Pros & Cons of Consumer Data Collection Types
Consumer data is a critical tool for understanding your market and improving your business strategy. It provides insight into purchasing behavior, preferences, and trends. This data helps optimize product placement, inventory management, and marketing strategies — ultimately enhancing customer satisfaction and driving sales growth.
In this blog post, we will look at the advantages and disadvantages across different types of consumer data collection. Read to discover key principles to look for when evaluating how to collect consumer data and reasons to use one option versus another.
Consumer data collection types
Though not fully comprehensive, here is a list of the primary types of data collection that we will examine in this article.
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- Credit Cards
- Receipt Panels
- Government (Census, Voter History)
- Surveys (Door-to-Door, Mall Intercept, Telephone, Mail, Online)
CREDIT CARD DATA
Due to heavy market usage (with an estimated 191 million Americans owning at least one credit card), credit cards are a prominent source of consumer data and a valuable metric for analyzing retail performance.
ADVANTAGES OF CREDIT CARD DATA
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- Data is robust and easily obtainable
- Factual, transaction-specific information — no room for subjectivity
- Delivers insight into buying behaviors and spending patterns at specific retailers
- Good for wholistic retailer metrics
- Tracks transactions across online and in-store purchases
- Data can be updated very frequently
DISADVANTAGES OF CREDIT CARD DATA
- Often lacks specificity; lacks a breakdown of spending by line item or category
- Lacks the granularity to explain why consumers make specific purchases or emotional responses to products
- Quantitative data only
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GOVERNMENT DATA
Government data, such as the US Census, is a good source of consumer demographic information.
ADVANTAGES OF GOVERNMENT DATA
- Rich demographics data
- Direct from consumer
- Publicly accessible, available to anyone
- High-quality
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DISADVANTAGES OF GOVERNMENT DATA
- Timeliness; may be very lagged – such as the US census is only fully collected once every 10 years
- Can be complex to extract insights from; needs a level of expertise to understand
- Typically quantitative data only
RECEIPT PANEL DATA
Receipt panel data typically involves consumer-submitted receipt images from either a photographed paper receipt or emailed digital receipt.
ADVANTAGES OF RECEIPT DATA
- Detailed purchase insights; SKU-level information, basket purchases, etc.
- Typically includes online and in-store data
- Authenticity, as it does not rely on consumer recall
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DISADVANTAGES OF RECEIPT DATA
- Cannot calculate market share
- Representation will be limited due to panel base and low incident items
- Low data quality and gaps in data due to variance in submitted receipts
- Retail variation in product numbers (SKUs) and features create discrepancy
- Privacy concerns limit the ability to collect without consumer submission
- Quantitative data only
- Sample representation may be biased towards those willing to use a smartphone to take photos
- Requires “product information master” to decode items on the receipt into an actual product
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SURVEYS & INTERVIEW DATA
Alongside the advancement of technology, survey and interview methodologies evolved over the past few decades — taking us from heavily limited door-to-door questionnaires to the more modern and highly accessible online survey.
While all these methods are still a valid method of gathering information, this list will highlight the evolution of surveys and the disadvantages of each.
ONLINE SURVEYS
Today, the most popular and efficient method of survey data collection are online surveys, which use the internet to distribute questionnaires through a technological device.
ADVANTAGES OF ONLINE SURVEYS
- Can accommodate high response numbers, allowing for a better market representation
- Extremely wide reach, not limited to geographical area
- Cost-effective
- Panel profiling allows for better targeting and therefore less expensive
- Automated data collection decreases turnaround time
- Easy integration with data analysis tools
- Can result in both quantitative and qualitative data
- Reporting may be made in real-time and changes can be made to sampling or surveys “on the fly”
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DISADVANTAGES OF ONLINE SURVEYS
- Consumer recall bias
- Low engagement of respondents (survey fatigue)
- Can be lengthy and boring for consumers
- Representation — some demographics are under-represented (low income, unacculturated Hispanics for example)
- Privacy concerns
- Data quality issues between fraud and validity of responses — requires a backend system that can mitigate data quality risks
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TELEPHONE SURVEYS
This method of data collection involves interviewers using phone calls to reach respondents. Today, these surveys often use automated voice systems to conduct the interviews.
ADVANTAGES OF TELEPHONE SURVEYS
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- Can reach a wide range of consumers — not limited by geographical area
- Cost-effective compared to in-person interview methods like door-to-door
- Efficient, allows for quick turnaround of data especially when using automated response recording technologies
- Reduced response bias — delivers sense of anonymity compared to face-to-face interviews
- Can result in both quantitative and qualitative data
DISADVANTAGES OF TELEPHONE SURVEYS
- Response rates are declining, hang-ups are more frequent
- Technological limitations — poor connection, speaker clarity, etc.
- Data quality issues
- Expensive
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MAIL SURVEYS
Still used prevalently throughout the world, mail surveys are standardized questionnaires that are sent to someone’s physical address to be filled out and mailed back.
ADVANTAGES OF MAIL SURVEYS
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- Wide reach, not limited to geographical location, online, or telephone access
- Not limited by technology
- No interview bias
- Can result in both quantitative and qualitative data
DISADVANTAGES OF MAIL SURVEYS
- Low response rate
- Can be costly with prepping, mailing, receiving, processing
- Slow — delayed consumer response rate
- Limited data and low depth to insights gathered
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DOOR-TO-DOOR
While used less frequently today in the US, door-to-door questionnaires were once a prevalent method of gathering consumer data. As indicated by the name, door-to-door involves visiting individual homes to conduct a survey or in-person interview.
ADVANTAGES OF DOOR-TO-DOOR
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- Personal interaction/verify speaking with real human (allows for sight-screening)
- Geo-targeting typically allows for socio-economic targeting
- High response rate
- Detailed data collection as interviewer can follow-up on information provided
- Can result in both quantitative and qualitative data
- Can be highly representative by including harder to reach audiences
DISADVANTAGES OF DOOR-TO-DOOR
- Can be costly
- Very time-consuming
- Limited by local area/geographical restraints (e.g harder to collect representative data in remote areas)
- Data can be biased as consumers may look to provide socially desirable answers due to the face-to-face nature of the interview (acquiescence bias)
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MALL INTERCEPT INTERVIEWS
This method involves approaching potential respondents in a mall or similar retail setting to conduct surveys or interviews. Often used to gather consumer opinions on products or services relevant to the location where the interview is held.
ADVANTAGES OF MALL INTERCEPT
- Targeted sampling / sight-screening; allows interviews to target specific demographics to create a better representation within collected data
- Detailed data collection, opportunity for follow-up
- Immediate feedback / product interaction
- High volume of respondents in a single location
- Can result in both quantitative and qualitative data
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DISADVANTAGES OF MALL INTERCEPT
- Biased responses can be an issue as consumer could be hurried or looking to provide socially acceptable answers due to the face-to-face nature of the interview
- Consumer representation restricted to those who shop at that location
- Not always permissible
- Data input and analysis can be time costly
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Which method is best for data collection?
The key here is no one type reigns over the rest. Each of these methods has imperfections — and no single source does it all. The effectiveness of any data collection method largely depends on what questions you are trying to answer and the goals of your business.
There is value in categories like credit card and receipt data, in the very narrow granular level of insights businesses can gather from these sources. There is also value in understanding consumer perceptions, which require a survey or interview methodology. However, the greatest value for a business will come at the intersection of those two — the quantitative and the qualitative. The what, how much, and when mixed with the why.
