Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Although the cookware market has managed to hold its own over the last year, the picture for the first few months of 2012 looks less than promising.
According to the latest research from GfK, while a degree of stagnation and low pick-up resulted in volume sales falling by just over 1% in the 12 months to March, cookware value remained positive at nearly 4% over the same period.
However, during the first quarter of 2012 single products – the biggest value contributor to the market – declined by 6% in value. This represents the first stumble for nine months, according to GfK. And cookware sets fared considerably worse, their value dropping by around 30%.
Whether the poor April weather and the big events over the summer will revitalise the market is largely dependent on how ready consumers feel to upgrade their kitchen equipment, GfK says.
One bright spot in a dismal picture is the demand for casserole pots, or Dutch ovens, which grew for the fourth quarter in a row, demonstrating the current trend for one-pot meals. Over the last year, unit sales of the products grew to take over 25% of the market and were worth more than £32m.
