge, and send it to Crown Trade via social media. Alternatively, apprentices can submit photos of their finished design along with a brief explanation of what they found most challenging and how they tackled these parts of the piece. All those who take part will receive an ADY goodie bag as well as feedback from the judges. For more information on the competition, follow @ CrownTradePaint on Twitter, CrownTradePaint on Facebook or Crown Paints on LinkedIn.


October sees consumer spending decline by 0.1


per cent due to restrictions and colder weather Spending


Consumer spending declined 0.1 per cent year-on-year in October, as the introduction of further restrictions and the arrival of colder weather encouraged Brits to stay at home and turn to online shopping. Data from Barclaycard, which sees nearly half of the nation’s credit and debit card transactions, reveals that spending on essential items grew 4.2 per cent year-on- year, steadied by a 13.9 per cent rise in supermarket expenditure, though this was the smallest increase in the category since February 2020.


on non-essential


items declined 1.7 per cent, compared to the 0.6 per cent growth seen last month. Clothing fell 2.7 per cent overall, though a 20.6 per cent growth was seen in online clothing as the nation chose to shop from home instead of venturing to the high street. Spending at department stores also contracted by 9.9 per cent, down from the smaller 0.2 per cent decline seen in September.


Home deliveries remain popular as online supermarket expenditure saw 94.4 per cent growth, accounting for 13.7


per cent of total supermarket spend compared to 13.0 per cent last month. This comes as a third (33 per cent) of Brits say they are stockpiling essentials in preparation for potential shortages. However, boosted by early Christmas shoppers, general retailers and catalogues saw growth of 50.0 per cent in


October. Food and drink specialist stores, including butchers and greengrocers, also rose by 50.7 per cent as nearly half of shoppers (48 per cent) looked to support local businesses.


www.diyweek.net


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