DIY Retailing - Italy - May 2015
Introduction
 
A retail creation
The DIY market is much more diverse than a simple definition of core DIY products, and the market, as it exists at the moment, reflects the product offer of the major DIY superstores rather than that of a small edge-of-high-street hardware shop.

For that reason we feel that it is necessary to develop our own market size definition and we describe that definition and the calculation we use to estimate our market size later.

We cover the top five economies in detail in the individual country chapters and in this section we add the key data for another 14 European economies.

●	We give the Mintel market size estimate
●	We provide annual sales data and forecasts for the specialists sector
●	And for each country we provide data on participation in the online channel
●	In the five major country sections, our consumer research asked shoppers which stores they had bought from and about the tasks they’d carried out and plan to carry out.

Consumer questions
For our UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain reports, we surveyed representative samples of consumers. This year our survey asked consumers in each of these five markets:

●	We asked what DIY jobs they had done and what they expected to do this year
●	We asked where they shop, in-store or online, and what the criteria were for choosing a store (not UK).

For the UK we also asked:

●	What their most used DIY store was
●	How satisfied they were with various aspects of the stores
●	What DIY products they bought
●	What DIY jobs they plan to do over the next 12 months and whether they would do it themselves or get someone else to do it
●	We asked about their attitudes to doing DIY.

Report scope and technical notes 
This report series covers the five leading economies of Europe. The data in its entirety is contained in the single copy five-country report. Single country reports are also available for the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy. 

The single copy five country report also includes an Executive Summary - Market section which brings together data for the wider European market. 

In total these countries account for around 95% of all European retail sales, excluding Russia. The remaining countries are either too small (eg Luxembourg) or are not sufficiently well developed to warrant detailed coverage (eg Romania and Bulgaria).

This data in its entirety is contained in the single copy 19-country report, which gives a full overview of DIY retailing in Europe. Single country reports, including consumer research analysis, are also available for the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy.

Defining DIY
The focus of the reports is the DIY superstores. While there may be good reason to suppose that in the longer term their dominance may be eroded to some extent, at the moment they are the leading players in the sector and to a considerable extent, they define the sector. 

In many markets, core DIY – paint, wallpaper, screws, tools etc. – is now a small part of the DIY sector proposition. Many of the large European DIY retailers are broad-range home-improvement stores with substantial gardening ranges. On the whole it is easier to understand what a DIY store is than to define it. Many, such as Homebase in the UK, are moving towards being broad-based home improvement stores with substantial ranges of homewares and furniture, but we still classify them as DIY stores.

Definitions – Mintel’s market size
Most DIY retailers will sell some furniture – such as kitchens, bathrooms and flatpack – gardening goods, and some electric household appliances. But most do not compete on the full span of furniture or appliances. 

Our Mintel DIY market size is compiled from spending on various relevant categories. We take categories from the published consumer spending data or in some cases a fixed percentage to allow for categories that the DIY retailers only compete in part of – for instance, they stock smooth floorcoverings and few sell carpets.

Our market size is based on:

●	100% of the categories, Tools and equipment for home and gardens, plants and flowers.
●	100% of the category Materials for maintenance and repair of the home, though if that is not available we take 50% of the category, Materials and services for maintenance and repair of the home. 
●	22% of the category Furniture and furnishings, carpets and other floor coverings, reflecting that DIY retailers compete on smooth floor coverings (such as tiles) and flatpack furniture but not typically other sub-categories such as carpets, beds or sofas. 
●	15% of the category, Other recreational items and equipment, gardens and pets – reflecting DIY retailers’ presence in garden and pets categories. 
●	15% of the category Household appliances, as an estimate of the small electricals sector which DIY retailers do compete in.

Note that where we use a percentage of a category, the same percentages are applied from year to year – so any shorter-term shifts in the category balance may not be reflected in the data. 

We also use the same proportion across all countries and while that may not be wholly appropriate, our method gives a figure that is comparable across all countries.

In consumer spending terms, major relevant categories to DIY retailing are outlined below. 

