28th March 2018

The electrical wholesalers market will grow by £70 million in 2018, according to a new report from MTW Research with sales rising by £320 million in the next 4 years.

Based on 70% of the electrical wholesale market, the report is good news for electrical product manufacturers, identifying a number of …..

….. growth opportunities for electrical wholesalers in 2018, despite challenges for the market in terms of profitability. The research found that more than 50% of electrical wholesalers exhibited growth in the last 12 months, despite slowing growth in some areas.

The 200 page report identifies a potentially seismic market shift beginning in 2018, as UK manufactured products steadily gain share of the electrical wholesale market and offer good opportunities for differentiation. MTW director, Mark Waddy, commented, “Electrical wholesalers are increasingly recognising the opportunities of UK manufactured products, which can be perceived as higher quality and offering enhanced margins. ‘On-shoring’ is likely to become increasingly relevant for electrical wholesalers, with weaker Sterling and declining corporation tax making UK manufacturing increasingly competitive.”

A post Brexit UK economy is likely to increasingly focus on growing UK SME & ‘niche manufacturing’, according to MTW, which may also provide further opportunities for electrical wholesalers to offer a range of perceived higher value, UK manufactured products. Sectors identified by MTW as the most likely to exhibit growth from this trend include the panel building market, HMI products, renewables and manufacturing automation amongst others.

The report includes market sizes for 10 key sectors of the electrical products market and their share via electrical wholesalers since 2012, finding that lighting, heating, renewables, electrical accessories and security and fire products continue to offer growth opportunities for electrical wholesalers with growth exceeding 25% for some sectors. MTW forecast growth of more than £300 million each for the total lighting and security and fire markets in the next 4 years alone, with electrical wholesalers continuing to grow sales of these products, despite ongoing threats in the market.

Prospects for growth from the public sector are also increasingly positive for electrical wholesalers in 2018, according to the research. Following several years of decline, growth is expected to return within the next 4 years generating an additional £20 million of sales from public spending for electrical wholesalers and their associated product suppliers.

The report identifies a shift in focus away from competing on price and a growing appreciation by electrical wholesalers of enhancing service delivery to boost margins. This has enabled electrical wholesalers to grow share in some key product sectors and develop differentiation tactics to deal with the growing threat of internet retailers and trade counters. Regional and local electrical wholesalers are also gaining share in 2018 in response to the changing dynamics of the construction market. The full report also includes 3 year financials for 100 leading electrical wholesalers.

For further details, including how to purchase the report, click here.