Page 20 - HW December 2020

state of the nation
WHAT IS THE
STATE of the NATION?
Is it just the bottom line that’s top of mind among hardware and building product suppliers, DIY retailers and builders’ merchants? Steve Bohling reports.
IN THE THIRD week of March this year – the week before Alert Level 4 put us into lockdown – I asked a wide range of product suppliers what they thought of the prospects for the hardware and home improvement marketplace.
Almost 80% were positive about business there and then but the dominant outlook for the following 12 months (and hence the next six months as you read this today) was “It’s going to hurt” (44%) and “Uncertain” (26%).
Anecdotal reports more recently indicate that many players in residential building, DIY and home improvement have seen stellar gains in sales, if not quite recovering all the business lost during lockdown, then close to it.
But high levels of uncertainty remain.
So, to follow up on my March survey, in early November I set about polling the industry once again.
This time, as well as surveying some 250 hardware and
building product suppliers, I also polled 150-odd key DIY retailers and builders’ merchants – thanks to everyone who responded by the way!
And, in contrast to my previous straw poll, this time there is a much more positive, if not totally unanimous outlook, with some key differences between suppliers and retailers & merchants.
Check out the graphics on these pages to get a quick fix on my findings but do read on to get some insight into what is behind these numbers.
1. What is your outlook for the
CONSUMER market in the next 6 months?
Overall, in terms of the consumer market, over half of all respondents said it’d be “Business as usual”, while more than a quarter countered with “It’s going to soften” and smaller but equal numbers forecast uncertainty and improvement (see graph 1 below).
In this respect, although 56% of retailers & merchants and 47% of suppliers went for “It’ll be business as usual”, fair numbers of retailers & merchants (28%) and suppliers (24%) also ticked “It’s going to soften”.
Suppliers (18%) were also three times more “Uncertain” about the next 6 months for the DIY marketplace than the retailers & merchants (6%).
1. What is your outlook for the CONSUMER market in the next 6 months?
18 NZHJ | DECEMBER 2020/JANUARY 2021
51%
26%
11%
n It’ll be business as
usual
n It’s going to soften
n It’s going to improve
n Uncertain
MORE AT www.hardwarejournal.co.nz
11%