KN21004

KEY NOTE Market Report : Wallcoverings & Ceramic Tiles: December 2004

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This report covers: Wallcoverings & Ceramic Tiles

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Key Note estimates that UK sales of wallcoverings were worth £379.8m at retail selling prices (rsp) in 2003. Retail sales of ceramic tiles were worth an estimated £450m in the same year. The wallcoverings market has been on a downward trend, and the information so far available for 2004 suggests that this has continued. Key Note forecasts a retail value of £351.1m for this market in 2004. Sales of ceramic tiles, on the other hand, are continuing to grow, and Key Note forecasts a value of £475m for the tile market in 2004.

The wallcoverings market divides into sidewalls and borders, and also by substrate: wallpaper, flat vinyl, blown vinyl, expanded vinyl and others (mostly plain whites). The main division in the ceramic-tile market is between wall tiles and floor tiles. Key Note's figures include both glazed and unglazed tiles, but the glazed type accounts for the vast majority of sales.

The economic background has been favourable in recent years: disposable income has grown at a rate well above inflation, and there has been strong growth in consumer spending, especially on the home. Total expenditure on materials for home maintenance and repair grew by 44.3% between 2000 and 2004, despite the fact that prices have been kept down by competition from imports and the buying power of the DIY superstores. There has been continued growth in the output of new housing. Home improvements, such as extra bathrooms, have encouraged the tile market.

Fashion has a powerful influence on the markets for wallcoverings and tiles. Between 2000 and 2004, fashion acted against sales of wallcoverings but favoured sales of ceramic tiles. Wallcoverings reached a peak of popularity in the mid-1990s. This could not be expected to last, and recently there has been a trend away from the highly patterned look towards plain painted walls or paint effects. The ceramic-tile market has been more stable over the past few years, and fashion is gradually working in its favour.

The style trends in evidence in 2004 included a move towards whites, ivories and the neutral colours of natural materials, enlivened by the use of new textures. These trends were seen in both wallcovering and tile collections. In tiles, the trend was towards larger sizes for bathrooms and the use of borders and strips with plainer field tiles. This echoes the continued popularity of wallcovering borders for use on plain walls, although the total market for borders has fallen, owing to the decline in interest in co-ordinated wallcoverings. Developing trends include decorative tile inserts of glass, stone, mosaic and other materials, and, in wallcoverings, the use of a highly decorative pattern on a single wall or alcove.

The wallcoverings industry has been predicting a turnaround in the market for the past 3 to 4 years, and this has not yet been achieved, so Key Note is cautious in its forecasts. However, the recent innovations by manufacturers and increased media interest in wallcoverings promise an improvement not too far in the future, and Key Note expects that the market will have started to grow in value by 2007. Fairly steady growth is forecast for the ceramic-tile market between 2005 and 2009.

Text © 2004Key Note

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