At the beginning of 2020, prospects for the worktops market were relatively positive with growth anticipated over the next 4-5 years, driven by a secure and growing house building sector. However, the arrival of the Covid-19 epidemic in early 2020 placed a completely different outlook for the market, particularly over the short-term.

Sales of kitchen and bathroom furniture began to be adversely impacted towards the end of the first quarter of 2020, but the real damage will be felt in the April to June period, when most retail outlets have been closed due to the covid-19 restrictions on “nonessential” trade.

Whilst a shift to better quality products is usually a feature of a market growing in confidence, this seems unlikely in the short term, although in the longer term this trend should benefit the worktops sector, with engineered stone, such as quartz and solid surface materials increasing their share of the market. Wider availability and more discerning and knowledgeable consumers will also support the growth of these higher value materials.

Although major companies in these markets should soon be able to gear their operating facilities back towards their previous levels fairly easily, for smaller companies the crisis may prove fatal. This is particularly the case for some specialist retailers, fabrication companies and so on, who were already under pressures in overcrowded markets and are less likely to have access to sufficient financial resources to tide them over the lean period to come.

The short-term is likely to see market value decline by around 20% in 2020, followed by a partial rebound in 2021 and then annual growth rates of 4-6% to 2024. In the longer term these markets should continue to grow strongly, although it is likely to be towards the end of 2024 before they reach the peak levels attained in 2019, with growth inhibited by a lack of consumer confidence and a deterioration in household finances, caused by the impact of the restrictions imposed to try to control the spread of the virus. 

This information was taken from the Kitchen and Bathroom Worktops Market Report – UK 2020-2024 by AMA Research, which is available to purchase now at www.amaresearch.co.uk or by calling 01242 235724.