Are you ready for 2021? Because the residential shower door market definitely is...
What a year it has been! When COVID-19 hit the US in March 2020, life as we know it changed dramatically; businesses shut down, business travel essentially went away, and consumers hunkered down not knowing what to expect. However, with this unprecedented shift of consumers staying at home day and night and not traveling or spending money, we saw a significant increase in bathroom remodels and shower door sales. In fact, the last half of 2020 for some glass fabricators has been one of the busiest years for shower door sales they have seen in a long time.
Recent reports from top industry economists and media outlets are forecasting that this upward trend in remodeling for the residential market is not going to let up and will continue to increase through 2021. USGlass Magazine/USGNN.com, one of the top glass publishers in the US, reported that residential starts were 2% higher in the first ten months of this year. And now the residential segment is positioned for growth again in 2021 despite a pullback in multifamily starts or other areas of construction.
So, that is some good news, right? A small silver lining for the glass industry during this pandemic. To help fabricators add more value to their customers and provide shower glass products that prevent stains and reduce cleaning, we launched our new machine the FuseCube? Express. Honestly, we were not sure what to make of the economic forecast, or frankly if the machine would hold its weight during a national shutdown. Fortunately, with renovation on the rise, and now almost through November, we have sold eight FuseCube Express machines in 2020 thus far to fabricators planning to take advantage of residential spike for 2021. Several of the machine sales went to commercial fabricators who are expanding or launching a new shower door division to be able to take advantage of the opportunity and sustain their operations while the economy and construction improves. Therefore, from the talk in the industry and from what we have seen and heard at DFI, 2021 is the year for significant increase in the shower door market. So, what are you doing to prepare for 2021?
I would love to hear your comments about what your glass business is doing to prepare for 2021 and maybe even some new tactics you plan to employ for the New Year.
