Great Britain: Small household electrical appliances are trendy

At the same time environment and energy issues play a much more important role in the purchase decision. According to a study by the market research firm Keynote the positive trend will continue, but due to a strong competition in the low-price segment, sales growth will be rather modest. According to a study by market research group keynote, the British market for small household electrical appliances in 2007 had a volume to retail prices of approximately £950.9 million. This represented a growth of 2.4% over the previous year. In 2006, retail sales were £928.4 million (+2.7% compared to 2005). The sales growth is expected to fall half a percentage point (on an annual basis) behind the expected inflation rate until 2011. This reflects the continued deflationary trend that small household electrical appliances are subject to. Between 2007 and 2011, the market value is predicted to increase by 9% to £1.04 billion. This is an annual increase of 2.2%. For small kitchen appliances, an increase of 8.2% over the period 2007 - 2011 has been forecast. The growth of 2.1% p.a. is only slightly below the market average. The growing influence of large food chains puts pressure on prices. The most dynamic growth (within the observation period) showed kettle, coffee machines, etc. with a total increase of 12.3%. The reasons for this are both – population growth and the increase in single-person households, as well as the consumer trend towards freshly brewed coffee. Water heaters with a built-in filters and combined espresso and coffee machines are in vogue. Due to a changing attitude towards the issues of health and food preparation, deep fat fryers are forecasted with a growth of 1.5% between 2007 and 2011. As contrast, appliances such as steamer, table grills and bread makers will see an estimated total growth of 7.9% over the same period. For equipment for the personal care, the researchers forecasted a total increase of 9.5% between 2007 2 2011. Divisional segments, such as hairdryer (+4.4%) will see the slightest increase; where as Hair-styling devices (+14.2%) will see a much higher growth. These devices benefit from the growing popularity of appliances for smoothing hair, etc. that will bring the hair salon look into one’s own home comfort zone. Shavers will increase by 7.9% within this period. While razors for men are to increase by 6.8%, those for women (epilators included) will increase by 12.6%. Electric toothbrushes (overall +10.3%) will also see a healthy growth. This reflects both product innovations as such and an increasing consumer awareness for dental health. The other non-kitchen appliances will increase on balance by 10.5%, especially electric irons (+11.2%). Hand held vacuum cleaners are expected to decline by 2.8%. The increasing proportions of older people in the population, as well as ever tighter household budgets tend to favour products within the low-price segment. The also growing proportion of younger people (15 to 29 years) offers modern equipment an edge on the market. The trend towards one-person households (1971: 18%; 2026: 38%) with an annual growth until 2011 by 220,000 is expected to contribute to growth in bulk goods such as kettles and toasters. According to Keynote, technical innovation such as computer systems for data communication, information-sharing between networking products and the possibility of remote control, will be the key to further market development and growth. The entire article was published at bfai (Bundesagentur fuer Aussenwirtschaft) in German.