Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell, said: “It looks like we’re in another wave of ‘do it for me’ in terms of home improvements as B&Q owner Kingfisher reports a surge in sales to tradespeople.
“A lot of people can’t be bothered with spending their evenings and weekends painting the house or fixing a fence.
“It’s a lot simpler to get a tradesperson to do the work, and those experts must source the materials from somewhere.
“B&Q has been pushing hard on the trade channel in recent years, and its efforts are now paying off.
“Tradespeople want to be able to go to a store, find what they need quickly, and not pay through the nose for goods as that cost is passed onto the end-customer.
“Tradespeople go to a store for a specific reason and offering an efficient service is key to winning or losing, as there are plenty of other building materials suppliers who would be happy to serve them.
“Kingfisher says tradespeople visit more frequently and spend more money than the average retail customer.
“That makes sense as from the tradesperson’s perspective, this is not a discretionary spend.
“They’re in the store for a specific reason and not simply to browse.
“It is clear why Kingfisher is making this customer type a priority.”
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