Summary
• Homeowners are improving, not moving.
• Hobbies are in vogue, bringing demand for frames and canvas stretchers.
• Fusion decoration is influencing home décor.
• Informative point of sale can suggest ideas and projects.

No one can deny that parts of the high street are having a tough time, with a number of well-known retailers reporting problems as consumers cut back on their discretionary spending, worried about job security and rising food and fuel costs.

However, this new frugality is leading to rather better news for mouldings sales, with three distinct trends.

First, with the housing market in the doldrums, consumers are improving not moving, or at least finding that they have to redecorate a home before they can sell it.

This means fresh demand for a wide range of decorative mouldings used as finishing strips and edges, to complete numerous jobs around the home, especially in kitchens and study bedroom areas.

Second, anyone who has seen the rise of “hobby superstores” will appreciate that crafts and “old fashioned” hobbies are in vogue. This is creating new demand for mouldings, which can be used as stretchers for canvasses or tapestries and for framing finished items, as well as traditional woodworking projects.

The third trend is related to changes in interior décor. The past 20 years have seen the rise and the peak in minimalism, with stripped back décor, all white colour schemes and very little decoration – a nightmare for moulding sales.

Colour revival

Yet the trend-setting home interior designs today, which will flow into more everyday homes in the next few years, are seeing a revival in colour and decoration. This is partly a fashion reaction, partly a sign of people ‘cocooning’ and making their homes into cosy nests in tough times, and also a response to increasing holiday travel to Turkey, the Middle and Far East.

Just as fusion cooking is now available at your local gastropub, “fusion decoration” is influencing home décor and increasing the demand for mouldings.

There are also different influences at work in the DIY and the general trade builder or joinery markets. The trade is rightly concerned with more practical matters, such as availability, quality of finish (so no rework or sanding on site) and the ability to fix the moulding securely without splitting if pinned, or providing sufficient surface contact if using adhesives.

However, this can also mean lost sales opportunities for both merchant and installer as mouldings quickly become “the forgotten man” of timber sales.

Merchants’ stocks

There is certainly scope for some merchant stockists to be more adventurous in range stocking to encourage installers to try something different, which will achieve an even better result and satisfy the end consumer.

In the DIY sector, choice and range variety is critical. Most consumers have little knowledge of the available styles and ranges. They need education and good, informative point of sale, which suggests ideas and projects they can carry out in their own home.

For both the trade and retail sectors, clear point of sale, keeping merchandiser units well stocked and having an intelligent approach to pricing are all critical factors in achieving the right return.

In terms of range, this is always a judgement call; balancing the steady demand for standard mouldings with the need to attract consumers with something new and different.

Again, we work closely with stockists to plot their optimum moulding sales profile. This attention to detail is important rather than just relying on mouldings selling themselves.

Decorative and architectural

In terms of range, Richard Burbidge segments its offer into decorative and architectural mouldings. With more than 300 individual small sections in the decorative range, we have one of the country’s largest ranges of mouldings, available in pine, light and dark hardwoods and with some plastic and aluminium models.

The architectural mouldings range – skirting boards, dado rails and cornices – includes styles from Georgian to contemporary, via art deco and more, all in a choice of timbers. A change of skirting can add real character to a room, while a dado can define a different colour or texture; and a cornice or picture rail can make a high ceiling feel lower.

In summary, although parts of the high street are definitely feeling the chill winds of recession, mouldings sales can still bring a glow of warmth to stockist sales and margins.