I can confidently say things are picking up.
But before I get onto that, it’s worth looking at how we got here, because it’s been a pretty tough few months for many independent kitchen retailers.
The year started well. For many businesses, Q1 was strong, carrying on the momentum we’d seen towards the end of last year. That strong start may have taken some demand out of the months that followed, but from around May onwards, things definitely became more difficult.
And then there was the weather.
We’ve seen it for years: sunshine is the enemy of kitchen sales. And if ever there was a summer to prove the point, this has been it.
The hot weather arrived unusually early. By May, we were already into the first heatwave, and after a long British winter, people understandably wanted to get outside and enjoy it. Kitchens, home improvements and showroom visits could wait.
Then came the excitement of the Football World Cup, disrupting normal routines, alongside more hot, dry weather, holidays and the schools breaking up. One thing followed another, and collectively they created a pretty potent cocktail of distractions for anyone trying to sell kitchens.
There’s an interesting comparison here, too. Broadly speaking, our clients in Scotland have had a stronger summer. They haven’t experienced the prolonged heat to anything like the same extent, which only adds weight to what we’ve seen time and again: when the sun comes out, kitchen sales slow down.
But towards the end of July, things started to change. The Football World Cup was over, and while the hot weather continued, I think many of us had simply had enough of it. The distractions of early summer were beginning to lose their grip – and that’s when we started to see kitchen activity picking up again.
That momentum has continued to build through August, and this isn’t just a feeling. We can see it in the metrics and search volumes, and we’re hearing it directly from our clients at the coalface.
The market is already moving.
Which brings us to the kitchen sales that haven’t happened this summer.
They haven’t simply vanished. They’ve been deferred.
The intention to replace a kitchen hasn’t disappeared simply because other things have taken priority for a few months. These are people who, under different circumstances, may well already have moved forward. Instead, holidays, football, sunshine and everything else that came with this summer gave them plenty of reasons to put those plans on hold.
Now those distractions are falling away. Holidays are drawing to a close, schools will soon be back in session, and normal routines are returning. Those deferred kitchen plans have every reason to come back onto the agenda.
And, of course, there are also those people who’ve typically used the summer downtime to start thinking about a new kitchen for the first time.
But the bigger opportunity is the demand that’s already there – and now it’s starting to come back.
When you stack all that up, we’ve every reason to be bullish about a strong autumn for kitchen enquiries, appointments and sales.
If you’ve taken your foot off the accelerator over the summer, now is the time to put it back down.
Some homeowners are already taking action. Many more are getting closer. The opportunity is to get back on their radar now, before those intentions become enquiries and showroom appointments.
Be visible. Give them ideas. Show them your work. Inspire them. Give them reasons to have your business in mind when they decide to act.
There are countless ways to do it, online and offline: email, social media, Google, paid advertising, direct mail, local activity, or simply doing more of what you already know works for your business.
Right now, the precise mix matters less than being proactive.