In other words, to fully understand consumer behavior, businesses need to recognize the advantages and limitations of each approach and seek out both the factual sales-level data and the subjective insights from consumer perceptions.
OpenBrand delivers more than one methodology
From survey data to SKU-level receipt insights, our suite of insights solutions delivers the synergy of methodologies that businesses need for comprehensive market understanding. Learn more at Why OpenBrand.
Beyond the Tape: Why Brands Need More Than Receipt Data
Human behavior is undeniably complex. As explained by psychology, our actions and choices are immensely dynamic, influenced by both internal and external factors.
The decisions consumers make while shopping are no exception; understanding the intricacies behind consumer purchases involves more than reviewing sales data, numbers, and receipts.
In fact, relying solely on sales-oriented outputs to understand consumer behavior can result in making business decisions that ignore key consumer insights — namely, the why behind those metrics, who is shopping, and more.
In this article, we dive into the limitations retailers and manufacturers face when approaching market understanding through a receipt-only lens, and the significant benefits achieved by integrating additional consumer data sources such as survey data, demographic information, and SKU-level data at individual retailers, among others.
Diverse Data Sources in Retail
The key thing to understand about why retailers and manufacturers must look to more than receipt data is that the available data options are vast, and each presents a different perspective and insight into the market. From consumer surveys to receipt data let’s look at a selection of the options available, and the understanding they deliver.
| Data Type | Definition | High-Level Benefits / Understanding Delivered |
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| Receipt Data | Data from photographed / emailed receipts | Enrich sales tracking and inventory management, understand the top-selling products in the market |
| POS Data | Direct-from-retailer transaction records | Highly representative but only for participating retailers |
| Survey / Panel Data | Consumer questionnaire responses | 100% representative of entire market; understand market perceptions, opinions, and trends through direct-from-consumer insights and feedback |
| Clickstream Data | User web behavior tracking | Online shopping behavior, gain better understanding of customer path to purchase |
| Credit Card Data | Aggregated transactions by location | High-volume of transactions, share by store |
Limitations of Receipt Data Alone
As illustrated in the chart above, relying on receipt data alone for market understanding greatly limits the market insights business can gain.
While inarguably a valuable component of market understanding, receipt data delivers a sales-only view, providing limited understanding of insights into consumer buying decisions, total share of market, demographics, and more.
Other limitations of receipt data include:
- Biased data. Due to the nature of consumer-submitted photographs and web receipts, a bias will exist in the consumers and brands represented. For example, app-based panels are typically more biased towards younger consumers and female panelists.
- Small sample size, poor market representation. While Cheetos and toothpaste are frequently purchased product categories, consumer durable categories result in poor consumer submissions. These low incidence items make it hard to get a large sample, as well as expect consistency, which can interfere with representation.
- Not self-sustaining for processing data. To process individual receipts, a library must support it to connect/translate individual items across retailers. Without this library, it’s just a bunch of numbers and letters on a piece of paper.
- Cannot calculate market share. Without receipts from all the retailers, it’s not possible to calculate share the way a random sample from a panel or survey does — as surveys can deliver 100% market coverage for brands and retailers.
This is where other sources of data, such as survey data, become so critical.
Limitations of Other Data Types
Receipt data is a hot button topic for manufacturers and retailers, which is why we have focused on the limitations of using that source alone. However, each source of data has its own limitations — simply by nature of what these unique data types are, how they’re gathered, etc.
| Data Type | Limitation(s) |
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| Receipt Data | Bias in representation with consumers and stores tracked; requires use of product master to decode receipt information; small sample size; cannot be used for market share |
| POS Data | Requires retailer participation to gather data. Retailers can opt out at any time. Narrow market coverage. Not representative of market or share. Data typically masked or aggregated to not reveal specific store POS details or models/brands unique to that store |
| Survey / Panel Data | Consumer recall contains margin of error, must be balanced to census, difficult to calculate sales volume |
| Clickstream Data | Data is online only, cannot give market share, no foot traffic details |
| Credit Card Data | Cannot see individual purchase details or receipt information, just total spend, no consumer details |
The Key to Market Understanding: Data Fusion in Durables
Due to all the aforementioned limitations of individual data sources, it goes without saying that no single source is ideal for understanding the market.
The key to comprehensive understanding in durables is data fusion — that is, the blending of data sources to achieve the clearest picture of your consumers, products, competitors, and industry.
Let’s look at the types of data output accessible through these sources, the benefits of having access to each output, and how to obtain each.
| Data Output | Definition | High-Level Benefits / Understanding Delivered | Source Info |
|---|---|---|---|
| Market Share | Company sales percentages | Measure competitive performance and growth, Assess competitive market status, industry position, and market dynamics | Survey Data |
| Product Sales | Model-level performance data | Track how specific SKUs perform in the market, optimize product assortment and inventory management | Receipt DataPOS DataClickstream |
| Demographics | Buyer characteristics | Know who your typical consumer groups are, improve targeting and messaging to align with specific segmentations (best customers) | Survey DataSome Receipt Data (from specific providers) |
| Behavioral / Attitudinal | Consumer actions and habits; feelings and opinions | Discover the “why” behind the buy; base decisions on consumer behavior, improve personalization and engagement, and inform product positioning and marketing strategies | Survey DataSome Receipt Data (from specific providers) |
| Channel | Sales / distribution route details | Optimize effective distribution effectiveness, sales channels, and channel strategies with online vs. in-store (and beyond) performance data | Survey Data POS + Clickstream Receipt Data |
TraQline: the Leading Single Source of Truth for Durable Goods
Are you ready to get the most complete picture of your market? TraQline delivers total market insight for durable goods retailers and manufacturers, providing data from consumer to SKU. Our team uses receipts, surveys, clickstream and more to help our clients understand their consumers and the market for durable goods. To learn more about our suite of insights solutions, contact us below.
About the Author
SKU Rationalization: Tips, Strategies, and FAQs
When it comes to growth for durable goods manufacturers and retailers, continuous optimization of store inventory and product lines is essential. One proven method of improving inventory management and enabling growth is through SKU rationalization.
In this article we take a look at the benefits of SKU rationalization and strategies for implementing – including TraQline's 80/20 rule of SKU rationalization.
What is SKU Rationalization?
Simply put, SKU rationalization is the business process of streamlining product lines by determining what products are performing well and which need discontinued.
This process is heavily data-driven and involves looking at sales data and other performance metrics to determine overall profitability. Armed with this data, business can streamline product lines to avoid self-cannibalizing SKUs, evaluate why certain SKUs aren’t performing as well as others, stop production on underperforming models, and focus on amplifying SKUs that are meeting market demand.
Examples of the data that can be used in SKU rationalization processes include but are not limited to:
- Market performance – how is a particular SKU selling at top retailers?
- Feature insights – does this SKU have all the same features and functionality as the SKUs that are selling well?
- Price gap analysis – has this SKU been priced in the same range as similar models?
The Benefits of SKU Rationalization
With countless product lines and models available, sorting through the mass of data can be time consuming and overwhelming. SKU rationalization helps to keep SKU count to a minimum, weeding out those that aren’t bringing value to the business.
Specific benefits of SKU rationalization include but are certainly not limited to:
- Improving inventory management
- Reducing inventory costs
- Increasing profitability
- Defending against competitive threats
- Optimizing online & in-store product placement
- Strengthening brand awareness
- Boosting product line review success
How to Implement a SKU Rationalization Strategy
Implementing an effective SKU rationalization strategy requires 1) comprehensive understanding of your current processes, 2) in-depth evaluation of market data, 3) updates to products and practices, and 4) continuous optimization.
