In the first six months the DIY store trade made a like-for-like increase in sales of 1.4 per cent. The months April (EUR 2.25 bn/+22.0 per cent), May (EUR 2.00 bn/+1.1 per cent) and June (EUR 1.75 bn/+1.6 per cent) were the strongest in sales. The like-for-like increase in the second quarter amounted to 7.9 per cent. In the first three months the industry had to record a drop in sales of 7.1 per cent, in particular with regard to the bad March weather and a strong quarter in the previous year.
When taking a look at the development in assortments in the first half of the year, the German DIY stores recorded the highest absolute sales with construction chemicals/construction material (EUR 947.3 mio), sanitary/heating goods (EUR 843.2 mio), garden equipment (EUR 814.3 mio), living greenery (EUR 639.6 mio) and coating materials/painting accessories (EUR 638.8 mio). Thus, the garden ranges in particular were once again decisive for the good result at the middle of the year: with total gross sales of EUR 2.73 bn - living greenery (EUR 639.6 mio), garden equipment/irrigation and drainage (EUR 636.5 mio), garden equipment (EUR 814.3 mio), garden furniture (EUR 232.8 mio) and garden chemicals/soils/seeds (EUR 403.6 mio) - the greenery market made up around 27.9 per cent of total sales at DIY stores in the first half of the year.