FIGURE 1: Categories included in Mintel’s market estimate, 2015
 
COICOP code 	Category 	Definition/notes 	
4.3	Materials and services for maintenance and repair of the home	Goods and services – see breakdown below.	
	 Includes:		
04.3.1	Materials for maintenance and repair of the home	Products and materials for minor maintenance and repair, such as paints and varnishes, renderings, wallpapers, fabric wall coverings, window panes, plaster, cement, putty, wallpaper pastes, etc.; includes small plumbing items (pipes, taps, joints, etc.), surfacing materials (floorboards, ceramic tiles, etc.) and brushes and scrapers for paint, varnish and wallpaper.	
		Excludes materials and fixtures used for major maintenance and repair (intermediate consumption) or for extension and conversion of the dwelling (capital formation).	
04.3.2	Services for maintenance and repair of the home	Services include plumbers, electricians, carpenters, glaziers, painters, etc.	
5.5	Tools and equipment for home and garden	Motorised and hand tools – see breakdown below.	
	 Includes:		
05.5.1	Major tools and equipment	Motorised tools and equipment such as electric drills, saws, sanders and hedge cutters, garden tractors, lawnmowers, cultivators, chainsaws and water pumps; includes repair and rental.	
05.5.2	Small tools and equipment	Hand tools such as saws, hammers, screwdrivers, spanners, pliers; garden tools such as wheelbarrows, watering cans, hoses, spades, shovels, rakes; ladders and steps; door fittings (hinges, handles and locks), fittings for radiators and fireplaces, other metal articles for the house (curtain rails, hooks, etc.) or for the garden (chains, grids, etc.); small electric accessories such as power sockets, switches, wiring flex, electric bulbs, fluorescent lighting tubes, torches, flashlights, hand lamps, electric batteries for general use, bells and alarms; includes repair.	
09.3.3	Gardens, plants and flowers	Note this category excludes garden tools and garden furniture.	
		Natural or artificial flowers and foliage, plants, shrubs, bulbs, tubers, seeds, fertilizers, composts, garden peat, turf for lawns, pots and pot holders. Includes: natural and artificial Christmas trees; delivery charges for flowers and plants.	
		Excludes: gardening gloves (03.1.3 – Clothing); gardening services (04.4.4) or (05.6.2); gardening equipment (05.5.1); gardening tools (05.5.2); insecticides and pesticides for household use (05.6.1).	
05.1.1	Furniture and furnishings 	Includes garden furniture.	
		Excludes fitted kitchens, bathrooms etc where these are installed by professional tradesmen: in such cases, the ONS considers the product purchase to be part of the service cost and does not include this within the consumer spending data.	
05.1.2	Carpets and other floor coverings		
5.2	Household textiles	Furnishing fabrics, curtain material, curtains, double curtains, awnings, door curtains and fabric blinds; bedding such as futons, pillows, bolsters and hammocks; bedlinen; table linen and bathroom linen; other household textiles such as laundry bags.	
5.4	Glassware, tableware and household utensils	Glassware, crystal ware, ceramic ware and china ware of the kind used for table, kitchen, bathroom, toilet, office and indoor decoration; cutlery and silverware; non-electric kitchen utensils of all materials such as saucepans, pressure cookers, frying pans, coffee mills; non-electric household articles of all materials such as containers for bread, coffee, spices, etc., waste bins, waste-paper baskets. Includes repair.	
5.3	Household appliances	Major household appliances and small electric household appliances.	
05.6.1	Non-durable household goods	Cleaning and maintenance products such as soaps, washing powders, washing liquids, scouring powders, detergents, disinfectant bleaches, softeners, conditioners, window-cleaning products, waxes, polishes, dyes, unblocking agents, disinfectants; articles for cleaning such as brooms, scrubbing brushes, dustpans and dust brushes, dusters, tea towels, floorcloths, household sponges; other non-durable household articles such as matches, candles, lamp wicks, methylated spirits, clothes-pegs, clothes hangers, pins, safety pins.	

Source: National statistics office/Mintel

Retail sector
For our retail sector sales and forecast we use the following category under the SIC 2007 categorisation. 

47520 - Retail sale of hardware, paints and glass in specialised stores

Financial definitions
Financial definitions used are:

●	All specialists sector sales figures are quoted excluding VAT, unless specifically stated otherwise.
●	 Consumer spending data is quoted including VAT, unless specifically stated otherwise. 
●	Sales: Turnover as reported by the company, excluding VAT.
●	Operating profits: pre-tax profits plus interest, less non-trading income such as the sale of fixed assets and any exceptional items, including provisions.
●	Pre-tax profits: the net trading profit after deducting all operating costs including depreciation and finance charges, but before deduction of tax, dividends and other appropriations.
●	Operating margin: operating profits as a percentage of sales.

Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland.

Note that there can be a number of reasons why tables do not sum exactly:

●	Rounding errors
●	Currency conversions if original data for different subsidiaries was in different currencies (companies often provide information in local currencies).
●	VAT (sales tax) – if original data was provided gross (including sales tax), we have extracted VAT at the relevant rates for countries concerned and at the estimated appropriate rates depending on product categories sold.

Information on all subsidiaries is not always available. As a result in some cases we have an entry for the parent company, and subsidiary information on only one part of the business.

●	Sales area, where quoted, is as published by the company. We cannot be sure that the companies are consistent about how much external area, covered or otherwise, is included. 
●	Sales per sq m is the sales generated during the year divided by the average area traded from during that year. 
●	Sales per store is calculated using the average number of trading outlets during the year.

VAT
●	In general, all company sales data and retail sales/specialists’sales are quoted excluding VAT, unless stated otherwise.
●	Consumer spending data is quoted including VAT unless specifically stated otherwise. 
●	VAT-exclusive consumer spending data is used to calculate market shares.

European VAT rates vary, and the recent economic downturn and subsequent public debts have led to a number of VAT increases across the continent. Almost all countries charge a lower rate for some goods, but DIY goods are generally standard-rate products.

FIGURE 2: European VAT rates. 2010-2014
 
	01-Jan-10 	31-Dec-10 	01-Jan-11 	31-Dec-11 	01-Jan-12 	01-Jan-13 	01-Jan-14 	
	% 	% 	% 	% 	% 	% 	% 	
Austria	20	20	20	20	20	20	20	
Belgium	21	21	21	21	21	21	21	
Czech Republic	20	20	20	20	20	21	21	
Denmark	25	25	25	25	25	25	25	
Finland	23	23	23	23	23	24	24	
France	19.6	19.6	19.6	19.6	19.6	19.6	20	
Germany	19	19	19	19	19	19	19	
Greece	19	23	23	23	23	23	23	
Hungary	25	25	25	25	27	27	27	
Ireland	21	21	21	21	23	23	23	
Italy	20	20	20	21	21	21	22	
Netherlands	19	19	19	19	19	21	21	
Norway	25	25	25	25	25	25	25	
Poland	22	22	23	23	23	23	23	
Portugal	20	21	23	23	23	23	23	
Spain	16	18	18	18	18	21	21	
Sweden	25	25	25	25	25	25	25	
Switzerland	7.6	7.6	8	8	8	8	8	
UK (a)	17.5	17.5	20	20	20	20	20	

(a) 2011 increase implemented on 4 January

Source: Mintel

Abbreviations
ACORN	A Classification of Residential Neighbourhoods	
B2B	Business-to-Business	
Big-ticket categories	High-cost products such as furniture, carpets, kitchens, bathrooms, appliances.	
CAGR	Compound Annual Growth Rate	
COICOP	Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose	
CPI	Consumer Prices Index	
DIY	Do It Yourself	
e	Mintel Estimate	
f	Forecast	
FMCG	Fast-Moving Consumer Goods	
GDP	Gross Domestic Product	
GMN	Mintel Global Market Navigator	
MBO	Management Buy Out	
NA	Not Available or Not Applicable	
NPD	New Product Development	
OFT	Office of Fair Trading	
ONS	Office for National Statistics	
PC	Personal Computer	
PDI	Personal Disposable Income	
POS	Point of Sale	
RPI	Retail Prices Index	
Showroom categories	Fitted room furniture such as fitted kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms	
SKU 	Stock-Keeping Unit	
USP	Unique Selling Point	
VAT	Value Added Tax	

Country codes
We sometimes use standard codes to abbreviate country names, as set out below.

Country 	Code 	
Austria	at	
Belgium	be	
Bulgaria	bg	
Czech Republic	cz	
Denmark	dk	
Estonia	ee	
Finland	fi	
France	fr	
Germany	de	
Greece	gr	
Hungary	hu	
Ireland	ie	
Italy	it	
Latvia	lv	
Lithuania	lt	
Luxembourg	lu	
Netherlands	nl	
Norway	no	
Poland	pl	
Portugal	pt	
Romania	ro	
Russia	ru	
Slovak Republic	sk	
Slovenia	si	
Spain	es	
Sweden	se	
Switzerland	ch	
UK	uk	
USA	us