Flooring Industry News December 2021
Welcome to our news round-up for December 2021 – a great way to keep up to date with all the latest news, views and commentary for the flooring industry and business owners. To keep on top of all the latest industry news why not follow our LinkedIn page – we always post interesting news stories and article links on our page.

Christmas ends pent-up demand for ScS
Earlier Christmas shopping has ended the pressure of pent-up demand for ScS as the furniture and flooring chain reported a 10% fall in orders this Autumn.
In a trading update to shareholders ahead of this afternoon’s AGM, The Sunderland-based plc said: “The Group had a strong start to the year, resulting in two-year like-for-like order intake growth for the first nine weeks.
Full article by The Stocklists.
Footfall improves for independents and retail parks
Latest data for retail footfall favours retail parks and local shopping over the high street as some hesitancy over Omicron is believed to be holding back consumers.
The research by retail analysts Springboard is good news for locations for flooring and furnishing stores – retail parks are up 1.3% and up 1% for local shopping off the high street last week.
City centres are still struggling substantially with a decline of nearly 4% and the High Street in general was down 0.4%.
Full article by The Stocklists.
Euro trade shows collapse under Covid
A third major European furnishing trade show has cancelled its January opening as a Covid-19 surge take hold in Germany.
Furniture fair IMM Cologne is the latest casualty and follows the postponent of Domotex, the world’s biggest flooring show in Hannover and of Frankfurt’s Heimtextil.
Germany is in the grip of a fourth Covid wave. More than 70,600 infections were reported on Thursday within the last 24 hours.
Full article by The Stocklists.
England Moves to COVID-19 Plan B
The Prime Minister called a press conference Wednesday night to announce that England is moving to Plan B following the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.
Construction sites are urged to continue to minimise the risk of spreading the virus to keep the workforce safe and sites operational. Build UK are currently reviewing the CLC Site Operating Procedures and guidance on the Use of Face Coverings in Construction.
Full article by the Contract Flooring Association.
Vinyl Flooring Market to Reach USD 51.45 Billion by 2028
The global vinyl flooring market size is expected to showcase exponential growth by reaching USD 51.45 billion by 2028 while exhibiting a CAGR of 6.8% between 2021 and 2028. This information is published by Fortune Business Insights in its report, titled “Vinyl Flooring Market, 2021-2028.”
Read the full article on the Fortune Business Insights website.
Euro carpet imports plummet
Imports from the UK’s key carpet trading partners in Europe fell sharply at the start of Q4 – Belgium down 31% and the Dutch down 24% compared to last year.
In total, the UK bought £71.1 million in October – a 20% fall overall, representing the second straight monthly fall and largest annual decline since June last year—when the total dropped 40 percent—as the U.K. was emerging from the end of the first Covid-lockdown.
Full article by The Stocklists.
Omicron dents major purchase confidence
Omicron has impacted consumer confidence for big ticket items like flooring but Q4 furniture sales are strong. The GfK Major Purchase Index which covers furnishing, flooring and household appliances, dipped 3 points to minus 6 for December. However, the latest ONS data for furniture, flooring and lighting sales in November were up 8% compared to lock-down hit November 2020, and also up 3% on 2019 figures.
Full article by The Stocklists.
FURTHER READING
We hope you enjoyed our flooring industry news roundup. We have a huge luxury vinyl flooring range which can be found on this link.
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