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According to recent statistics from the ONS, 89% of UK households are cutting back on spending as inflation hits a 40 year high, a figure that’s equivalent to roughly 46 million people. This has been driven by an increase in the price of food, gas and electricity bills and fuel. It’s worth noting that the survey was taken in spring...
Trickle vents remain a bone of contention for installers, at least if the feedback from forums is anything to go by. I appreciate that online forums are not necessarily always the best place to go for a balanced view on any topic, but taken at face value, it would seem that fitters are almost universally opposed to the new requirements...
I read a news story recently about a Devon based manufacturer who was struggling to recruit enough young apprentices. HepcoMotion, which makes parts for conveyor belt systems, had developed a solution by teaming up with Exeter College in an effort to entice T-level students – the new technical alternative to A-levels. As well as traditional apprenticeships, the firm also runs...
I recently highlighted that some companies were still performing very well post pandemic, despite a broader outlook that indicated times were getting tougher. I’ve since had feedback from various businesses to suggest that certain regions of the UK are performing better than others and also that demand is still strong for higher value retail installations. That means a reduction in...
I visited Rehau’s headquarters in Erlangen, Germany, last week, in order to take a closer look at the World of Windows expo – a temporary exhibition space that has been showcasing a range of the system company’s latest innovations. World of Windows, or ‘WoW’ for short, opened in mid-April and will close at the end of this week. If you’re...
In last week’s newsletter I commented that some businesses were still doing very well despite a general perception of a cooling in demand from the retail sector post pandemic. The response to that has been mixed. At the Glass Times race day last week – a fantastic event that welcomed 400 or so people from across the industry to a...
Is the industry experiencing a downturn? It depends on who you talk to. I’ve had plenty of conversations over the last few months to indicate that demand in the retail sector has slowed post-pandemic. That’s backed up by data from the most recent Business Pilot barometer, which revealed a 46% drop in sales from March to May. However, it would...
As consumers, we have become used to longer lead times for products and services over the course of the pandemic. It can be frustrating, but most people are aware that the reasons for the delays – material shortages, high demand, supply chain issues – are effecting businesses everywhere. Generally speaking, we are now much more prepared to sit tight and...
A recent survey from accounting and business advisory firm, BDO, has forecast that the cost of living crisis will have a greater negative impact on businesses than the pandemic. According to a report in The Times, BDO spoke to 500 medium-sized business owners and a fifth said that the biggest threats they were facing over the next six months are...
A couple of months ago I commented that I had visited a major shopping centre and had seen very little evidence of any slowdown in retail activity or consumer confidence, despite ominous predictions of economic hardship in the news. This was just a casual observation, but the shops were full of people and the precinct was bustling. However, it would...
The home improvement boom experienced during the pandemic was great for the window, door and conservatory industry. Order books were bursting. While other business sectors struggled, fabricators and installers were hard pushed just to keep up with the volume of demand. I spoke to one manufacturer recently that recalled taking a month’s worth of orders in just one week. On...
With the dust still settling from the FIT Show, much of the news this week is dedicated to the numerous success stories from the event. That includes the unveiling of Graf’s new Synergy machine – and the subsequent launch of Dekko’s Infinity fully seamless window – the debut of Gerda doors and Kömmerling’s 125-year anniversary celebrations to name just a...
FIT Show organisers have reported record pre-registration numbers for the 2022 exhibition which returned to the NEC last week after a three-year hiatus. Of those who exhibited, 45 companies have already signed up for next year’s outing, which will also be the 10th anniversary of the show. While this sounds very positive, the 2022 FIT Show has also faced some...
The FIT Show has returned for the first time in three years with thousands of visitors flocking to the NEC yesterday for the opening of the three-day exhibition. As is customary for the FIT Show, new product development was high on the agenda, with several new companies also making a debut appearance, and this year visitors have also had the...
According to the latest reports from the ONS, nearly nine out of ten (87%) of adults in Great Britain have reported a rise in their cost of living. The increase in energy, food and fuel will of course have a greater impact on lower and middle income households, with higher earners typically more insulated against the squeeze in living standards....
I read some news on the second-hand car market recently and I couldn’t help but notice some parallels between the current state of the automotive sector and the retail glazing industry. It turns out that demand for cars is at an all-time high, driven by lockdown savings (including those that would otherwise have been allocated for a foreign holiday) and...
With inflation predicted to peak at 7% this month by the Bank of England, and with the cost of living crisis dominating the headlines, it’s perhaps not surprising that consumer confidence has taken a big hit. According to PWC’s 2022 Spring Consumer Sentiment Survey, we are currently witnessing the biggest one-year decline in confidence since the global financial crisis. That’s...
A survey of directors and employees of Cambridge based companies is reported to have found ‘widespread concern’ among workers about the long-term consequences of remote working. Four out of five of those polled said they were now spending less time in the office than before the pandemic. The survey revealed a variety of positive reasons for remote working, including cost...
I visited Drake Circus in Plymouth recently, the city’s large, centrally located shopping centre, and it was as busy as I’d ever seen it. The multi-story carpark was brimmed, the shops bustling. Considering the recent headlines on the increase in the cost of living, of fuel and energy price hikes, I found this a little surprising. If the good residents...
Consumers are in for a bumpy ride this year, as fuel, food and energy prices – which were already on the up before the war in Ukraine – continue to rise. According to Martin Lewis, financial journalist and founder of moneysavingexpert.com, fuel and energy prices are causing ‘absolute panic’ and he was ‘virtually out of tools’ to help people. So,...