The bathroom furniture, cabinets and illuminated mirrors market grew to €2.4 billion (£2.04bn) during the Covid crisis, according to a new report.
The third study by furniture sector market researcher Titze in Germany looked at market trends in 10 European countries – Germany, Austria, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Belgium, the UK, France, Italy, Spain and Poland.
It identified clear opportunities for continued growth of sales in the bathroom furniture, mirror cabinets and illuminated mirrors after a significant increase in the number of people undertaking renovations during the Covid pandemic.
The report warned, however, that sales staff need to inspire end customers and concluded that many customers felt that they are not advised correctly and receive unclear information. This, it said, had led to do more of their research online and further concludes that “buying online has become a standard procedure”.
It concluded: “The only way to help the retail trade in this situation is a comprehensive campaign to qualify their own sales staff, supported by manufacturers with academies for consistent further training of sales staff.”
The report said consumer demand was driven by the wishes of end users and that storage space optimisation was currently the key trend, especially in the case of high-quality bathroom furniture.
It warned: “Without regular market and trend research, in which the end consumers if the focus of all actions, it is no longer possible to do business successfully in today’s fast-moving times”.
In the European market, the report predicted that distribution channels for bathroom furniture, mirror cabinets and illuminated mirrors would change dramatically by 2025. It said that traditional channels, such as DIY stores, merchants and furniture and kitchen retailers all lost market share in the 10 countries surveyed. Bathroom and sanitary retailers fell from a 22.5% share in 2015 to 21.2% in 2020 (19.6% predicted for 2025), DIY stores dropped from 20.9% to 18.8% (17% for 2025) and furniture and kitchen retailers fell from 33.4% to 31.5% (28.8% for 2025).
E-commerce sales in Europe, however, rose from an 11% market share in 2015 to 16.4% in 2020 and are expected to hit 22.8% by 2025.
In the UK, the report highlighted e-commerce as the dominant distribution channel in 2020 with a 26.5% market share, followed by DIY stores with 24%, furniture and kitchen retailers with 18.5% and bathroom and sanitary retailers with 18%. The report predicted that e-commerce market share would rise to 32.5% by 2025, and furniture and kitchen retailers dropping to 17% and bathroom and sanitary retailers to 16.5%.
Looking at suppliers in the European countries surveyed, there were 376 manufacturers and the largest share was to be found in Italy with 20.4% and German with 19.9%. The UK came in with 10.6% in fourth place.
The survey also identified the top manufacturers for bathroom furniture, mirror cabinets and illuminated mirrors in the 10 countries surveyed (not in terms of their total turnover in all countries and categories).
Top was Pelipal with €116m, second Burgbad (€100m), third Royo (€85), fourth Puris (£72m), fifth Roca (€65m) and sixth Villeroy and Boch (€48m). The top 10 manufacturers with the highest turnover accounted for 37.6% of the market.