Over the past two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused groundbreaking supply line disruptions, labor shortages, manufacturing delays, and distribution troubles. These changes have caused supply shortages and higher prices across several industries. The home improvement industry seems to be among those hardest hit. The market data and research professionals at TraQline are here with a look at how these shortages have impacted the home improvement market trends. 

Shifts in Home Improvement Brand Priority and Awareness

Brand awareness has a long history of motivating certain purchases. Customers often want to know that they are getting high-quality products they can rely on—especially when speaking of home upgrades. However, supply shortages and price increases seem to have reduced the importance of brand-name in the home improvement industry. 

Through the course of the pandemic, we have seen a significant jump in the number of home improvement purchases where users report not knowing the brand name of the product they purchased. Ultimately, this accounted for 16.9 percent of home improvement purchases in Q2 2021—compared to just 12.5 percent of purchases during Q4 2019.

Significant Rise in Online Home Improvement Sales

Beyond the impacts of the pandemic, our home improvement industry data has been showing downward trends for in-store purchases for years now.  However, the home improvement industry has had more resilience than others in maintaining in-store sales. According to our most recent insights, online purchases now account for a quarter of all home improvement purchases. Meanwhile, online purchases accounted for just 16.6 percent of sales during the third quarter of 2019. 

Market Changes: Remodeling and the Pandemic

With more time stuck inside, many people used this as an opportunity to complete some home projects. Our data reflected this in consumer motivation. While replacement of broken units remained steady as the leading consumer motivator, remodeling and redecorating both saw increases:

• Remodeling accounted for 9 percent of home improvement dollar share during Q2 2021, compared to 7.7 percent in Q4 2019.  
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• Redecorating accounted for 6.2 percent of Q2 2021 sales, compared to 4.8 percent in Q4 2019.

These non-vital consumer purchase motivations prevailed even among price increases and market insecurities. 

Changes in Retailer Performance in the Home Improvement Industry

With a rise in home improvement online sales, online retailers are steadily gaining market share in this industry. Even with home improvement projects on the rise, major retailers, such as Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Walmart, saw decreases in home improvement sales during the height of the pandemic.  

We also saw shifts in why consumers chose a particular home improvement retailer. While price is still the biggest motivator, it has been steadily declining since before the pandemic. Meanwhile, good product selection has been seeing growth.

Consumer Shopping Patterns Shifting in the Home Improvement Industry

Historically, men have been the major players in the home improvement market. In terms of shopping, men and women are now nearly tied in their home improvement market impact. During the second quarter of 2021, women accounted for 38.3 percent of home improvement shoppers—while men accounted for 41 percent. Meanwhile, 20.7 percent of shopping was done by men and women together. 

Home Improvement Market Share Data from TraQline

TraQline’s data can help your company stay ahead of shifts in the home improvement industry. Our market research services provide in-depth insights that will help your business take advantage of new trends and gain share. We invite you to contact the professionals at TraQline to get started today.