25-27-29-31-33 Retail Barometer 2022.qxp_Grid 06/04/2022 15:49 Page 1
THE 2022 RETAIL BAROMETER READINGS
LOCAL
HEROES
Inset: Home cooking boosted sales for 81%.
The continued rise of home cooking and baking, the Shop Local mantra, new customers and increase in average customer spend all contributed to 62% of indie cookshops and housewares retailers reporting an upturn in their trade in 2021 compared to the year previous while 42% are expecting to see further growth this year. These are among the findings of PH’s 17th Retail Barometer, which gathers responses from independent cookshops and housewares retailers from different locations across the UK. Indies were asked to reflect on 2021 and look forward into the year ahead, creating a fascinating picture of another exceptional year of challenges and opportunities. BRICKS AND CLICKS
GROWING GAINS
According to the findings of PH’s previous Retail Barometer, 64% of Matching the previous Retail Barometer, 68% of this year’s respondents sell online (to varying degrees, with just 5% purely online). A quarter independent cookshops and housewares retailers were anticipating of respondents have started to sell online over 2020 and 2021. growth for their business in 2021. Happily, this number pretty much However, there has been a further shift towards online sales in 2021 when 41% of sales of Retail Barometer respondents were online matches reality, with 62% saying that their overall trade was better in and 59% in physical stores, compared to 29% online and 71% in 2021 than in 2020 (see comparison table). In fact, this is the highest stores in 2020. upward swing for growth; looking back over previous Retail Barometers, the nearest to this figure was the 52% who experienced growth in 2010. Going into more detail, the cookshops and housewares stockists who said their business was better in 2021 were up 24% on average, while those who saw a decline were on average said they experienced a decline in sales. Moreover, 41% said sales Inset: Part of a bright 12% down. declined significantly over this period. window display at Rossiters, Bath. Completing the survey during On the upside, the rise of home cooking and baking has continued to the first half of March 2022, of have a positive impact on housewares retailing. Of course, the course independent retailers have experienced another extraordinary phenomenon started in 2020’s lockdowns and an overwhelming 81% year, shaped by the Covid-19 pandemic. The lockdown between saying that home cooking and baking also increased sales in 2021 (see January 2021 and reopening dates in April 2021 saw the closure of the Home Cooking pie chart). most physical There is also positive independent cookshops news about average How has your business fared over the last year? and housewares spends. These are PH looks back at five years of Retail Barometer data: stockists. When asked continuing to increase about the impact of this for most respondents: 2021 vs 2020 2020 vs 2019 2019 vs 2018 2018 vs 2017 2017 vs 2016 lockdown, over half 23% say these have Better 62% Better 39% Better 37% Better 26% Better 31% (55%) of Retail risen significantly and Same 14% Same 15% Same 26% Same 28% Same 16% Worse 24% Worse 46% Worse 37% Worse 46% Worse 53% Barometer respondents a further 45% report a PROGRESSIVE
25
HOUSEWARES