Business has been “up and down” this year, according to retailers, but the vast majority of KBB business owners still hold hope that sales will increase throughout 2025.
At the KBSA conference held earlier this month, attendees were asked to rate their sales expectations for the year ahead. Four out of five retailers (79%) reported that they were confident that sales would increase through next year.
In addition, roughly six out of ten (62%) retailers said they still felt “optimistic” about the future of their business. However, just over a quarter of retailers (26%) said their business had contributing to them feeling burnout or anxiety symptoms.
kbbreview asked several retailers at the KBSA conference about their own impressions of the current market, as well as their expectations for the next year.
Arron Bird, owner of Anglia Interiors in Cambridgeshire, said that business had been a mixed bag in 2024. He explained: “There’s definitely less footfall and interest in general right now, but I think the customers that do come in are much more serious about the sale and committed to following through, instead of just looking around.”
Following several years of market uncertainty, Bird said that it was difficult to estimate where the market would be this time next year, adding: “You can’t ever predict how the market will be in the future, so you have to just take each day as it comes and do the best you can”.
Keith Myers, director of The Myers Touch in Winchester, echoed that business had been “up and down” this year. He said: “Business has definitely picked up over the last few weeks. I hope this will continue, but I think most people are waiting for news about the budget to be released before they make any big purchasing decisions.”
Similarly to Bird, Myers said he was hopeful that business would pick up more consistently through 2025, but warned: “You’d have to be an incredibly brave business owner to try and predict the future in this market.”
Alex Jenman, a KBB designer at Gainsborough Kitchens, said: “It’s been a really slow year, but it’s been picking up in the last quarter, so we’re very optimistic about next year. I’d say it’s been a slow recovery. The first half of this year was as slow as we’ve been for many years. There’s definite signs of an upturn in this quarter, but we’re not getting any of those really big orders yet. At least the signs are positive.”
However, Koralia Hume, owner at Quarrybank Boutique Bathrooms in Cheshire, seems to be bucking the trend, saying that 2024 had been the business’ best since it had opened in 2022. She explained: “It’s been really, really good. I don’t necessarily see what other people are saying, but our suppliers say that everyone is complaining about how low the market is. I see the opposite – our sales over the last two months have been the highest they’ve ever been since we’ve opened.”
Looking ahead, Hume said she had an overwhelmingly positive outlook on the future of the business, explaining: “I really hope that the whole market will follow. There are still people that want to renovate, there are still people who have been saving up. They still want to do it and have the budget for it.”
Among the retailers kbbspoke to at the event, the vast majority described seeing a slow start to the year, but that they had seen an increase in business and interest after the summer months. To listen to the full kbbreview Podcast episode featuring interviews with retailers (and some suppliers) about the state of the KBB market this year and beyond, click here.
When kbbreview spoke to retailers at the event last year, their anecdotal views were mixed on how their business was performing. However, a clear consensus described a fall in enquires and delays in consumer decision making.
Encouragingly, September’s retail sales across the UK saw their biggest growth since the start of the year, with footfall also increasing for the first time in over a year, according to the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS).
Listen to retailers discussing the state of the market on the latest episode of The kbbreview Podcast now using the player below or go straight to this episode in Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube.