Growth at expense of pricing level

The DIY market in the Netherlands experienced volume growth of 0.3 per cent in the first six months over the same period in 2003. The DIY superstores expanded disproportionately, notching up a 1.3 per cent sales increase to achieve a market share of 70 per cent. By contrast, the small-scale DIY outlets experienced a drop of six per cent, partly because of a reduction in the number of sales outlets, according to the explanation offered by GfK. Paint retailers suffered a loss of 0.7 per cent, though ironmongers experienced a slight gain of 0.6 per cent.
In the case of the large-format stores, their sales volume at 2.5 per cent showed a greater increase than their sales revenue, for prices continue to be under pressure here. These stores made 59 per cent of their sales with articles from product categories where prices have been falling. Only four per cent of the range has maintained its pricing level, and 31 per cent of sales are attributable to product categories that have gone up in price.
The proportion of sales contributed by items that do not belong to the traditional DIY product range has increased by two percentage points to nine per cent. For instance, dishwashers have achieved the highest rate of sales growth at 153 per cent, followed by microwaves at 112 per cent. Then come mirrors (up 101 per cent), wooden toys (up 46 per cent), garden furniture (up 42 per cent), ovens/hobs (up 34 per cent) and engine oil (up 30 per cent). Power tools for the garden experienced the greatest losses.