News
Construction sales to rise
30/11/2009
The November 2009 'State of the Industry Survey’, completed by senior marketers from across the construction supply chain, shows that 62% of companies are now fairly or very confident of sales figures improving over the next 6-12 months. The figure was just 24% six months ago.
However, despite some optimism for future sales figures 70% of companies suffered a fall in sales in Q3, compared with the same period last year. Also, only 43% of companies expect their core markets to grow over the next six months, suggesting that a large chunk of the industry is still concerned about their order books for 2010.
For the first time since the start of 2008 the news is better for the marketing department, with 52% of companies planning a rise in their budget in 2010. As a result, there are now more companies planning increases in their marketing headcount rather than a decrease. However, the majority (70%) are still planning to keep their marketing department the same size next year.
Whilst the biggest worry for companies remains “margins being eroded by competitors”, the number of companies saying they are concerned about “how to win more projects or customers” rose by 48%, from 12 months ago. Also, compared to one year ago there has been
* A 121% increase in the number of companies looking to break into new markets
* A 92% increase in the number of companies reviewing how to manage the impact of falling market prices
* A 63% decrease in the number of companies looking at how best to manage cost rises
Nick Hollaway, Senior Manager at Leading Edge commented, “these findings suggest that many companies are urgently looking at the best ways of increasing their revenue streams in an increasingly competitive market place, where prices and margins appear to still be on a downward slide.”
The survey was carried out by construction market research specialists Leading Edge in association with CIMCIG. To find out more about the 'State of the Indsutry Survey’ and to download a copy of the latest results, then please go to: http://www.lead-edge.co.uk/ourmarkets/survey.html
