According to The British Home Enhancement Trade Association (BHETA)’s latest weekly Covid-19 financial update for members, forecast growth in housewares and small domestic electricals expenditure for 2020 has now dropped to minus 14.4% – from £13.6 bn to £11.7 bn compared to 2019.
However, the overall electricals sector (which includes home entertainment) is holding up relatively speaking, with a better figure of minus 1%.
The update – based on GlobalData’s latest analysis from April 15 (superseding its April 6 data) – reflects the virtual halt in spending on items considered ‘non-essential’.
BHETA’s marketing manager, Steve Richardson explained the trade association’s decision to produce the figures on a weekly basis. “BHETA is working with GlobalData to provide financial updates for its DIY, garden, housewares and small electricals members to keep them abreast of the economic impact of Covid-19. The implications of the pandemic from a commercial perspective are now moving so fast as events unfold that forecasts are changing weekly, and it’s vital that BHETA members have the latest information.”
Steve continued: “These figures show housewares and small domestic electricals doing slightly better than the big-ticket areas of home enhancement retail such as flooring and furniture; but suffering a serious dip, nevertheless. “
He reflected: “The £6.8 bn predicted additional spend on food and grocery is not translating into good news for the associated housewares sector; with ‘non-essential’ clearly being the determiner here. Unfortunately, with housewares being generally less project-focused, neither is it getting a degree of protection from the consumer focus on things to do around the home in the way that DIY and garden are doing.”
The BHETA Covid-19 update also details the impact of the pandemic on retail as a whole, as well as sector-by-sector. Latest figures here show coronavirus taking £15.0bn out of UK retail spend in 2020, a fall of 4.4%. Both April and May will show non-food spend decimated as the lockdown extends with online sales offsetting but not compensating for reduced footfall in store.
All the figures in the update show a gloomier picture for non-food offline sales versus a week previously, owing to the lockdown extension, and increasing evidence of the damage done to the macro economic situation and growth in unemployment forecast, affecting consumer spend post-lockdown. The impact also represents the first decline in the nominal value of retail for many years – including the financial crisis – although current forecasts suggest a quicker recovery compared to 2008/09.
BHETA’s weekly Covid-19 updates follow on from its commitment to producing a quarterly economic report pulling together multiple sources of data on all the home enhancement sectors. The BHETA quarterly report, which is a comprehensive document running to around 30 pages is available free to BHETA members. The next issue will be available in June. “In the meantime, the weekly Covid-19 updates are proving invaluable for BHETA members as a virtually real-time guide to the current situation,” added Steve.
See www.bheta.co.uk or contact BHETA’s member services on 07946 078566.
Top: The electrical sector (including kitchen SDAs and home entertainment) is faring better than housewares overall (picture courtesy of KitchenAid).
