Home Improvement Council

The home improvement retail shopper falls into two key categories – the DIYer and the Pro. Our team conducts annual shopper surveys to assess inflections in both DIY and Pro shopper behavior including private label engagement, online shopping shifts, inflation impacts, key project intentions, and customer demographics by region. Today’s home improvement shopper is leaning younger with the emergence of the Millennial and Gen Z homeowner as well as increasingly female within the DIY shopper base, creating new targeting opportunities for retailers and vendors.

Today’s retail shopper researches the majority of their home improvement products before purchase and are increasingly looking for items that offer project time savings, new innovation at the right price, environmentally friendly attributes, and Made in the USA manufacturing. Since the onset of the pandemic, we have seen these trends strengthen, with shopping habits, customer preferences, and retailer initiatives established to bring these products into their stores.

Home improvement retail mindshare is higher today than pre-pandemic, with more new customers engaging in home improvement in the last three years. Home Depot and Lowe’s have shown strong share gains the last three years within both DIY and Pro shopper groups, aided by new assortments across the store along with improving online assets. Additionally, new fulfillment capabilities continue to roll out, enabling the homecenters to better service both shopper groups and most home improvement projects. CRC insights help home improvement retailers and vendors maximize the opportunities presented by the homecenter channel, aligning resources and investments to the areas of largest upside.