DIY and hardware independents achieved their fifth quarter of sales increases in a row in the final three months of 2014, according to new figures.
The quarterly sales monitor from the British Independent Retailers Association (BIRA) also shows that garden and garden machinery indies registered a seventh straight increase.

In Q4 2014 DIY shops grew sales by 2.3% over the same quarter last year, while garden retailers achieved a 9.4% hike.

Pet product retailers lost ground after two quarters of positive results, showing a 1.4% decline in sales, and cookshops and other housewares retailers suffered a third quarter of decline in a row, down 3.9%. Department stores performed strongly, as did furniture, floorcovering and bed vendors.

Overall, says BIRA, small shops marginally outperformed the market in the crucial final three months of 2014. Whereas BRC-KPMG figures showed overall like-for-like trading over the quarter effectively flat at 0.1% BIRA members reported a mini-bump of 0.68%, slightly improving on the 0.61% rise in the preceding quarter and providing the third quarter of growth in 2014. Given that shop prices are falling this must be counted as a sound result, says BIRA.

Many BIRA members reported that the season was saved by last-minute buying at Christmas, but nobody expressed enthusiasm for Black Friday.

The BIRA Confidence Index saw a near doubling of those describing themselves as 'very confident' to 7.74%, gaining from those who had been merely 'reasonably confident' before, and the number of those describing themselves as 'anxious' dropped very slightly.

Commenting on the last few months of 2014, one DIY independent in the south west was upbeat: “Uplift was seen across all sectors - decorating/diy, housewares, electricals, Christmas decs, although pet foods and toys were static, so I guess customers were feeling more confident about spending this year.”

Another DIY outlet, trading in the north west, was also positive: “Although results show a dip in turnover this is totally accounted for by a drop in internet sales due to key staff member leaving and us not having the time to push online sales. In fact retail sales through the shop rose by 5.1% so overall we are pleased by these figures.”