Well, summer finally arrived, if all for a fleeting few days, as May shook off the late snow of April and the sun came out to show it’s face. As we near the halfway point of the year, it’s time to take a look back at the month of May in the fenestration industry.
It’s worth me saying at this point that this will only be a part review as this was written before I left for my holiday. So no blog stats, no most read posts list, that will all come when I come back. I hope you’ll spend a minute or two reading on anyway!
Still no EU ref effect
Even as the EU referendum creeps ever closer, I still couldn’t see any sort of concrete evidence that the vote was starting to have an negative impact, at least at our place.
There were various sets of figures published during May which indicated a slowing in GDP. Yet, businesses still seemed to report fairly positive news. Throughout May we remained busy with leads, sales and general business activity. And I got that feeling about the industry as a whole.
Yet, during mid-May I have an insightful conversation with an industry friend of mine who enlightened me to the fact that a number of industry acquisitions and deals are currently on hold until the outcome of the referendum is known.
On the whole though, I think the mood is still generally quite positive. I think that may change though as we head into June. The poll date is the 23rd of the month. I suspect that as we draw closer, and if the polls continue to be close, the UK might just start to feel a little bit more nervous as the reality sinks in that we might actually be leaving.
All quiet on the news front
It felt to me like the industry was taking a bit of a breather after a very hectic April.
There was very little on the news front. No mergers of note, no new products as all seemed to be announced at April’s FIT Show.
However, once the EU referendum is out of the way, and if we decide to remain within the EU, I suspect those deals that are on hold may quickly come to light.
Looking forward to June
June is going to be a tricky month I suspect. The referendum effect is really going to kick in at this point. Opinion polls will be coming thick and fast and the public may well stop spending in their tracks until the know one way or the other what is going to happen.
The news is going to be dominated by this subject. Very little else will be covered as we get closer to the date. Our industry will also be taking a greater interest as whether we like it or not, this vote is going to affect everyone and everything.
Strap yourself in, it could be a rocky one!
DGB
As we draw closer to the middle of the year, web traffic on most blogs and magazine sites starts to take a dip. This is mostly because in our industry, the middle of the year is also the busiest time of the year, so there is less time to spend in front of screens. But also the weather, in theory, gets better, which again means people are out and about not sat at home slumped in front of laptops. This is why website traffic for most sites of all kinds is busier at the start end ends of each year.
During May, I started to see that trend begin. The start of the month was strong, but as we entered the final week or so, that dip started to kick in. It was still a month of strong growth however when compared to May 2015, but certainly a bit of a slow down compared to the first fourth months of the year. You can see the stats below in the chart:
What also didn’t help was I left to go on holiday for two weeks during the final week of the month. This meant that I had to pre-write some content to go live whilst I was away, and I was not able to promote that content across social media platforms as I normally would. This always has a knock-on effect and I always notice a difference in traffic every time I go on holiday.
With my vacation stretching into the beginning of June, I fully expect that dip to continue, combined with the usual summer dip in traffic and of course the conclusion of the EU referendum and what that brings with it. All in all though, a pretty decent May all round.
I think it’s safe to say though that on the political and economic front, June is going to have a lot to say for itself!
Worth another read…
Here are some of the most read posts published in May that are definitely worth another look at:
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