UK DIY & Gardening Sector Report summary
July 2021
Period covered: Period covered: 30 May – 03 July 2021
Note: This report summary is one or two months behind the current month as standard reporting practice. The content is indicative only and incomplete with certain data undisclosed. Subscribe to access this data or take out a free 30 day subscription trial now.
DIY & Gardening sales rose by 00% in June YoY, against a 14.2% rise a year ago.
Compared with pre-pandemic times, sales growth rose by 00%, continuing to outperform all other categories on this measure.
Home-related products remained popular in June supported by warmer weather and the boost in savings over the past year due to home working and fewer holidays. Resultantly, DIY & Gardening, Furniture and Homewares were the top three performing categories compared with 2019 levels.
A warm spell of weather in the first half of the month drove demand for garden staples with Google trends data reporting that searches for ‘garden heater’ (+199%), ‘garden furniture’ (+182%), ‘garden hose’ (+180%) and ‘BBQ’ (+114%) all rose significantly on 2019 levels – a key indicator of intent.
Online sales were hampered by strong performance a year ago with online Household Goods falling by 00% in June YoY, against a 115.3% rise a year ago
Despite this fall in sales growth, online penetration remained strong, accounting for almost a 00 of overall household goods sales, unchanged from the previous month and well ahead of the pre-pandemic level of 13.4% in June 2019.
Closer to home, the issue has been more in logistics with driver shortages putting considerable pressure on supply chains.
Rising inflation is a key concern in context of the erosion of spending power against a backdrop of the Government unwinding supportive measures (e.g. furlough).
Retail Economics forecasts online DIY & Gardening sales to decline by 00% in 2021, reflecting unfavourable year-on-year comparisons with 2020.
Kingfisher upgraded its adjusted pre-tax profit guidance for the first half of its financial year to be in the range of £645m to £660m, outstripping previous guidance of £580m to £600m, as like-for-like sales soared 22.3% in its second quarter to date compared to two years ago.
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Online Household goods – spend vs. growth
Source: Source: ONS, Retail Economics analysis
