Things can only get better…. but when?
Things can only get better…. but when?
The flooring trade is feeling gloomy as the nights start to draw in this Autumn with our latest survey revealing that around half of all retailers expect year-end sales to be below 2023 levels.
52% of our respondents to a survey posted on September 4 expected turnover to be down, with a third saying sales would be more that 10% below their 2023 performance. But a quarter were more positive, saying their revenues would be up by more than 10%.
Around 55% said they had increased prices during the year but a substantial 79% said their margins had not improved.
While higher value sales were holding up well according to 72% of our readers, the mainstream market is in the doldrums and 70% said consumer confidence showed no signs of improving. 66% said their customers were more significantly more price sensitive. One respondent said retailers should be more willing to try up-market products to boost their margins.
Hopes that some encouraging signs in the economy on interest rates and inflation and the stability of a new Government are not showing through in buyer behaviour. “People are still sat on the hands and we’re not selling,” said a Yorkshire reader.
"People are still sat on their hands and we’re not selling”
Asked if the change in Government had improved the outlook, 61% said not. “The prime minister telling consumers things are going to get worse before they get better has not helped. Especially for the middle classes who might have money to spend but aren’t sure what will happen in the Autumn statement,” said a North East business.
Only 28% of our readers expect the run up to Christmas to out-perform 2023.
“There is no financial strength in the trade at the moment”
Some feel that a structural change is coming in the sector.
“There is no financial strength in the trade at any level at
the moment,” says a reader in the South West, noting that
many major players in the industry were re-organising and
re-structuring. “Carpetright have gone, SCS no longer sell floorcovering and every section of the trade is evolving.
The landscape will look very different over the course of the next
few years but I feel independents will continue and thrive.”
Manufacturers and suppliers got a vote of confidence from our readers with 72% saying they had risen to the challenge of a tight market in terms of service, delivery and pricing, though only 25% said they were seeing the new product launches they needed to motivate customers.
"Let’s make the most of the demise of Carpetright”
So when is it going to get better? Maybe it’s encouraging that just over half of our readers thought 2025 sales would be “up a little” on this year, but asked when things were really going to pick up, the largest response (28%) was “not for the foreseeable future” with another 25% saying the second half of 2025 and 21% saying 2026.
“The only way is up... but I’m not sure when we
move off the bottom!”
