Tariffs and other adversities

The US government’s tariffs are also a concern for the global home improvement industry. At the 5th Virtual DIY Summit, which was broadcast live on the internet at the end of September, they were addressed right at the beginning and were the topic of the keynote speech at the end.

In his welcome address, Hima President Reinhard Wolff, managing partner of Wolfcraft, pointed out that customs duties also pose a threat to this industry. “But the home improvement industry is able to deal with this situation,” he said.

In his opening statement, Thierry Garnier, CEO of Kingfisher and President of Edra/Ghin, once again called on companies in the industry to join the Scope 3 initiative „Make It Zero“. Currently, 70 companies worldwide are participating in this initiative.

More than 800 viewers from the global home improvement industry followed the digital industry congress. The event was organised by the European and international trade and manufacturing associations Edra/Ghin and Hima. Edra Managing Director John Herbert moderated the programme.

Dr Alexander Börsch from Deloitte took stock of the current global economic situation. The leitmotif of his presentation was the topic of „uncertainty“ – a term that could well be the word of the year or even the decade. The effect, namely that consumers prefer to save their money rather than spend it, is also noticeable in the DIY industry. According to Börsch, however, the underlying data does not look so bad. Real incomes are rising in the USA and Europe, and inflation is keeping within limits. But Börsch also fears that US tariff policy will cause inflation to rise again. On the other hand, he pointed out that there are also positive developments in international trade policy. For example, new free trade agreements are being concluded.

Alan Cresswell from the market research company NIQ/GfK presented current data from the home improvement sector that is encouraging for the industry. In Germany and the United Kingdom, for example, the proportion of people who want to renovate or redecorate their homes has risen by 6 percentage points to 65 per cent since 2022. It should be noted that professionals are increasingly being involved in such projects. However, the industry has not benefited from this globally. In the period from July 2024 to June 2025, only the gardening business grew (5.8 per cent more turnover with 3.1 per cent more volume); all other product groups were down. Cresswell provided further figures to show that…