Large majority of electrical installers keeps buying at traditional wholesale
Compared to 2 years ago, the share of European electrical installers buying at the traditional specialized wholesale increased and is close to the entire installer population. For all countries the importance of the traditional wholesale is underlined by shares of over 90%. Spain makes up the lowest share of installers buying through this channel, while in the UK 99% of the electrical installers buy here.
Also the share of wallet for the specialized traditional channel is marked by a European increase compared to 2 years ago (+6%).
Online focus in way of ordering differs between countries
Over a quarter of the European purchases at specialized wholesalers are done through online ordering. There is quite a country difference in the way products are bought at the specialized wholesaler. Online focus is high in the Netherlands and also in Germany and Poland. In the UK, on the other hand, the share which is ordered online is relatively low and traditional ways of buying are more common.
Expected big shift in purchase behaviour not present yet
Instead of a decreasing role for the traditional specialized installation wholesale, our research shows that the traditional channel remains strong. Two years ago, a strong growth of channels like pure online and direct through the manufacturer were foreseen. Although these two channels are on the rise in terms of share of installers buying there, the share of wallet remains quite steady on a relatively low level. It will be interesting to see how this develops as traditional channels try to keep up with benefits of new channels and the other way around.
