Constructionshows
The value of the market of protective coatings for construction elements and structures in 2014 is estimated at about PLN 1.1bn. As the construction market is poised for slow growth in 2015, the protective coatings market is hardly likely to experience a revival. Companies selling proven products, such as STO, Tikkurila or Bona, a manufacturer of parquet flooring products, can benefit from this situation.
Concrete and steel are the most popular materials used in the construction industry. Though not as nearly popular as concrete and steel, wood actually is an important material as it is widely used in finishing works. To preserve their aesthetics and, most of all, functional properties for as long as possible, the coatings must be protected against deterioration caused by external factors, such as water, pollution or temperature changes.
For the purpose of a survey conducted for the report entitled “Protective Coatings Market in Poland 2014. Development forecasts for 2014-2019”, specialised parquet installation companies and companies performing contracts involving application of protective coatings over concrete or steel surfaces were asked a number of questions, some of which concerned brands of products familiar to them. The survey results reveal fairly poor awareness of the individual producers by contractors. This is somewhat characteristic of all marketing research surveys concerning construction chemicals. Unaided awareness, where no prompts about product brands that might be known to contractors are offered to them, is typically very low. Companies are not always able to identify the most popular products they use in their construction projects. This is partly due to a great range of options available to contractors and the general trend where contractors tend to use a limited variety of proven products they are familiar with while not scouring the market for information on new solutions.
Still, the brands mentioned by contractors the most often can be considered to be the most firmly entrenched in contractors’ awareness. Within the category of protective coatings for wood surfaces, popular brands include Bona, Domalux, Osmo and Hartzlack, each of which obtained over 10% of responses, with a proviso that Bona was mentioned nearly twice as often as the other brands.
There was no such clear leader in the other product groups. Regarding protective products for concrete surfaces, such brands as Ceresit, Sika and Mapei received over 10% of all responses, while leading brands in the category of steel surfaces included Tikkurila, Sniezka, Hammerite and Teknos.
The next stage of the survey involved ranking the materials for wood, concrete and steel according to subjective experience of the individual contractors with a given product brand. Accordingly, contractors provided assessments of various elements, including the price-to-quality ratio, the product’s availability in the distribution network, simplicity and ease of application and a more general criterion, i.e. willingness to recommend a product to other contractors. Bona, the line with the highest brand awareness, was the winner in the category of wood protection products. In the case of protective coatings for concrete surfaces, Mapei was the leader, with unaided awareness for the brand ranked third. STO was the number one product range in the category of protective coatings for steel products, although the company’s brand was recognised by a mere 1% of respondents in the question measuring unaided brand awareness.
