With manufacturers increasingly raising awareness of the benefits of pipe, equipment and appliance protection, the efficiency requirements of consumers are likely to be a major force behind growth in the European commercial scale water treatment equipment market.
“As suppliers are placing more emphasis on highlighting cost-benefit analyses, the advantages of damage prevention as opposed to repairs are stimulating investment,” said John Raspin, Research Manager at Frost and Sullivan. “The protection of boilers, pipes, fittings and process equipment is particularly crucial to almost all commercial and light industrial applications.”
Valued at $302 million (£200 million) in 1999, the European market for commercial scale water treatment equipment is expected to grow to $403 million (£268 million) by 2006 (see related story). However, Frost and Sullivan stress that low customer loyalty combined with new advanced technologies growing at the expense of traditional equipment will serve to keep this market particularly challenging.
Competition is becoming more fierce, say Frost and Sullivan, and as a result, average unit prices decreased every year of the latter part of the 1990’s.
“This market is largely solution-driven as opposed to product-driven, meaning that customers most commonly approach suppliers for low-cost efficient solutions to their problems,” explains Raspin. “Therefore, although brand name is important, product awareness is low in the market and price remains of prime importance.”