Review: September 2016

We’re into the last quarter of the year. How fast has that gone?! This has really been one stellar year in the glazing industry. So as we step up one last gear to finish the year with a barn storming last quarter, it’s time we took a look back at a September which saw the industry burst back into life after a sleepy summer.

Super September

August was your typical sleepy month where business activity of any sorts took a dip and the idea of new windows and doors was put on the back burner.

September was most certainly not that. September is traditionally the start of silly season. The period of time before Christmas when kids go back to school and home owners turn their attentions back to home improvements with the aim of getting whatever it is they want done before the holiday season.

It has certainly kicked off in a big way. I know at our place we have had one of the busiest Septembers in quite a while. Lead levels and sales have been particularly healthy and we finished the month ahead of target. In fact once I had calculated September’s figures we are ahead of our yearly target too. With a large number of live quotes in circulation, lots with high values, October already looks like it’s going to be a strong month.

This is our situation, but I know that speaking with other installers that everyone seems to be busy and profitable now, at least on the installations front. This is great news because when you look back at 2016 as a year so far, it’s not been the smoothest in recent times. For me this demonstrates the resilience and stamina of our sector to work our way through troubling times.

Industry news

No takeovers, mergers or acquisitions to talk about this month. It’s likely that we now won’t see anymore until next year.

But there was double industry awards news to speak of. The finalists of the 2016 G Awards were announced during September, which you can see by clicking here. A big well done to those who were announced as finalists.

Also, the biggest ever nominations phase for this year’s National Fenestration Awards closed at 10pm on Friday 30th September. It was a record year for nominations, which are now into their fourth year, which saw nearly 300 nominations in 17 categories. The shortlists for this year’s campaign are due to be announced on Thursday 6th October at 9pm. Although I can’t say who is likely to make it through, it is by far the most diverse submissions list we have ever had, which demonstrates strongly the very far reach the NFAs now has across the sector. This is something I am personally very proud of.

DGB Performance

As always, I show you how this website has performed during the past month. I am happy to report that on the visitor and unique visitor fronts it’s been another month of growth…

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Generally this year I have been happy with the robust growth in visitor and unique visitor numbers. On the page views front, the year started very strongly, but as the year has gone on it has plateaued. It looks like I will still reach the 200k page views mark by the end of the year, but I would have preferred that to have been nearer the 250k mark.

There is a silver lining though. I am in the middle of a big DGB Consumer revamp, and I know that DGB gets quite a few home owners as visitors. My hope is that once I have completed my revamp of that part of the site and start pushing it on social media, I might pay for a few Facebook ads for it too, it should give me a boost in page view numbers.