Independent retail wholesaler groups and the Builders Merchants Federation (BMF) are putting their weight behind April’s consumer awareness campaign, National Home Improvement Month.

The campaign is the initiative of the British Home Enhancement Trade Association (BHETA), and many of its members are sponsors and supporters of the campaign.

The line-up of supporting businesses includes Stax Trade Centres, Home Hardware (South West) and Decco, alongside the BMF – all hoping to help stimulate consumer interest in home improvement via the registered tag line ‘Love The Home You Live In’..

The National Home Improvement initiative has stepped up to a month-long campaign for April following its launch as a week in March 2018, when it engaged with 11million consumers.

Stax Trade Centres joint MD David Hibbert Centres commented: “The National Home Improvement Month is a fantastic initiative for reinvigorating the Great British passion for DIY ahead of the Easter period. Stax is delighted to be supporting the campaign and is committed to helping our retail customers bring it to life with consumers across the country.”

Home Hardware’s Martin Elliott added: “We will be featuring [the initiative] on 1.2million consumer advertising brochures being distributed by our members during April. Running for the full month of April will help build on the success of last year’s campaign and will be even more beneficial to our retailers.”

The campaign will include online and traditional consumer and social media, including broadcast and national/regional press.  At its heart will be the dedicated National Home Improvement Month website, featuring ideas and information, blogs and 'how to' videos. Meanwhile, BBC presenter, DIY enthusiast and property developer Georgina Burnett has been named as an official ambassador for the event.

Acknowledging the ‘Do-it-for-me’ trend and the use of tradesmen, the campaign has also invited support from the BMF, which will promote the awareness month through its members’ branches. CEO John Newcomb said: "The BMF is delighted to support National Home Improvement Month this year and we will be encouraging our members to take part too. It's an excellent platform for both our merchant and supplier members to raise awareness of the importance of materials supply to enable both home and garden improvement.”  

Commenting on the initiative Deco COO Andrew Ballantine said: “We are delighted to be supporting BHETA’s National Home Improvement Month 2019. In this challenging market place, we value this much-needed initiative to inspire consumer activity and support retailers.

National Home Improvement Month 2019 will see the collaboration of top suppliers, such as Fiskars, Husqvarna, Shurtape, Sherwin-Williams, Gorilla Glue, Schneider Electric, Croydex, Urfic, ZEP, and LG Harris.

Commenting on the launch of the 2019 campaign, BHETA home improvement director Paul Grinsell said: “We had some great learnings and very positive feedback from last year’s campaign and I’m delighted that we have secured the industry backing to develop the concept still further.

“As before, we have two key objectives - to galvanise and renew consumers’ interest in improving their homes and gardens and to drive sales of home and garden tools, products and consumables through the UK home improvement and garden retail channels.  This means both inspiring and enabling today’s consumers to re-engage with projects, such as home extensions and renovations, garden makeovers, redecorating, 'old school' DIY and hobby gardening.  Equally, we need to recognise the generational skills gap and target the younger generation of millennials with social media-fuelled enthusiasm for a new style of DIY, upcycling, and craft.”