|
The UK industrial products distribution
market was worth an estimated £1.73 billion in 2006 and is
forecast to grow by around 1-2% per annum over the period 2007-2010,
according to AMA’s ‘Industrial Products Distribution Market – UK 2007’
report – 2nd edition – recently published by AMA Research Limited. The
report, which is available for purchase at £625, reviews the industrial
products distribution market in the UK, providing comprehensive analysis
of the overall market and core product sectors including engineering and
metalworking, workshop and maintenance, fluid and air control,
fasteners, abrasives, power and hand tools, health and safety,
janitorial products, packaging and stationery, also storage, security,
access, site equipment and handling. The report provides analysis of the
product mix, and core product sectors, in terms of size, major trends
and key influences. Profiles of the main suppliers and distribution
channels are also included, with channel shares and forecasts up to
2010.
The report indicates that the industrial products
distribution market has experienced only minimal rates of growth during
2006, and 2005, representing a decline in real terms. However, certain
sectors have performed better than others, with Health and Safety
remaining relatively buoyant, also power tools, hand tools, janitorial
(with a range of filtration and pollution control products), and
workshops and maintenance products. In addition, although abrasives,
engineering, metalworking, and fasteners are regarded as more stable,
opportunities for growth are indicated in the storage, security, access,
site equipment, and handling sectors.
While the overall market has been adversely impacted by
the migration of manufacturing to low cost overseas countries, key
drivers for product innovation and market growth include environmental,
energy efficiency and health and safety legislation, also products to
enhance productivity through the installation and operation of a
widening range of process control and automation devices. In addition,
predictive maintenance strategies and the availability of non-invasive
machine condition monitoring equipment (including infra-red thermal
imaging systems, and non-contact machine monitoring) is tending to fuel
product opportunities, for example vibration monitoring equipment can be
used to detect bearing failure.
AMA’s report also provides an insight into future
prospects for the industrial products distribution market with
indications of moderate value growth to 2010 influenced by the long-term
underlying trend of the migration of UK manufacturing to low-cost
overseas economies. In addition, a significant competitive threat to
the industrial distributors is illustrated by share erosion from the
builders and plumbers’ merchants sector, including, for example, the
recent acquisition of Buck and Hickman by BSS. In overall terms, the
increasing involvement of plumbers and builders merchants is likely to
impact negatively on the growth prospects of certain product sectors
more than others, reflecting, the emphases of industrial distributors’
product portfolios. However, the report also indicates positive aspects
that could have a much brighter influence on levels of market growth –
for example, the wider application of Vendor Managed Inventory Systems,
also Direct Line JIT Systems. In general terms, product range
diversification and expansion represent effective methods of
counteracting the effects of the migration of manufacturing to overseas
countries while improvement in the DIY and industrial sectors in the UK
in 2007 holds out the prospect of a more active home market in the short
to medium term. |
