INDUSTRY COMMENT: YEAR IN REVIEW
IMPROVED CONSUMER CONFIDENCE
Gareth Edwards Managing Director, GEM Merchandising
Despite the cost-of-living crisis there was real positivity in the DIY, merchant, and garden centre markets in early 2024, with some significant investment by many customers, keen to capitalise on improved consumer confidence.
During quarter one the merchant channel devoted time, resource, and space to their internal sales areas, enhancing their current offer. The DIY and garden centre sector prepared for peak season with an early Easter, only for the weather to spoil the party, with January, February, March, and April all delivering an average of over 100mm of rainfall per month. Team GEM kept extremely active with a large-scale project installing hundreds of sheds and storage boxes as well as implementing a major range review in over 500 merchant outlets. With our loyal full-time team, located throughout the UK and Ireland. We are ‘the eyes and ears’ of our customers providing them insight, via our own reporting and analysis tool,
THE FUTURE BELONGS TO THOSE WHO PREPARE FOR IT TODAY
Kerry, Clive, John, Karl, Paul and King The Daley Hub Team
Another year is almost over which gives us the opportunity to review the past 12 months. A time to evaluate where you are now, where you thought you would be and what you have planned for 2025. Through all our retail interactions this year, with suppliers and large retailers, we see there have been many challenges this year and there are many still to come that will play a significant role into 2025. The drive to extend and widen ranges has, for some, facilitated better options and service for customers. However, we still see huge challenges when making a selection out of 100s of options of a single product that are on offer, a topic that we feel retailers are still yet to solve. This reminds us of the old ‘jam experiment’, the paradox of choice; “if a person is presented with too many choices, he or she is actually less likely to buy.” Encouragingly though in our conversations we see retailers wanting to engage in new products but are challenged
16 DIY WEEK DECEMBER 2024
with the long lead times and quite limiting restrictions, such as onboarding delays, lengthy account set ups and working capital restrictions and the ongoing shipment issues have increased stock holdings for retailers as well as suppliers.
For suppliers, we see a real hunger from areas such as Europe, Scandinavia and China to name a few, to enter into the UK market. We feel their optimism. We have visited many shows this
year, Canton Fair, Koln trade fairs, Garden, Retail, Paint UK shows. What is working well in our work is developing and defining clearly the compelling offer, how and why the retailer should range the product and proposition, making it easy for the buyers to see how they would fit into their ranges saving the buyers time that they do not have in their demanding roles. The best example of a great trade show is, we feel, Screwfix Live show where over 180 suppliers interact with customers. So as 2024 draws to a close, the year ahead will have new challenges but also offers a huge opportunity for those who embrace the challenges, so be agile and resilient. The future belongs to those who prepare for it today!
Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year from all at Daley Hub.
‘Bee-visible’, on inventory, space allocation and competitor activity. Quarter two is always our busiest of the year and 2024 was no exception. Team GEM visited over 800 Garden Centres, 900 merchant outlets and over 900 DIY stores, from Wick to Penzance, Great Yarmouth to Tralee. The weather didn’t improve much so ‘big ticket’ gardening sales suffered. Some of our customers shifted focus, improving point of sale, and installing new secondary FSDUs and Clipstrips, which can be reused rather than discarded. In quarter three and there was talk of CDS - The Range, buying Homebase, we all had everything crossed that this was true. Glee cheered us all up with plenty of innovation. It was great to see both new and familiar faces and brands
supporting the industry. In quarter four the budget shocked us all with a whopping employer’s National Insurance burden, which will undoubtedly stifle growth. Spin and poor reporting don’t accurately convey just how debilitating this, along with the 6.7% increase in the living wage will be to SMEs. What many feared came to pass, with the dreadful news of Homebase’s demise. Huge respect to all colleagues who fought to the bitter end, you didn’t deserve this. Things we’d like to see in 2025 include: a government action plan to protect shopworkers from abuse; business rate reform that supports retailers and creates a level playing field; and a clear plan from our government to support SMEs.
SIGNIFICANT MILESTONES FOR THE INDUSTRY
Kimberley Hornby George, Owner, Hornby George PR
This year felt like one that struggled to truly take off. The anticipation for long sunny days gradually faded as we came to terms with the fact that the summer we had hoped for was unlikely
to appear. Yet, for our sector, this wasn’t entirely unexpected. Instead, we adapted, opening new conversations, planning with care, and making cautious decisions to meet demand while safeguarding against the challenges of the season. Of course, the weather wasn’t the sole driver of change. The newly instated Labour government introduced a budget with wide- ranging implications, many of which are likely to shape the garden retail sector for years to come, though not without
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