Markets in Europe diminishing in size

The European Consumer Barometer produced by Commerz Finanz draws a very mixed picture of the European DIY retail sector during last year. The survey attests that the highest growth rate of 10.0 per cent goes to the sector in the Czech Republic. Next comes France at 2.1 per cent. This analysis sees the German market as recording growth of 1.6 per cent, resulting in a volume of € 45.4 bn. The most extreme negative result of -10.0 was established for Hungary. Buying intentions are falling in five of the countries, most severely in Spain with a difference of eleven percentage points. The figure for Germany fell from 23 to 21 per cent. Only in Italy, Portugal and Hungary, all three of them countries with sometimes considerable sales losses in the recent past, are consumers increasing their propensity to buy. The survey takes only eight countries into consideration for its examination of the specifically DIY retail market; Slovakia is included, in addition to those already named. A trend that the survey picks up in several countries is towards hiring and sharing DIY and garden equipment. For instance, one quarter of those questioned in Germany are prepared to share such articles with others instead of buying them. In Poland – where the highest level of agreement was measured – the share comes to no less than one third, while in most of the other countries it is over 20 per cent.