Home improvement retailers could well find they are flooded with customers over the coming weeks as people increasingly look to carry out DIY work.
Such is the assertion of Dr Tim Denison, Synovate retail psychologist, who claims that as the economic crisis rumbles on, an increasing number of consumers are looking to stay home, where once they may have gone out.
Adding that “staying home is the new going out”, Dr Denison reports that Britons are wanting to become more self-sufficient, something which he suggests will drive their interest in DIY projects.
“Thus, it seems to me, there could well be a resurgence in interest and activity in the DIY sector and in garden centres particularly over Easter,” he claims.
Comments by Dr Denison come after research by Synovate reveals that retail footfall for the forthcoming Easter fortnight will be up by 4.1 per cent from the same period in 2008.
The popularity of DIY was shown in recent figures from MyHammer, which revealed that 85 per cent of people would rather make improvements to their property during the current financial climate rather than sell their home.