Turnover in the repair sector

Turnover in the repair sector increased between 2012 and 2017 from €20.9 billion to €25.6 billion respectively, aside from a dip in 2016. Following a sharp increase in 2017, the turnover then decreased to €21.5 billion in 2020. The changes in the total turnover are mainly caused by changes in the two largest categories: the sector “Repair of computers and peripheral equipment” (€8.9 billion in 2012, €11.9 billion in 2017 and €8.3 billion in 2020) and “Repair of other personal and household goods” (€2.9 billion in 2012, €4.0 billion in 2018 and €3.4 billion in 2020). Looking at the total summed turnover of the entire economy in the EU27 (not in the figure), there is a yearly increase between 2012 and 2019 from €1.2 trillion to €1.4 trillion. In 2020 there is a decrease to €1.3 trillion likely due to the covid pandemic. The turnover in the repair sector has a share of between 1.6% and 1.9% of the total turnover in the EU27. The bulk of the Europeans’ expenditure on repair is channeled towards the fixing of computers and peripheral appliances, followed by personal and household/garden goods, communication equipment, and consumer electronics.

So, despite a favourable policy environment, activity levels in the repair sector are declining since 2017 onwards. In line with turnover data, other economic indicators such as employment level and number of enterprises show the same trend, and this accounts for most subsectors such as repair of computers and peripheral equipment and repair of textiles. One reason for this could be the complex legal and technical issues related to repair activities, and also societal behaviour can strongly influence consumer acceptance of repair. The high price for repair, the unavailability of spare parts, and the increased complexity of products are typically considered as the main barriers. Often the repair cost is too high in comparison with the price of a new product, which demotivates customers from opting for repair. Specifically for textiles, low quality of apparel can be a technical barrier to repair. Exceptions to this declining trend are the subsectors repair of household appliances/home and garden equipment and repair of furniture. For the first one, the number of enterprises kept stable, while the turnover and number of employees has grown steadily since 2017. The latter experienced rapid growth over the period 2011–2019 in number of enterprises, turnover and number of employees (ETC CE, 2022).

In the coming years an increase in repair activity is expected due to the Right to Repair rules of the European Commission^[1] and other EU regulations. This trend is also reflected in the impact assessment on sustainable consumption promoting repair and reuse by the European Commission (2023). A continuous increase of the percentage of products that are fixed is expected in the next 15 years, mainly due to expected resolution of technical barriers, and introduction of the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation. It is estimated that more than 58% of consumers’ products brought in for repair were successfully repaired in 2021, and this will increase by 4.57% by 2037. The years before, between 2014 and 2021, an average annual growth of successful repairs of 0.28% is estimated based on historic data.