01 October 2010

After two years of cutbacks in what has been the deepest recession in a generation, the Shop and Display Equipment Association (sdea) reveals that once again sales are on the up!  In the latest survey of its membership, the association reveals that a resounding 72.2 per cent registered an increase in sales over the last six months compared with the previous six months.

Yet more good news was evident when members were asked to compare sales with the same period the previous year.  An encouraging 63.9 per cent of respondents reported an increase in business, year on year.  This represents a significant improvement from just six months ago when only 13.8 per cent reported increased sales year on year. 

Looking ahead over the next six months this upward trend seems set to continue!  38.9 per cent of those surveyed are expecting sales to increase and a further 55.6 per cent are anticipating maintaining similar sales levels.  And it doesn’t stop there.  Favourable results were also forecast for the next twelve months with exactly 50 per cent confident of increased sales and 44.4 per cent expecting similar sales figures. 

sdea director, Lawrence Cutler says, “This is a remarkable turnaround.  Our survey confirms the renewed energy and confidence now being experienced within the shopfittings and display market.  It is a testimony to the tenacity of the huge majority of established retail display suppliers that they were able to cut back, retrench and fight their way through the recession.  Now many are being rewarded with full order books”.