To break that down, here are the steps that your business should take when starting your SKU rationalization process.
Understand your current processes
- Evaluate marketing and sales tactics. Understanding what messaging and products you’re pushing to which audience is critical. As you move forward in your planning, this groundwork can help you evaluate if a product is failing because of design, features, etc. or if the positioning and placement might have been off given target market.
Evaluate your products and market
- Update your competitive product master. This step is critical in organizing and preparing to evaluate your SKUs against one another, as well as the competition. A comprehensive product library will allow you to see all the features, pricing, and other attributes of all the SKUs across your product line.
Software like SKU Metrix will compile this information for you, delivering easy side-by-side comparison, providing quick links to major retailer websites, and potentially saving your business hundreds of hours.
- Review market data: recent sales, consumer insights, share split, etc.
This is where you will uncover how your SKUs are performing within the market, what your target audiences think of your product line (through consumer surveys, online reviews, or consumer insights tools like Durable IQ), and how much of the market your competitors own.Understanding recent sales data and competitive advantages is vital to effective SKU rationalization because it will help you to evaluate – using your compiled product library and product information – what is or is not performing. Meanwhile, competitive data can give you insight into where you have a product gap and consumer data can help you determine what the market wants in a product.
[Read more about competitive analysis strategies]
Update product lines and business goals
- Recategorize product lines
Based on the prior three steps, this is where you will begin to reorganize and streamline your SKUs. Are there areas you can cut SKUs for underperforming or lack of market demand? Are there SKUs that cover the same ground as another, allowing for production to be cut off and eliminate product cannibalization?With the answer to these and similar questions, you will be able to put SKUs into a few categories such as: continue, undetermined, cancel, and upcoming.
- Project sales cannibalization and switching rates
Once you have categorized your SKUs and begun to act on these new categories, you will want to evaluate where your remaining SKUs might cannibalize one another and where you might lose share if a customer switches to a competitor due to a canceled product line. Both of these will note SKUs/lines to watch and provide a starting ground for your next round of SKU rationalization
- Update business goals
Additionally, you will want to evaluate overall goals and adjust accordingly. A big part of this will be looking at financial projections and ensuring that any new product development or discontinuations are accounted for, as well as new marketing spend for any products that will be more heavily pushed, etc.
Maintain regular SKU rationalization practices
- Continuously review and optimize strategies based on these steps.
Finally, the key to truly effective SKU rationalization is to not stop with one round of evaluation and optimization. This process is ongoing and cyclical and should be completed no more less than every six months. Notably, once processes are in place and the first round of SKU rationalization is complete, iterating should be more straight-forward.
What is the 80/20 Rule for SKU Rationalization?
In a general sense, an 80/20 rule states that in any business practice, 80% of results are caused by 20% of all effort. Let’s look at how this applies to SKU rationalization.
TraQline’s 80/20 rule for SKU Rationalization
Operating on the principle that 80% of sales are generated by 20% volume, when thinking about your SKU rationalization process, you want to operate under the same basis.
Upon analyzing your top SKUs and deciding which SKUs to adjust or recategorize, don’t implement changes within the 20% of top performing models. Those 20% show where your greatest consumer interest remains. Adjust and recategorize instead within the other 80%.
Furthermore, look at your competitive set and use that data to optimize your lower 80% of SKUs. Meaning figure out what’s in the top 20% of SKUs for your competitors, and how that set is different from your top 20%. Once you’ve identified those gaps and opportunities, change your lower 80% to match and compete with the competitors top 20%.
TraQline: How Durables Businesses Track SKU Performance
If you’re ready to start streamlining and optimizing your SKUs toward better business practices, TraQline delivers the SKU intelligence you need.
Hybrid POS is a SKU performance analytics platform, used by businesses to understand what SKUs are winning the market, what features are driving sales, how their product mix aligns with demand, and more. SKU Metrix is the industry’s first comprehensive product library, which delivers competitive intelligence and easy comparisons for durables SKUs.
To learn more about our SKU data, contact us below.
Clothes Dryers: Not Your Grandma’s Luxury Item
Clothes dryers are an often-overlooked component of the major appliance purchase. As the backyard clothesline has disappeared, what was formerly a luxury item has become a near essential component of consumer purchases.
While many consumers think of a washer and dryer purchase as two parts of a whole, research indicates that over 40% of consumers purchase a dryer without a washer. With options like gas vs. electric dryers, stacked pairs, and laundry centers, consumer choices have never been more prolific — and sorting through these options can become overwhelming. With information and opinions on everything from electric cars to power tools and appliances, it often leaves consumers unsure which products to purchase.
Combined with recent media coverage about gas appliances, we decided to take a closer look at how consumers are shopping for an essential household durable product: Clothes Dryers, regardless of energy source.
Read on to see which brands and retailers may or may not get ‘hung out to dry’ on market share, online shopping behaviors and more. Specifically, we will discuss who is buying, where they are buying and what drives their purchase decisions. Download our free Clothes Dryer market infographic to see all the insights as of December 2023 or read on to discover current trends in the industry such as what percentage of Dryers purchased in 2023 were gas and which features resonated most among consumers?
Source: All data in this article was pulled from the TraQline Durable IQTM and HPOS™ platforms using the rolling 4Q ending Q4 2023, Clothes Dryer category which focuses on several key features as well as energy source gas vs. electric. For the most recent insights or further dives into the data, please contact us.
Who are the top retailers by share in the Clothes Dryer market?
As of December 2023, the top retailer for Clothes Dryers was Lowe’s with significant growth in both unit and dollar share versus the prior year.
While Home Depot was second for both unit and dollar share, they were flat in terms of growth versus the prior year. Lowe’s was the only retailer showing an increase in share for Clothes Dryers. Best Buy saw a significant decline in unit share as well as a decline in dollars, however not significant.
The top two retailers highlight differences in fuel type – due to geographic differences between these two retailers (see regional breakdown below). Consumers buying gas were slightly more likely to purchase at Home Depot versus Lowe’s, 24% and 23%, respectively. However, electric was higher at Lowe’s by 12 percentage points (33%).
Outlet Draw/Close Rates
Lowe’s and Home Depot lead both draw rate (percentage of shoppers who consider that store) and close rates (percentages of shoppers who end up buying at that store). Lowe’s is up significantly in 2023 for both.
The draw rate for Home Depot dropped slightly in 2023 but the close rate increased (0.5 percentage points). Best Buy saw significant declines in the overall draw but maintained close rate. Consumers shopping for Gas Dryers were more likely to do so at Home Depot, however both their draw and close rates were down slightly versus 2022 as Lowe’s did see a significant increase in close.
Which Clothes Dryer brand leads in market share?
As of December 2023, the most popular Clothes Dryer brand with consumers was Samsung, in both unit (22%) and dollar (20%) share.
However, Samsung saw decreases in brand share for dollars and significant decrease in units. LG was the second leading brand for the category overall and saw a significant unit share increase of 2 percentage points. The Whirlpool brand fell third in line for top brands, but they are making some headway with significant increases across both unit and dollar share YOY.
Electric Clothes Dryer vs. Gas Dryers: Brand Leaders by Fuel Type
Are the brand leaders different by fuel type? The answer is yes — LG holds the top spot among Gas Dryers for brand share both units and dollars, climbing a significant 2 percentage points for units. Samsung took a hit by 3 percentage points which likely went to LG.
In electric Dryers, Samsung leads, however they had a slight decrease overall. Both LG & Whirlpool show significant increases for units with a 2-percentage point gain. Whirlpool also increased significantly (2 percentage points) for dollar share with these gains in electric dryers driving their overall gains for the total category.
While the market share leader Samsung has declined YoY, both LG and Whirlpool had significant increases in unit and dollar share versus the prior year.
Brand Consideration Rates
Samsung holds the lead for draw and close, however both draw and close are significantly down versus 2022.
What type of Dryer features are important for consumers?
We touched on the differences in fuel type above by retailers but what is the breakout of gas versus electric overall for the Dryer category – 20% to 80% overall.
Now let's look at Clothes Dyer sales by region. Interestingly, while 44% of all dryers purchased are from the Southern region of the United States, only 21% of the dryers purchased there run on gas.
According to this article from Kiplinger, nationwide gas is the cheaper option for the home’s most expensive cost – heating. However, in the south where the climate is warmer, the natural gas infrastructure is less prominent, causing electric dryer purchases to over index in the south relative to the population.
The top 3 key Clothes Dryer features in consumer purchases were:
- End of cycle signal 63%
- Permanent press cycle 58%
- Energy Star rating 56%
How are online vs. in-store sales trending for the Clothes Dryers market?
Online Dryer purchases are up 9 percentage points from 2019, however most Dryers are still purchased in-store (72%). Lowe’s is the top outlet whether in store or online — with 23% of all online Dryer purchases being made at Lowe’s.
Other key Clothes Dryer market insights
Which demographics are buying Clothes Dryers?
Balanced to the US Census, the TraQline Durable IQTM data shows differences in the primary demographics for Clothes Dryers purchases.
- 72% of Clothes Dryers purchasers are homeowners
- 26% of purchasers are renters
- 57% of purchasers are married
- 34% of purchases are made with males only involved in the purchase decision
- 33% of purchases are made with females only involved in the purchase decision
- 25% Clothes Dryers purchasers are Baby Boomers, 32% Millennials and 30% Gen X generations
Clothes Dryers Purchase Drivers
The top reason for product purchase for Clothes Dryers was “old one was broken” with 64% for 2023. The theme overall for this product category definitely focused on consumers’ concern for quality or the product possibly breaking soon.
The top three reasons cited by consumers for purchasing Clothes Dryers were:
- “Old one was broken” (64%)
- “Moved into a new home” (16%)
- “Old one will break soon” (9%)
The most mentioned reasons for purchasing Clothes Dryers at a specific retailer were:
- “Competitive price” (56%)
- “Good selection of products” (30%)
- “Convenient location” (30%)
- “Previous experience with store” (27%)
The most mentioned reasons for purchasing a specific brand of Clothes Dryers were:
- “Competitive price” (45%)
- “Quality product” (32%)
- “Good brand name” (30%)
- “Features desired” (27%)
Download our Clothes Dryer
market infographic for all the insights
US Major Appliance Industry: 2023 Market Share Trends & Rankings
2023 brought a lot of changes to the Major Appliance market. To highlight some of the shifts we saw in market trends, brand and retailer share, consumer preferences, and more, OpenBrand completed a brief review of key market highlights for 2023.
Read on to find out what major appliance brands consumers are buying most, where they are buying them, and what drives their purchase decisions. Download our free Major Appliances market rankings infographic for even more key insights.
SOURCE: All data insights in this article cover the rolling four quarter period ending December 2023 within the OpenBrand MindShare Total US Major Core Appliances product category. This category is an aggregate of several products including Refrigerator (24%), Clothes Washer (24%), Clothes Dryer (20%), Dishwasher (13%), Freezer (7%), Free-Standing Range (6%), Cooktop (2%), Wall Oven (2%), Compact Refrigerator (1%), and Built-In Range (1%).
Who are the top Major Appliances retailers by market share?
As of December 2023, the leading retailers in the Major Appliance market were Lowe’s and Home Depot. These retailers led in both unit and dollar share.
Let’s dive into the nuances of unit versus dollar share winners.
Major Appliances Retailer Unit Share Winners
In unit share, Lowe’s won the most market share in 2023, leading all other outlets at 29%. Compared to 2022, Lowe’s saw a 1 percentage point growth — continuing a three-year upward trend.
Home Depot is the next largest retailer with 23%-unit share. Home Depot is also seeing growth, though less significant, up 0.4 points from last year.
Coming in as 2023’s third largest Major Appliance retailer, Best Buy earned 12%-unit share — down 1 point year-over-year (YOY).
Major Appliances Retailer Dollar Share Winners
In retailer dollar share, Lowe’s (29%) and Home Depot (24%) continue to hold first and second places. As seen with unit share, both retailers enjoyed an increase YOY, with Lowe’s gaining 0.6 points and Home Depot gaining 0.3.
Best Buy remains in third place, with 14%-dollar share — again dropping YOY with a decrease of 0.7 points.
Outlet Draw Rates
Our top two market leaders also continue to lead in outlet draw rate, with Lowe’s drawing in 46% of all consumers who bought Major Appliances in 2023 and Home Depot drawing in 42%.
For more insights on draw rates — and to see how these retailers compare in closing the consumers they brought in, download the 2023 market report.
Who leads the Major Home Appliances market share by brand?
The top Major Appliance brands in 2023 were Samsung, General Electric, LG, and Whirlpool — leading the market in both unit and dollar share.
Let’s look deeper into our brand share split insights.
Major Household Appliances Brand Unit Share Winners
The most popular Major Appliance brands by unit share split in 2023 were:
- Samsung (19%)
- General Electric (17%)
- LG (16%)
- Whirlpool (16%)
Notably, each of these top brands enjoy unit share that is significantly higher than all other brands.
Additionally, while all these top brands increased YOY, LG saw the largest growth at an increase of 0.9 points.
Major Household Appliances Brand Dollar Share Winner
In brand dollar share split, the top Major Appliance brands were:
- Samsung — 21%
- LG — 19%
- General Electric — 18%
- Whirlpool — 15%
While LG and Samsung saw modest decreases in dollar share from this time last year, GE and Whirlpool enjoyed YOY increases of 0.9 and 0.3 points respectively.
Brand Consideration Rates
When purchasing Major Appliances, almost a third of all consumers consider these top four brands in their purchase.
Major Appliance Brand Consideration Rates
- Samsung — 32%
- LG — 29%
- GE — 28%
- Whirlpool — 28%
Interestingly, while Whirlpool only wins 15-16% of the market, they have a consideration rate that competes with that of LG and GE. The percentage of consumers that brands win after consideration is known as the close rate. For 2023 brand close rate data, download our infographic.
How much do consumers spend on Major Appliances?
In 2023, the total industry average price paid for Major Appliance products was $922 — a slight decrease from the $946 average price in 2022.
Average price paid does vary by retailer. Looking at the top three retailers for Major Appliances, the average price paid breaks down as:
- Lowe’s — $896
- Home Depot — $931
- Best Buy — $997
Notably, Best Buy has the smallest market share in both dollars and units, however the highest average price paid, which is more than $70 higher than the industry average.
How are online and in-store sales trending for the Major Appliance market?
In 2023, brick and mortar stores remained the most common sales channel for Major Appliances, with 72% of purchases made in-store. Correspondingly, 25% of all Major Appliance purchases were made online.
Here are a few other online sales trends OpenBrand uncovered within the Major Appliance industry:
- When purchasing online, 11% have the appliance shipped to the store for pick up.
- Regardless of purchase channel, 61% of all Major Appliance buyers shopped online.
- Of the 72% of consumers who bought in-store, 48% shopped online before purchase.
Average Price Paid Online vs. In-Store
Consumers historically pay a lower average price when buying online, this trend continued in 2023 with an average price paid of $890 for Major Appliances purchased online and $940 for those purchased in-store.
More Than Market Share:
Other Notable Retailer & Brand Insights
Major Appliance Consumer Demographics
OpenBrand delivers census-balanced market insights that highlight the typical Major Appliance customer.
As of December 2023, Major Appliance consumers showed the following traits:
- 77% of Major Appliance purchasers are homeowners, 21% of purchasers are renters
- 59% of Major Appliance purchasers are married
- 35% of Major Appliance purchases were made with male only involved in the buying process; 29% of purchases were made with female only
- 59% of Major Appliance purchases were made by Millennials or Gen Xers
- 30% were Millennials, increasing 1.7 points YOY
- 29% were Gen X, down slightly (-0.2 points) YOY
Smart Appliances
While most 2023 Major Appliance purchases were not considered “smart” appliances, there has been a decrease over the last 5 years as more people gravitate toward smart appliances — dropping nearly 9 percentage point increase since 2019.
Purchase Drivers
What drives consumers to purchase Major Appliances?
As seen in previous years, the most mentioned reason for purchasing a new Major Appliance was “old one was broken/required service.” The top three reasons for purchase were:
- “Old one was broken/required service” (61%)
- “Moved to a new home” (12%)
- “Old one will break soon” (8%)
Why do consumers select a specific retailer for purchase? The most mentioned reasons for purchasing Major Appliance at a specific retailer were:
- “Competitive price” (59%)
- “Good selection of products” (41%)
- “Convenient location” (28%)
- “Previous experience with store” (27%)
What drives brand selection when purchasing Major Appliances? The most mentioned reasons for purchasing a specific Major Appliance brand were:
- “Competitive price” (43%)
- “Quality product” (30%)
- “Features desired” (29%)
- “Good brand name” (28%)
Outlets & Brands Shopped
When shopping for Major Appliances, most shoppers look at only one store and/or brand before buying.
- 53% of purchasers shopped at only one store before making a purchase
- 52% shopped for only one brand.
Features
The most popular Major Appliance colors in 2023 were: White (43%), Stainless (23%), and Black (11%). This trend was also seen in past years.
However, while White remains the most popular color, it has shown a downward trend over the past several years, declining 1.3 points since 2022.
Get more insight into Major Appliance market trends
The market insights don’t stop here. For more retail sales data, market share, and insights on the Major Appliance industry, download the OpenBrand-exclusive infographic below. To see insights for other industries or find out how we can help power growth for your business, contact us today.
Kitchen & Bath Fixtures Market: Top Brands & Retailers
With the 2023 Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (KBIS) just weeks away, join us as we breakdown some of the latest OpenBrand MindShare Kitchen & Bath Fixtures market data — including top brands and retailers, consumer preferences, and key consumer purchase drivers.
Download the full Kitchen & Bath Fixtures market infographic below to get even more insights.
Source: All data in this article was pulled from the OpenBrand MindShare platform using the rolling 4Q ending Q4 2023, Kitchen & Bath category. The TraQline Kitchen & Bath Fixtures category is an aggregate of several products including: Faucets (43%), Shower Heads (27%) Sinks (12%), Toilets (12%), Shower Stall/Door or Bathtub (7%). For the most recent insights or further dives into the data, please contact us.
Who are the top Kitchen & Bath Fixtures retailers by market share?
Kitchen & Bath Fixtures Retailer Unit Share
In 2023, the leading retailer for Kitchen & Bath Fixtures was Home Depot, winning the market with a unit share of 32%.
Lowe’s was the next largest retailer for Kitchen & Bath Fixtures with 24%-unit share, though the outlet was down nearly 1 point compared to the same time the previous year.
Amazon came in third place with 12%-unit share. However, the major online retailer continued a 4-year upward trend, with an increase of over 1 point year-over-year (YOY).
Kitchen & Bath Fixtures Retailer Dollar Share
Home Depot also leads the Kitchen & Bath Fixtures market with 26% dollar share, followed again by Lowe’s (18% share). Both Home Depot and Lowe’s were down over 1 point in dollar share YOY.
Meanwhile, sales with Contractors close the gap on Lowe’s with a YOY increase of 2.5 points, sitting in third place with 13%-dollar share.
Outlet Draw Rates
Top retailers Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Amazon also lead in outlet draw rate, bringing in 46%, 39%, and 16% of consumers shopping for Kitchen & Bath Fixtures, respectively.
Who leads the Kitchen & Bath Fixtures market share by brand?
Kitchen & Bath Fixtures Brand Unit Share
In 2023, the most popular brands for Kitchen & Bath Fixtures were Kohler, Moen, and Delta.
In unit share, the top three brands saw the following split:
- Kohler, 14.3% share
- Moen, 13.8% share
- Delta, 13.2% share
Each of these top brands enjoyed significantly higher unit share than all other brands. Notably however, while Kohler and Delta were mostly flat YOY, Moen saw a decline of nearly 2 points, resigning its spot as the top retailer in 2022 to Kohler.
Kitchen & Bath Fixtures Brand Dollar Share
When looking at brand dollar share, Kohler maintained a clear lead over all other Kitchen & Bath Fixtures brands with 16% market share. Kohler enjoyed an increase of 1 percentage point versus the prior year.
Moen and Delta were the second and third most popular Kitchen & Bath Fixture brands, each with a dollar share of 8%. As seen in unit share, Moen dollar share declined YOY, with a loss of over 2 points.
Brand Consideration Rates
Across the Kitchen & Bath Fixtures aggregate, Kohler, Moen, and Delta continue to lead in brand consideration with 20%, 20%, and 19% of all consumers, respectively.
What is the average price paid in the Kitchen & Bath Fixtures market?
In 2023, the average price paid across the industry for Kitchen & Bath Fixtures was $223, an increase from the $208 average price paid in 2022.
In general, all the top outlets have had a slight increase in average prices from this time last year. Specialty Kitchen & Bath retailers saw the largest increase in average price paid with Kitchen & Bath dealers up by $723 and sales purchased via Contractors increasing by $275 versus the year prior.
How are online and in-store sales trending for the Kitchen & Bath Fixtures market?
In 2023, in-store continued to be the most common sales channel for Kitchen & Bath Fixture purchases, accounting for 66% of all purchases. Correspondingly, 27% of all Kitchen & Bath purchases are made online.
Additional online vs. In-store insights for Kitchen & Bath Fixtures include:
- In-store purchases continue a 5-year downward trend, dropping 2.6 points YOY
- Online purchases have steadily increased over the past 5 years, gaining 1.8 points YOY
- Among consumers buying in-store, 27% shopped online before making their purchase
Online vs. In-Store Average Price Paid
Historically, consumers purchasing Kitchen & Bath Fixtures in-store tend to have a lower average price than those buying online. This trend continued in 2023, with an average retail purchase price of $149 and an average online purchase price of $166.
Other key Kitchen & Bath Fixtures market insights
Kitchen & Bath Fixtures Consumer Demographics
In 2023, demographics for the typical Kitchen & Bath consumer included:
- 84% of purchasers were homeowners; 14% of purchasers were renters
- 63% of purchasers were married
- 36% of purchases were made with female only involved in the shopping process; 33% were male only made purchases
- 73% of purchasers were made by Baby Boomers (47%) and Gen X (26%)
- Purchases by Baby Boomers were down 3.6 points and Gen X purchases were flat YOY
- Purchases by Millennials (19.9%) and Gen Z (3.8%) were up 2.5 points and 1.2 points, respectively, YOY
Outlets & Brands Shopped
When buying Kitchen & Bath Fixtures, 66% of consumers shopped at only one store before purchase, and 78% shopped for only one brand.
Kitchen & Bath Fixtures Purchase Drivers
What drives consumers to purchase Kitchen & Bath Fixtures?
As seen in previous years, the most mentioned reasons for purchasing Kitchen & Bath Fixtures were:
- “Routine maintenance or minor repair” (53%)
- “Part of remodeling project” (23%)
- “Redecorated” (11%)
When it comes to selecting a retailer to purchase from, the most mentioned reasons were:
- “Competitive price” (51%)
- “Good selection of products” (41%)
Kitchen & Bath Fixtures Installation
In 2023, 56% of Kitchen & Bath Fixture installations were performed by the purchasers, someone in their house, or a friend. Understandably, the less complicated product installations like Shower Heads are more likely to be installed this way, making up 77% of the aggregate.
Get more insight into Kitchen & Bath trends and market share
The market insights don’t stop here. For more retail sales data, market share, and insights on the Kitchen & Bath industry, download the OpenBrand-exclusive infographic below. To see insights for other industries or find out how we can help power growth for your business, contact us today.
How Manufacturers Use Big Data to Their Advantage
Manufacturers looking to gain a competitive advantage in efficiency, profit, and predicting market trends must look to big data as the solution. In fact, across the durable goods industry, many successful manufacturers and retailers alike already benefit from big data and the competitive business intelligence it delivers.
This article takes a look at the multitude of ways manufacturers use big data to get ahead, including some specific use cases from TraQline data.
How Do Manufacturers Use Data?
While there are countless opportunities for manufacturers to use big data to guide business strategy and decision making, a few key use cases include:
- Improving product line development
- Defending against competitive threats
- Optimizing and streamlining supply chain management
- Evaluating cost reduction
- Boosting the success of product line reviews
- Predicting market trends
We will dive into a few of these use cases below, but first let’s look at how manufacturers collect the data they need to inform their business strategies.
How is Data Collected in Manufacturing?
Manufacturers primarily collect competitive business data from two sources: internal sources such as smart manufacturing technologies and external sources such as data service providers.
Internal Data Sources
Internal resources for data collection allow manufacturers to collect data on their own product lines and overall business through means that can include but are not limited to:
- Machinery and diagnostic scans
- IoT sensor integration
- Shop floor applications
- Staff observations, notes, and surveys
External Data Sources
External resources for data collection allow manufacturers to see beyond their own shop floor and into the market, the product lines, and the sales floors of their product lines, retailers and competitors.
Data of this nature can be gathered through various means, including but not limited to:
- On-the-ground research, such as secret shopping
- Competitive research, such as the development of a SWOT analysis
- Market data services, such as TraQline
While all of these are valid means of gathering data, the development of new advanced data analytics tools are quickly replacing the need for other external sources — becoming a one-stop for all data needs.
TraQline, as an example, offers insights solutions that deliver data on everything from competitive product lines, to top SKUs across the market, to market share and consumer data.
Data-Driven Manufacturing: Three Big Data Analytics Use Cases
To better understand how big data is used by manufacturers — specifically how data insights tools like TraQline empowers manufacturers — let’s look at three use cases that evaluate different types of data and the way it can be implemented to inform business practices.
Use Case 1: Boosting Line Review Success
For a manufacturer, the key to a highly successful product line review revolves around comprehensive understanding of the market. It is about being an expert in ones product line and arriving armed with data that will wow retailers.
One easy way to amplify the product line review is with exclusive market insights such as other stores shopped. Let’s take a look at the Durable IQ data charts below, which show Home Depot’s draw, close, and walk rate, as well as the other stores shopped after walking, for Dishwashers.
From this data, Dishwasher manufacturers can discover the following insights:
- Draw Rate — 48% of Dishwasher purchasers shopped at Home Depot when making their purchase
- Close Rate — Among that 48%, 55% purchased a Dishwasher from Home Depot
- Walk Rate — Of those drawn into Home Depot to shop for Dishwashers, 45% left the retailer to purchase their dishwasher somewhere else
- Other Stores Shopped — 61% of the shopper leakage purchased at Lowe’s, 12% purchased at Best Buy, 4% purchased at Costco, 1% purhcased at Amazon, etc.
From this data, manufacturers can make strategic decisions about which stores and what volume to place their product.
Use Case 2: Improving Product Lines
When optimizing product lines or new product development, manufacturers need data on current market trends — they need to understand what is winning with consumers.
As shown below, with Hybrid POS data brands can easily see the best selling SKUs across brands and top retailers. With this data, manufacturers can evaluate their product line to see if the features, pricing, and specifications of their products align with what is winning in the market or if they have product line gaps that need filled.
Use Case 3: Defending Against Competitive Threats
In order to stay competitive, manufacturers need to stay on top of competitor movement and product line changes.
SKU Metrix delivers a comprehensive product master that allows manufacturers to easily and quickly compare products across brands to see variance in features, pricing, and more. By viewing this comparison, such as the one shown below, brands can evaluate competitive product lines and identify advantages or opportunities.
TraQline: How Manufacturers Get a Competitive Edge
TraQline currently powers big data for manfacturers across the durables industry, delivering the data they need to make smarter strategic decisions and grow their business.
To see how TraQline can empower your brand, visit our contact us page or fill out the form below to request more information.
How to Use POS Data to Your Business Advantage
In an era where well-informed decisions can make or break business strategy, Point of Sale (POS) data is an essential to sustained success for retailers and manufacturers in the durable goods industry.
The heartbeat of consumer transactions, POS data plays a fundamental role in how you manage your store inventory and personnel, and helping measure performance. The right usage of POS data is critical to understanding, analyzing, and predicting market trends — delivering actionable insight into the intricacies of consumer buying behavior and shifting product preferences.
Join us as we dive into the strengths of this key consumer data source, the weaknesses you need to know, and ultimately how POS data provides retailers and manufacturers with an invaluable competitive advantage when navigating the complexities of an ever-changing market.
What is POS Data? What Consumer Information is Collected? What Isn’t?
With the advancement of new data systems, POS data can now be broken into two categories: traditional POS data and competitive POS data. Let’s take a quick look into both.
Traditional POS Data
Traditionally speaking, POS data is any information collected from the terminal software used to process store transactions. Depending on the level of sophistication of a company’s terminal software, POS data collected from transactions can range from merely sales information to comprehensive data including customer details, store inventory, staff information, and more.
What Traditional POS Data Delivers
Notably, what these traditional POS terminal systems provide is invaluable data about your own business sales. This is critical information, as it allows you to track important sales key performance indicators (or KPIs) and monitor store, department, or company success.
Notably, what these traditional POS terminal systems provide is invaluable data about your own business sales. This is critical information, as it allows you to track important sales key performance indicators (or KPIs) and monitor store, department, or company success.
Limitations of Traditional POS Data
However, given this data is internal-only, relying solely on traditional POS data systems can limit your understanding of consumer and market behavior. What these systems do not deliver is an understanding of what the market is doing outside of your business — and within the walls of your competitors.
Competitive POS Data
To make the most out of POS insights, businesses need competitive data. In comparison to traditional internal-only POS data, competitive POS data focuses directly on delivering a picture of the market and trends, looking at what products and brands are sold by retailers across the industry.
This data cannot be derived from a traditional POS terminal system, but instead is most often provided by a data aggregator, who combines traditional POS data into a single source.
This single source provides information to brands and retailers alike about consumer purchases, however it may come with some weaknesses that leave users feeling frustrated with the lack of comprehensiveness or transparency.
What Competitive POS Data Delivers
Where traditional POS provides data about your own sales, competitive POS systems obviously provide information about you and your competition. For those retailers that participate brand volumes and percentages are available, as well as week-over-week, month-over-month, or any period’s changes in volumes.
Limitations of Competitive POS Data
Unless it is representatitve of the entire market — that is all retailers in the market are providing data — POS data cannot provide accurate market share.
No single retailer will allow their volumes to be published, which means that retailers are grouped into categories such as “discount” or “specialty.”
Additionally, the following drawbacks of POS data may be observed:
- Lack of visibility into derivative or retailer specific models
- No reporting for categories where there are less than 3 retailers reporting
- Misattribution of specific SKUs in the database due to transmission errors or retailer SKU errors
- Reallocation of volumes when retailers enter or leave the ecosystem
A New Era: Hybrid POS, Competitive POS Data Insights — And More
A new class of POS data has been created to draw upon the strenghts of competitive POS while eliminating the weaknesses. TraQline Hybrid POS delivers competitive POS data that go beyond traditional POS limitations, and overcome the barriers faced by other POS data providers. For example:
- SKU share at a specific retailer
- Derivitave model and private label models are shown without limitation
- Brand and retailer mix
- Feature trend information helps view and predict emerging market trends
Furthermore, at the core is a massive PIM (TraQline SKU Metrix) that collects model information and pricing daily.
How to Use POS Data to Your Advantage: Use Cases
Whether gathering traditional POS data alone or combining it with the power of competitive POS insights, there are various ways to use POS data for strategy, decision-making, and growth.
Here are five examples of how businesses can use POS data to their advantage, along with examples of insights that can be pulled from Hyrbid POS for each use case.
Determine the top-selling models — in order to optimize product mix, inform new product development, improve store inventory, and countless other uses (shown below: top Front Load Washer SKUs by unit and dollar share).
Monitor pricing over time — which can be used to inform pricing strategy, promotions, inventory decisions and more (show below: avg. price changes over time for top Dishwasher brands).
Evaluate your business or product performance — to identify wins, losses, and optimization opportunities (shown below: Refrigerator share trends over time by brand).
Understand the market — by analyzing what consumers are buying, what features are popular, and other key insights (shown below: Side-by-Side Refrigerator feature preference split for top selling models).
Analyze your competition — and stay competitive with data on what they are selling and why (shown below: top 5 Dryer SKU ranks over time, across leading retailers).
What are Some Weaknesses of POS Data?
As mentioned, POS data does not come without limitations. Aside from how POS data types can limit the insights available, there are also a few other factors that should be considered when choosing a terminal system (traditional POS data) or a data service provider (competitive POS data).
While it is good to be aware of these caveats when choosing the right provider or system, it should also be noted that none of these weaknesses diminish the value delivered, or opportunities that can be uncovered, by taking advantage of POS data.
That said, POS data can be negatively impacted/compromised by the following:
- The issue of retailer participation
- Inability to cover individual retailers
- Transmission errors
Our competitive POS data system, Hybrid POS™ overcomes these limitations by being fully free of retailer participant constraints.
Get the competitive POS data you need to win the market
To learn more about our tool or see how we can help your business get the POS insights they need to stay competitive and sustain success, connect with us below.
The Power Tools Market is Changing: Here's How
OpenBrand answers the who, what, when, why, and how of Power Tool market share — delivering quarterly market insights on who’s buying, where they’re buying it, and what drives their purchase decisions.
Download our free US Power Tools market infographic or read on to discover current trends in the industry, including the top brands, retailers, and more.
Source: All data in this article was pulled from the OpenBrand MindShare platform using the rolling 4Q ending Q3 2023, Power Tools category. The OpenBrand Total Power Tools category is an aggregate containing several products. For 4Q ending September 2023 this category consists mostly of the following products: Power drill (30%), Wet/dry vac (15%), Air compressor (10%), Rotary tool (9%), Circular saw (6%), and Orbital sander (5%). For the most recent insights or further dives into the data, please contact us.
Who are the top Power Tools retailers by market share?
As of September 2023, the top retailer for Power Tools purchases was Home Depot, leading in both most units sold and dollar share.
In unit share, Home Depot continued to hold the top spot at 28% market share, despite a 0.6 percentage point decrease compared to the prior year.
- The next largest retailer in unit share was Lowe’s (19%), followed by Amazon (13%) and Walmart (12%).
- Amazon’s year-over-year gain of 0.7 percentage points moved it just ahead of Walmart; Walmart subsequently lost 0.7 percentage points, falling behind Amazon for the first time in the past 5 years.
In outlet dollar share, Home Depot saw an increase of 1.3 percentage points year-over-year, leading all outlets at 30% market share. Holding second place is Lowe’s, with 20%-dollar share – though down 0.5 percentage points from the same time the previous year.
Draw-Close Rates
- Home Depot and Lowe’s are leaders in Power Tool outlet draw rate, with 40% and 32% respectively. However, Lowe’s draw rate declined 1 point compared to this time last year.
- While Amazon’s draw rate is much lower compared to the top Power Tool retail leaders (18%), it did see a significant increase in draw from the prior year. In addition, Amazon leads other top retailers in close rate (73%) — converting more of the shoppers coming to Amazon for Power Tools overall.
Which Power Tools brand leads in market share?
As of September 2023, the most purchased Power Tools brand is DeWalt.
With 16% market share for units sold, DeWalt is the only major brand with an increase in unit share, up 0.7 points from last year. Ryobi (7.9%) and Craftsman (7.7%) are also popular brand purchases. However, Ryobi and Craftsman brands saw a decrease year-over-year, dropping 0.6 points, and 0.5 points respectively.
Similarly, in Power Tool brand dollar share, DeWalt continued a clear lead over other brands with 17% share, even enjoying an increase of 0.6 points from the same time last year.
Brand Consideration Rates
DeWalt continues to lead in brand consideration with 22% share, which is an increase from the brand’s considerate rate prior year.
[Download the infographic to see the share percentage breakdown by all top Power Tools brands.]
How much do consumers spend on Total Power Tools?
As of September 2023, the industry average price paid for Power Tools was $145, which rose only a few dollars compared to prior year, when the average price paid was $141.
Notably, big-box stores such as Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Walmart account for 56% of sales for the Total Power Tools category. The average price paid at these locations varies by retailer.
For instance, Home Depot and Lowe’s have the highest average prices paid for Power Tools at $150 and $147 respectively. Walmart, on the other hand, has the lowest average price of $87 – which is significantly lower than the industry average.
Average prices for online purchases tend to be similar to the industry average. Amazon is a notable exception with a lower-than-average price paid of $118.
How are online vs. in-store sales trending for the Power Tools market?
As of September 2023, in-store remains the most popular channel for buying Power Tools, accounting for 68% of all purchases.
- However, the rate of purchases made in-store is down 1.3 points year-over-year, with online purchases growing that same amount.
- Online purchases account for 27% of all Power Tool purchases.
- The average price paid in a retail store is $130, which is less than the industry average price of $143.
- The average price paid online is also lower, but less significantly at $140.
- Lowe’s saw the highest average price paid online at $157.
Other key U.S. Power Tools market insights
Durable IQ goes beyond retailer and brand market share, providing a total market view for the Power Tools industry. Here are a few other key insights as of September 2023.
Which demographics are buying Total Power Tools?
Who is the typical Power Tools consumer? Here are a few insights as of September 2023:
- 69% of Total Power Tool purchasers are homeowners; 28% of purchasers are renters
- 56% of purchasers are married; 28% are single
- 61% of purchases are made with males only involved in the purchase decision; 26% of purchases are made with females only
- 49% of purchasers have been at their current address for 5+ years; 13% have been at their address for 1 year or less
- 55% have a household size of 2 or less
Outlets & Brands Shopped
When purchasing Power Tools, 64% of purchasers shop only one store, and 73% only shop for one brand.
Power Tools Purchase Drivers
What drives consumers to make Power Tool purchases? The top reason consumers purchase a new Power Tool product is to replace a broken one.
The top three reasons are:
- Replacement of broken (27%)
- First time purchase (26%)
- Gift for someone (8%)
When it comes to selecting a retailer, the most mentioned reasons are:
- Competitive price (56%)
- Good product selection (26%)
- Convenient location (24%)
Get more Power Tools trends & market share data
The Power Tools market insights don’t stop here. For more retail sales data, market share, and other insights, download the OpenBrand-exclusive infographic below. To see insights for other industries or find out how we can help power growth for your business, contact us today.
Consumer Electronics Market: Top Brands & Retailers in 2023, Retail Sales Data & Trends
Growth within the Consumer Electronics market is shown to be outpacing nearly all global economies — and keeping track of the trends, retailers, and brands driving that growth is key for any electronics business.
Dive into the latest OpenBrand MindShare market data for Consumer Electronics, including top brands and retailers, consumer preferences, and the key factors influencing consumer purchase decisions. For additional valuable market insights, download our free U.S. Consumer Electronics market infographic.
Source: All data in this article was pulled from the OpenBrand Mindshare platform using the rolling 4Q ending Q3 2023, Consumer Electronics category. The OpenBrand Consumer Electronics category is an aggregate of several products: TV (62%), Video Game System (32%), Camera-Digital (7%). For the most recent insights or further dives into the data, please contact us.
Who are the top Consumer Electronics retailers by market share?
As of September 2023, the leading retailers for Consumer Electronics were Walmart and Best Buy.
Consumer Electronics Retailer Unit Share
- In unit share, Walmart led all other outlets with a unit share of 33%.
- Following behind Walmart, Best Buy was the next largest retailer in unit share (24%), and the third largest was Amazon (12%).
- Walmart saw the largest share change from the same time prior year, with a significant increase of 1.2 percentage points.
- Best Buy has the largest decrease in unit share at -0.9 points.
Consumer Electronics Retailer Dollar Share
For Consumer Electronics retailers by dollar share, Best Buy led at 30% market share.
- Walmart and Amazon follow closely behind Best Buy, with 25% and 11%, respectively. As seen in unit share purchases:
- Walmart increased in dollar share from the same time prior year, up 0.8 points.
- Best Buy decreased in dollar share -1.1 points.
Draw-Close Rates
Which outlets drew in the most consumers? Market share leaders Walmart, Best Buy, and Amazon also led all other outlets in draw rate, with 47%, 37%, and 21%, respectively. Draw rate denotes the number of consumers a given outlet brought into their stores or ecommerce site.
Across all retailers, Walmart also held the highest closing rate at 69% — up 1.5 points from the same time last year. Close rate represents the percent of consumers that purchased at a given retailer.
Who leads Consumer Electronics market share by brand?
Looking at units sold, the most popular Consumer Electronics brands as of September 2023 were Sony (21% share) and Samsung (18% share). Many of the popular brands saw a decrease in unit share year-over-year. Sony was the only leading brand to enjoy an increase, gaining 1.7 percentage points. This increase comes after a decline of 1.0 point between September 2021 and September 2022.
Similarly, in dollar share purchases, the leading Consumer Electronics brands as of September 2023 were Samsung (26%) and Sony (25%). Dollar share saw similar growth trends as unit share, with Sony remaining the only leading brand to see a share increase compared to the prior year, growing 1.9 points.
Brand Consideration Rates
Sony and Samsung also lead brand consideration rate with 33% and 30%, respectively. Notably, after a decline of 2.0 points in 2022, Sony’s close rate of 63% rebounds with a significant increase of 3.1 points.
[Download the infographic to see the share percentage breakdown by all top CE brands.]
What is the average price paid in the Consumer Electronics market?
As of September 2023, the industry average price paid for Consumer Electronics was $463. The average price paid saw a decline from the same time a year ago, down from $482. However, the average amount spent at individual outlets varies. Here are a few outlet pricing insights:
- Costco and Best Buy have higher average prices than other leading outlets, at $728 and $573 respectively.
- While Costco’s unit and dollar shares rank toward the bottom compared to other leading outlets, Consumer Electronics purchases at Costco have a notably higher average price paid than other outlets.
- In general, outlet average prices slightly declined from this time last year.
- Costco has the largest change in average price with a decline of $37.
- Amazon has the smallest change with a decline of only $3.
How are online and in-store sales trending for the U.S. Consumer Electronics market?
In-store purchases remain the most common sales channel for Consumer Electronics shoppers, with 63% of purchases made at a retail location. Online purchases account for 33% of total purchases. Notably:
- Consumer Electronics purchases made in-store have increased for the past two years — with September 2023 data showing an increase of 1.0 point compared to the same time the previous year.
- Historically, consumers pay a slightly higher average price when purchasing Consumer Electronics in-store. This trend continued as of September 2023, when consumers saw an average price of $473 for in-store purchases and $461 for online.
- Of the 63% of Consumer Electronics purchases made in-store, 47% of those consumers still shopped online during their purchase process.
Other key U.S. Consumer Electronics market insights
Durable IQ goes beyond retailer and brand market share, providing a total market view for the Consumer Electronics industry. Here are a few other key insights as of September 2023.
Consumer Electronics Purchase Drivers
- As shown in previous years, the most mentioned reason for purchasing a new Consumer Electronic product was “replacement of broken/service needed.”
- The top three reasons mentioned for purchasing a new Consumer Electronics product were:
- Replacement of broken (32%)
- Just wanted a new one (19%)
- Wanted an additional one (13%)
- When looking at why consumers select a specific retailer for Consumer Electronics purchases, the most mentioned reasons for purchasing were:
- Competitive price (58%)
- Good product selection (30%)
- Convenient location (23%)
- Previous store experience (19%)
Outlets & Brands Shopped
Across all Consumer Electronics purchases, 57% of purchasers shop only one store, and 56% only shop for one brand.
Consumer Electronics Shopper Demographics
Who is the typical Consumer Electronics shopper? As of September 2023, consumer demographic insights for the Consumer Electronics market include:
- 59% of purchasers are homeowners
- 37% of purchasers are renters
- 48% of purchasers are married
- 48% of purchasers are made with males only involved in the purchase decision
- 31% of purchases are made with females only involved in the purchase decision
- 61% of Consumer Electronics purchasers are Millennials (35%) and Gen X (26%).
- Notably, Millennials and Gen X purchase shares are down or flat from last year.
- Meanwhile purchases by Gen Z have trended up in the past 5 years and continue that trend with an increase of 1.6 points since September 2022 – with Gen Z now making up 19% of CE purchases.
Get more Consumer Electronics trends & market share data
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