Third year of crisis: new diy statistics under the sign of inflation and war

The new edition of the German “Statistik Baumarkt + Garten 2023” was published at the end of May. Whereas the previous years 2020 and 2021 were characterised by the impact of the coronavirus crisis on the DIY and garden sector, in 2022 the topics of inflation and the Ukraine war dominated events. The statistical overview work, which has been published by Dähne Verlag since 1988, is thus looking into its 35th year of publication and once again presents the most important figures for the German DIY and garden trade and its business in Germany and Europe.

"These are – unfortunately – historical categories in which many developments are currently taking place and which led to a rather difficult year for the DIY and garden centre sector last year – following boom and bust in 2020 and 2021," writes Michael Greiner, editor in charge of statistics at Dähne Verlag, on the development of the German and European-wide business of German DIY and garden centre companies. Firstly, he says, there are the prices that gnawed at customers' wallets and margins in 2022. "While in normal times a 5.8 per cent increase in gross sales for DIY stores in Germany and abroad would invite rejoicing, this takes on a bitter aftertaste when looking at 9.2 per cent inflation in the EU and a comparable 8.7 per cent in Germany," says Greiner. On top of that, there was the withdrawal of Obi from Russia as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which put a tidy strain on the German industry leader with a loss of more than half a billion euros in sales.

The most positive news regarding the business of German DIY stores for 2022 comes from the sales per unit area. According to statistics figures, this increased by an average of 7.2 per cent or 130 euros per m² across Europe for the top 20 operators. In Greiner's opinion, this is proof that the sector has held its own overall despite a difficult year.

The figures for specialist garden retailers are less positive. "If 2022 was a difficult year for DIY stores, it was a bad one for German garden centres," writes the expert. Although the top 15 garden center operators increased their sales in Germany and abroad by 2.8 per cent, this was far below the inflation trend in Germany and Europe. Already in 2021, the garden sector as a whole had not really fared well with a plus of 0.9 per cent.

As in previous years, this year's report includes not only figures on sales, locations and sales areas at German DIY megastores with garden centres in Germany and abroad, but also further chapters on the area of employees in DIY stores, DIY retail in Austria and Switzerland, and e-commerce with a view to DIY stores with garden centres. Added to this are detailed analyses of the data, overview maps and classifications by the statistics experts at Dähne Verlag, as well as figures on the DIY sector as a whole in Europe.

The new Baumarkt + Garten 2023 statistics can be ordered now at: