Press release 18-01-2025

While the world's leading trade fair for bathrooms and sanitary ware, the ISH in Frankfurt, has started, Unternehmensberatung Titze GmbH from Neuss has published a brand-new market study on the bathroom sector, which is currently highly polarised.

When it comes to personal hygiene, the balance between bathing and showering is shifting dramatically. Differences within countries are clearly recognisable and require a differentiated approach.

The TOP 10 countries in Europe have been undergoing an ongoing process of change since 2020. This makes it all the more important that data collection is standardised for all TOP 10 countries.

Over the past five years, the sanitary market in Europe has defied the problems of Covid-19, the war in Ukraine, high inflation in Europe and ongoing supply problems due to various material shortages.

Many new problems have arisen, while the overall bathroom and sanitary market is increasingly developing into a private recreation centre.

Since the second half of 2023, bathtubs and shower trays in Europe have been suffering from low new construction volumes, high prices and, in some countries, recognisable political uncertainty among many end customers. The result is weaker demand behaviour, although not in all of the TOP 10 countries, as shown by the positive developments in France, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland.

However, all countries expect a positive trend turnaround by 2025. In addition to the still subdued level of new construction, this is primarily driven by the great potential for modernisation in bathrooms.

In 2024, bathtubs and shower trays worth €2,622 million were sold at ex-factory prices in the top 10 European countries. This is 12.4% more than in 2020, but a decrease of -1.7% compared to 2022.

The total for bathtubs and shower trays in 2024 corresponds to a cumulative gross trade volume of EUR 6,677 million in the TOP 10 countries Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, the UK, France, Italy, Spain and Poland.

The recorded sales figures for bathtubs have been declining since 2022.

More and more end customers are tending towards showers and are pushing the purchase of floor-level shower surfaces. The sales figures speak volumes. In 2024, 3,390,000 bathtubs were sold in the TOP 10 countries. This compares to 8,670,000 shower trays. There are clear differences between the TOP 10 countries. A further shift in favour of shower trays can now be expected by 2030.

The triumph of floor-level showers is clear: they have almost completely replaced traditional shower trays in new builds and are also gaining an increasing market share in renovation projects.

The ten manufacturers of bathtubs and shower trays with the highest sales achieved a 37.9% share of total sales. The leading market positions in Europe are held by Roca, Kaldewei and Geberit.

With a market share of 41.2% in 2024, the sanitary ware trade is still the clear leader. In 2018, however, the share was still 45.9%. The DIY stores only lost a moderate 1.5 percentage points and currently have a 26.9% market share. The winners are distance selling with an increase of 4.9 percentage points to a market share of 20.2% and the contract business, which saw its market share rise from 7.6% to 9.7%. The overall trend outlined above will continue to intensify until 2030.

The market study ‘Bathtubs and shower trays in Europe until 2030’ contains 536 pages with 374 tables and charts and was published in February 2025. It consists of a comparative section for all of Europe's TOP 10 countries, which clearly highlights the differences between the individual countries, and ten country studies, each with an identical structure.

Previous publications in the same series of our current studies on the bathroom and sanitary ware market in Europe include:

• Washbasins in 09/2024 with 387 pages and 245 tables and charts
• Toilets and shower toilets in 11/2024 with 492 pages and 296 tables and charts

The price of the market study amounts to 5,000 Euro plus VAT. This study is published in German and English language.

Mr. Titze will be happy to answer your questions or arrange an individual interview on all the detailed topics of the above market studies, including at the ISH.

This market study can be obtained from:

Unternehmensberatung Titze GmbH

Auf den Stöcken 16

41472 Neuss

Fon +49-2182-871200

info@titze-online.de

www.titze-online.de