WarmlyYours reported another successive quarter of double-digit sales growth for radiant heat products. However, this is set against continued uncertainty relating to both COVID-19 and the national housing market, which continues to suffer from dampened sales activity.
In its latest report, WarmlyYours reported consolidated sales in Q3 grow by 12.3% when compared to the same time period in 2020. This constitutes an entire year of double-digit growth for WarmlyYours due in large part to an increase in consumer awareness of radiant heating solutions and generalized increases in home renovation spending, the company said. The U.S., the volume leader by a wide margin, saw sales accelerate from 14.5% in Q2 2021 to 19.6% in Q3 2021.
The product line that had the fastest rate of change was radiant panel heaters, which saw an increase of 94.4% in Q3 2021. This product line has greatly benefited from increased consumer awareness of the product as a potential solution for adding supplemental heat to a room that is less intrusive than augmenting an existing central air heating system or replacing your floor for an underfloor heating system.
The largest volume increase came from increased sales of floor heating products which saw a growth rate of 15.2% in consolidated sales. This increase follows a trend that has perpetuated itself all year with floor heating sales up 23.6% in year-to-date sales vs. the same time period last year. In fact, floor heating now makes up nearly 60% of all WarmlyYours sales (up from 56% last year).
During this time, the trade channel made up 39.3% of all growth in WarmlyYours sales and nearly 20% of growth in floor heating sales specifically. While the growth rate for the trade customer segment was 13.5%, it was still the volume leader. Julia Billen, owner and president of WarmlyYours, said that supporting the trade customer segment has always been a top priority for the company.
“With radiant heating, a homeowner might only work on 1 or 2 projects in their lifetime,” Billen said. “But with a professional installer, they’re often involved in dozens or even hundreds of different radiant heating projects throughout their careers. That’s why this relationship is so important. We need to make sure these installers are armed with not only the latest and greatest products, which we’re happy to provide, but also the latest and greatest knowledge.”
Billen said this was the driving goal behind the company’s launch of a new installer certification program earlier this year.
During Q3 2021, WarmlyYours also saw significant growth for other customer channels like e-tailers (up 28.8%) and dealers (up 9.4%) when compared to the prior year period. But it was the homeowner channel that saw the swiftest rate of change at 31.7% and this appears to be largely related to increased homeowner spending on home remodeling projects in lieu of upgrading to a higher-bracket home due to a supply shortage of available inventory.
