Spanish market recovers further with 19 per cent sales increase

The quarterly statistics of the Spanish industry association AECOC have updated the recovery trend in Spain's DIY and hardware market over the summer following the end of the lockdown. After a 25.5 per cent downturn in the market in the second quarter, sales in the third quarter bounced back by 18.73 per cent. The growth in the home improvement centre distribution channel was even stronger, increasing by 22.14 per cent - twice as much as the increase of 11.93 per cent experienced by the traditional trade. With regard to the earlier losses, however, it was a similar picture, only in reverse: the big DIY store chains saw their sales fall by 28.88 per cent in the second quarter, while traditional hardware stores only suffered a decline of 12.16 per cent.
"Hardware sales have been at record levels since May; the garden products campaign has been very good and the online channel is developing well above the forecasts we had at the beginning of the year," explains the head of AECOC's hardware and DIY area, Alejandro Lozano. According to the conclusions of the last Hardware and Do-it-yourself Committee of AECOC, the positive results were generalised, although somewhat less in the areas of Spain more dependent on tourism.
Despite the good data achieved since the end of the confinement, the sector is cautious when making short- and medium-term analyses. "The uncertainty about a possible fall in consumption, the fear of citizens about possible outbreaks and the situation once they finish measures such as the Record of Temporary Employment Regulation, will mark the evolution of hardware and DIY both in the last quarter of the year and in 2021," says Lozano.