A new report has indicated what most kitchen retailers know already, that the market for fitted kitchens is expected to slow further during 2024 with a 17% decline in predicted completed kitchen projects, down from the 1.28m projects completed in 2022.
Whilst the JKMR 2024 Overview Report on the UK Fitted Kitchen Market paints a bleak picture, with the number of projects failing, it also points to an increase in market value, with the kitchen market value being projected to be £5.3 billion by the end of 2024, an increase of 1.5% from 2023.
JKMR’s report highlights the key market issues that will affect the year ahead: economic conditions and trading costs, changes in the rental market, skills shortages and increases to ‘fitter costs’, and the ‘top down’ imposition of ecological standards.
Commenting on the market conditions in the report, JKMR says “the many ‘problems’ facing the industry over the next 12-36 months are long-term issues: a new build sector whose on-going growth is mired in political issues relating to planning; the issue of EU tariffs; price competitiveness eroding margins; a housing market that ‘locks out’ many of the ‘next generation’ of kitchen buyers; dominance by a small number of giant retailers; lack of a new ‘must have’ to drive through kitchen sales; shortage of skilled fitters; changing retail landscapes; increased competition for household budgets.”
The press release on the JKMR 2024 Overview Report on the UK Fitted Kitchen Market doesnt explain how the market value has increased, given the fall in the number of projects, the bleak economic conditions and the outright battering that the housing, building, home improvement, property and mortgage markets have all taken over the last two years so the accuracy of the report cannot be determined.
if we look at Google Trends for the last 12 months of Google search traffic for the search term "fitted kitchens" what we can actually see (for this search term) is a drop in search activity from a high not yet reached since August 14th 2022 and a general downward trend over the last 24 months.
What Google Trends also tells us is that whilst more generic search terms like "fitted kitchens" have fallen in popularity over the last 24 months, the search terms for branded kitchens like Nobilia, Schuller, Hacker are seeing a modest rise in popularity.
Given brands like Schuller kitchens, Hacker and Nobilia are seeing increases in popularity once more could be in part explained by the changing habits of the consumer given the current economic conditions. When you factor in that Wickes, a brand favoured by independent kitchen fitters and builders has seen a huge decline in its profits, it wouldnt be a stretch to think that consumers are opting for safer brands, giving them greater financial security against the threat of an independent going out of business.
Whatever the underlying gain in market value for fitted kitchens the fact remains that the industry is still suffering from a very heavy decline and that the turbulent times experienced following the 2008 financial crisis never really went away.
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