Looking for retail sales? Target the Boomers.
With the summer holidays now well underway, the outlook for the industry for the remainder of 2025 remains mixed, with many businesses coming to terms with increases in tax and low consumer confidence.
According to a recent report, almost 50,000 British companies are on the brink of collapse, with those in ‘critical financial distress’ in the second quarter of the year up by more than 20% compared to the same period in 2024.
These figures relate to a broad spectrum of businesses, with the worst affected operating in the hospitality, travel and tourism sectors but coincide with a 0.1% contraction in GDP in May and a rise in annual inflation to 3.6% in June.
UK consumer confidence, measured by the GfK Consumer Confidence index, continues to decline with analysts pointing to potential tax rises in the Autumn Budget and the ongoing impact of inflation on household finances.
A more positive outlook, however, is provided by the latest Business Pilot Barometer, which shows a 13% rebound in lead volumes in July, compared to June.
Sales are also up by 5.3% and order values also rose by 2.6% to £3,852 in July. These are not huge numbers, and are representative of Business Pilot software users only, but at least they are heading in the right direction, especially given the time of year and the broader economic picture.
And there is more positive news from Eurocell, which has released the findings from research that was carried out as part of its ‘No Space Like Home’ campaign
This demonstrated that 43% of homeowners have unusable space that they want to convert and as many as 70% are actively planning upgrades, including extensions, garden rooms or a conservatory.
Crucially, for installers looking for leads, nearly half of Baby Boomers are planning to add more space to their homes and of those interviewed, 60% were prepared to fund their projects using savings.
This chimes with a report released earlier this year from estate agency, Savills, that revealed the over 60s are sitting on a record £2.95 trillion in property wealth – £2.89 trillion of which is mortgage free.
In comparison, those aged under 45 had £1.56 trillion in property, but 47% of that was held in mortgages.
So, if you’re an installation company and the leads are drying up, the evidence in these reports suggests that Baby Boomers not only want to invest in new windows, doors and conservatories, but they’ve got a fortune stashed away to pay for them…