Sales of power tools and paint as well as running shoes and skateboards have increased as the impact of the pandemic changes spending habits, retailers suggest.
Times of Malta spoke to home improvement retailers and sports stores, who say their sales indicate people are spending more time on DIY and outdoor activities.
Retailers suggest demand has been helped by the fact that COVID-19 has restricted travel and resulted in some households having more disposable income.
BigMat and PM Pace & Mercieca said they saw increases in outdoor products and home improvement tools. Mochika-Outdoor Life and Epic Extreme Sports said they saw sales soar for particular outdoor sports equipment.
What’s popular in DIY?
Noel Hollier, operations manager from BigMat, said sales of paint, soft furnishings, kitchenware and appliances have all increased.
“Some of our most popular products at the moment also include outdoor furniture, above-ground swimming pools and raw materials such as wood. Hand tools and shelving are also popular,” Hollier added.
Demand has been helped by the fact that COVID-19 has restricted travel
Aldo Busuttil, division manager from PM Pace similarly highlighted the popularity of DIY shelving systems, power tools and outdoor furniture.
“I can confirm there was an increase in sales of DIY-related products during the past year as a result of COVID and the restrictions on movement this brought about,” Busuttil said.
“Since no overseas holidays were possible, less money was spent on entertainment, both directly and indirectly.
“For example, people bought less clothing and fashion wear, and since socialising was also heavily curtailed, some of this ‘saved-up’ money went to more expensive products such as new outdoor furniture,” he added.
Demand for outdoor sport wear
Running shoes sales have eclipsed more expensive hiking shoes, according to Ryan Saliba Gazzano, a manager for Mochika.
“Since people can’t travel, hiking boots used for adventure travelling lost their popularity,” he said.
“As Malta’s terrain doesn’t require specialised footwear, people instead turned towards trail-running shoes. In fact, I can say that they were one of our most consistently popular products since the pandemic began,” Saliba Gazzano added.
Buhagiar from Epic Extreme Sports said that, although “people were buying skateboards and cruisers [skateboards designed for commuting] like crazy,” there were shortages caused by the impact of the pandemic on supply chains.
“Both makers and distributors of the products we sell are consistently running out; if you look at anyone who sells these products, all of them are usually more often out of stock than not,” Buhagiar said.
He also said they were dealing with backlogs from over nine months ago, with products being stuck somewhere along the way.
“So while we did sell certain products more quickly when they were in stock, we didn’t exactly make more profits because we have been consistently short on stock. The waiting periods cause losses for everyone,” Buhagiar said.