Following Boris Johnson's announcement of the month-long winter lockdown, stores are expecting once again to see a rise in sales of home improvement goods.
The British Home Enhancement Trade Association (BHETA) recently reported that roughly £4.94 billion could be spent on improving homes and gardens before Christmas, with more than a third of consumers planning jobs. This is approximately £550 million more in comparison to last year.
The first national lockdown saw millions across the country rush to make home improvements, but this may have been more focused on summer outdoor projects. Now, with the winter months fast approaching, many are looking to improve the interior of their homes and keep them in top shape as they will likely be spending most of the cooler months indoors. Supporting this sentiment, last week, John Lewis' sales of ready-made curtains grew by 51% in comparison to the year before.
Additionally, research from Powered Now has found that 18% of Brits have agreed that the second wave has influenced them to commence home improvements sooner rather than later, and due to this, 15% of tradespeople are currently seeing their highest client demand ever.
Key Statistics:
- 81% agreed that despite Coronavirus, they won't postpone home improvement work because of a reluctance to have other people in their house
- 18% agreed that the threat of a second wave of COVID has influenced them to commence home improvement projects sooner rather than later
- 15% of tradespeople agree that their client demand is the highest ever, post-lockdown
- 17% of tradespeople regularly work over 10 hours a day
- 18% of tradespeople don’t have the time or motivation for new business development due to the sheer backlog of work they have
Ben Dyer, CEO of Powered Now said: "Over the past few months, we had been seeing in UK construction indexes what was a really welcome confirmation of the trend we have been experiencing at Powered Now – the trade sectors are back! This is great news. It means that this important sector is doing its part in the recovery from COVID-19.”
“Now, with a second wave and lockdown upon us, and with the construction sector continuing to remain open, we are really expecting to see a push in the trade sectors prior to the winter months. As we have seen from the sentiments established in this research, the weather and lockdown are undoubtedly helping the trades bounce back even quicker as people are now rushing to hire a tradesperson for their desired work.”
“This has helped to spike demand and we expect it to continue in the short term. Our research has very much confirmed that Brits were and will continue to be eager to have home improvement jobs completed, treating themselves to a little home-based TLC", he said.
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