The British Home Enhancement Trade Association has released its quarterly GfK POS Index report, which represents more than 1,400 brands.

The figures are directly linked to the categories and products on BHETA’s online Retailer Zone.

In the home enhancement and home improvement sectors, there is value growth across all top-line categories (housewares, small electricals and air treatment, DIY and garden) according to the BHETA GfK Quarterly POS Index; Q1 2019: April 2018–March 2019. Meanwhile retail sales in general, measured by quantity, increased by 1.6% in the three months to March when compared the last quarter, following a longer period of sustained growth.

Recurring stories of retail restructuring and store closure and a drill down into the top line figures show that we are not ‘out of the woods’ yet, however. The exceptions to sales growth by quantity in the last quarter are department stores and household goods stores. Moreover, housewares as a specific category achieved the smallest amount of growth at 0.1% of all the market sectors BHETA monitors.

The strong performers were laundry care, clothing airers and dryers and storage, especially food and kitchen storage, but other areas such as small domestic appliances were not looking so positive.

The garden sector has seen the biggest improvement achieved over the last 12 months, with lawnmowers, fencing and gates and parasols all showing positively YOY. This is due to the fact the initial index period included the effects of the infamous ‘Beast from the East’ and there has been no equivalent in this year’s weather pattern.

The home improvement (DIY) market also saw growth with hardware, shelving and storage and tools on the up.