Market Diversification With a Focus on Sustainability & Wellness
The past few years have seen an increased consumer focus on both sustainability and wellness. 2020 saw an uptick in consumer investment in residential water quality and survey respondents indicated this increased demand remains.
This year, the WQP editorial team added “air purification” as an option to relevant survey questions relating to product lineup and business growth. This option was not previously included in the survey and will no doubt be interesting to track year-over-year moving forward. In response to the coronavirus pandemic, coupled with this increased consumer focus on disinfection, air purification may be a rising market and represent a way to stay competitive (stay tuned for additional coverage on this topic to come).
When respondents were asked “which of the following product/service categories does your business offer?” 19% marked air purification (note, this was a “check all that apply question,” so the percentage sum is not a pie). As usual, filtration and softening/conditioning were the most common responses, though disinfection and valves were also common.
Supply & Demand
For most businesses in the water quality industry, it should come as no surprise that the supply chain was a hot topic on this year’s State of the Industry Survey. However, the subject is particularly interesting when compared to the previous year’s survey. While it may feel like a lifetime ago, do you remember what your top business concerns were in 2020?
In 2020, when asked “what aspect of your organization has been most severely impacted by the coronavirus?” 23% of respondents answered demand, making it the most popular response to that question. This makes sense, as the earlier stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, including shelter-in-place orders, saw an increase in consumer awareness of both wellness and home improvement issues. However, that ripple effect of demand coupled with freighting issues has led respondents to answer that supply is the most impacted issue in 2021 (38% of respondents). This was followed by staffing and scheduling at 25%.
When asked what factors have had a negative impact on sales in the past 12 months, 2021 respondents cited COVID-19, material prices, supply and demand, and lack of skilled workforce as the top issues. In non-pandemic years, big-box stores and internet retailers represented a bigger chunk of that negative impact pie.
On the flip side, when asked what factors have had a positive impact on sales in the past 12 months, 2021 respondents cited company website, market diversification and association membership among the top growth factors. Finally, when asked what the most important topics will be in the coming year, the top responses were supply and demand, disinfection, groundwater and legislation/regulations.