The DIY market under the sign of V

Rapid crash, swift ascent: economists call this a V-shaped recovery. And that is just what the home improvement and garden markets in European countries went through from early summer to the autumn of this coronavirus year 2020. The image of the V-shaped crash and the rapid rise in sales curve to its former level suggests that everything can continue as it was before.
That's not the case, as practically everyone in the industry who mentions it is saying. But they don't only mean this negatively. Because coronavirus has also had a positive impact on the industry in a number of ways. More on that later. First a few figures from the most important European markets.

The DIY stores in Germany have greatly profited from the coronavirus crisis. This is suggested by the sales figures from the first half of the year which have been published by the trade association BHB. They state that the industry has achieved sales of EUR 11.82 bn and thus growth of 15.6 per cent (16.0 per cent over a comparable area) compared to the same period last year.
How strong the coronavirus effect was can be particularly seen by the figures from the second quarter: the increase amounted to 22.5 per cent overall (like-for-like 22.9 per cent).
The reason: people repaired, redeveloped, renovated and decorated their homes - and a part of their homes is also the whole garden area. So the figures reflect the first effects of the "summer at home" and the intensified involvement of garden and balcony in customers' living concepts, analyses the association.
Front runners among the sales growth in the 22 recorded assortment groups: paint / painting supplies +37.6 per cent, wood (incl. garden wood) +29.1 per cent, garden equipment (incl. summer houses) +25.1 per cent, construction chemistry/construction material +24.9 per cent, garden furniture +21.4 per cent. Almost all product groups in the German specialist DIY and garden stores are manoeuvring within a mostly significant plus range for the half year period. There were only underperformers in the segments automotive (-7.9 per cent) and technology/office/entertainment (-7.4 per cent).

The sales growth of the French DIY stores fell in August compared to the previous month, but still remains in the double-digit range. This is shown by the current figures which have been published by the country's association of DIY store retailers (FMB). The value in the reporting month lay at 13.01 per cent while there was a rise of 17.99 per cent in July…