Are consumers choosing to ‘stage’ improvements on their homes in response to the rising cost of living, doing some necessary jobs while putting off others? That is a theory put forward by one industry source to explain why it has seen quantity of orders rise by 20% while the average order value is down by around the same proportion.
The findings come from software provider EndtoEnd IT based on feedback from Q1 this year against the same period in 2022.
Director Gareth O’Brien said: “The company found that order quantity was up by over 20% in the first quarter of 2023 – a large increase from the previous year, with increasing energy bills, the quantity of orders being taken is likely to be boosted by consumers looking to improve the energy efficiency of their homes.
“However, interestingly, although the order quantity increased drastically, the average order value for these orders decreased by around 20%. The average value of the quotes produced by sales teams has not decreased anywhere near as significantly, falling only very slightly. The conversion rate from quotation to order remained stable.”
He speculated: “With the ongoing cost-of-living crisis in the news most days, the fact that customers are choosing to be more cautious on spending money is not a big surprise. Customers choosing to go ahead with the cheaper option from the quotes that they receive highlights that they are looking to proceed with the most essential work, potentially conducting work in phases rather than undertaking large projects to replace all their windows and doors at once.”
He concluded:”From a business perspective, this means that it is becoming increasingly important to ensure that your business is running as efficiently as possible to keep your profits as high as possible while keeping costs down for customers.”
