Consumer demand to continue?

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.

Only time will tell just how great an impact inflation will have on our industry, but Leads 2 Trade’s Andy Royle has predicted that price hikes from energy suppliers will actually create ‘a perfect storm’ for installers.

According to Andy, the rise in energy costs will see consumers focus more on home improvements that can improve energy efficiency and save money on energy bills in the long term. Read the full story here.

And there’s more positive news from Tommy Trinder’s CEO, Chris Brunsdon, in this week’s newsletter. Chris has reported that the value of work quoted on the Framepoint platform topped more than £100million for the first time in March.

That coincides with a ‘record high’ average quote value for the same month of £7,700 – up 40% from March 2021.

Chris says that while this improvement could reflect general price increases, it also demonstrates the effectiveness of the Framepoint app in upselling premium features including the ability to combine multiple materials – for instance timber door, aluminium bi-fold and PVC casements – in a single quote.

Homeowners may very well want to invest in energy efficient products going forward, but as the Framepoint data clearly shows, there’s also a healthy demand for higher value, higher margin products from consumers.