Economic impact

Jones, chief operating officer, BHETA looks at how the market currently stands …

The world has changed so much over the last couple of years with consumer perceptions of home cooking, home baking and home entertaining shifting from something lovely for the dedicated enthusiast to a staple of contemporary life. Many new devotees have entered the market, as a result, the category has been transformed. So, it was no surprise that market expansion was stratospheric during the various Covid lockdowns.

With new habits entrenched, we all know that now we find ourselves in a massively challenging time. We are in a cost-of-living crisis, those that can still afford it are rushing off on holiday while they can, supply chain issues remain, the energy crisis bites with a level of inflation not seen since 1975 – the overall economic predictions are hardly positive.

So, let us look at where the market stands. Thanks to its partnership with GlobalData and contacts with other data providers, BHETA has all the statistics and some very wellinformed predictions.

The BHETA Quarterly Market Report shows the value of the housewares sector to have declined by 3.7 per cent year-on-year to the end of September and forecast to be -3.2 per cent lower by year end. Of course, that is against very robust growth in 2020 and 2021, so it has still been a good year in the context of

the last five years.

And while it might look like tough times compared to 2021, Dunelm’s sales in the last quarter were still 36 per cent higher than in 2019 and delivered profit in the year to July of £209m.

Not only that but encouragingly, there is still huge interest in housewares categories across Google, as those good habits formed and reinforced during the pandemic are still being searched. It just might be a bit harder to convert that traffic to purchasers. We can add into this the bounce-back in the kitchen, bathroom and flooring sectors as more homeowners accept tradespeople into their homes.

With both kitchen and bathroom improvements enabling housewares and small electricals purchase, it’s useful to note that kitchen furniture is expected to have grown by 5.1 per cent by the end of 2022, and bathrooms showing only a slight decline, down by 2.4 per cent.

Looking ahead, 2023 will of course hold significant challenges as the Bank of England predicts the UK will enter recession. Disposable income will be a challenge, but inflation should start to reduce, and if we do enter recession, we are hoping that it will be shallow and still give suppliers and retailers conditions in which they can still make money - albeit growth will be harder to achieve.

So, what has BHETA been doing

The BHETA Quarterly Market Report shows the value of the housewares sector to have declined by 3.7 per cent yearon-year to the end of September and forecast to be -3.2 per cent lower by year end.