kitchenware

Retail sales of kitchenware, as covered by this Key Note report, were valued at £702.5m in 1999 in a virtually static market. The market has seen stilted growth in value largely thanks to some drastic discounting, which shows no sign of disappearing, and a sharp increase in the levels and quality of reasonably priced imported kitchenware. Key Note anticipates the value of the kitchenware market in its entirety to reach £709m in 2000, its growth hampered by increasing levels of cheap imports and by continuing discounting. Asda Group Ltd, since its takeover by the world's largest retailer, has made no secret of the fact that it intends to take on competitors with continuing price cuts and, while such discounting increases the volume of the market, it does little for its retail value. The entire market is forecast to reach a value of some £742m by 2004, representing a growth of 4.7％ over the 5-year period from 2000 to 2004.