Consumers also find online orientation important for home improvement products bought offline

In previous articles, we saw that the share of home improvement products purchased online has grown because of the pandemic. Despite that growth, the lion’s share of home improvement products is still bought offline, although those shares differ vastly per product category. Some products, like an electric jigsaw for example, are easier to buy online than other more complex products, like a roof window.

However, even for products that are mainly bought offline, the way to that purchase, the customer journey, starts online more and more often. Results in the Q2 2021 report of USP Marketing Consultancy’s European Home Improvement Monitor even show that consumers find online orientation useful for products of all eight product categories.

Consumers find online orientation useful for each product category

The above graph shows that in each product category, a vast majority of European consumers find online orientation useful. That majority is not equally vast in every category, but the differences are not spectacular. At the top are power tools, for which 85% of consumers find online orientation useful. At the very bottom, we find roof windows, for which still a whopping 69% find online orientation useful, even though roof windows are mainly bought offline.

For manufacturers of products that are almost always bought through offline channels, it might be tempting to aim their strategies mainly at the offline world and make sure their brands are doing well there. However, the above shows that consumers find online orientation useful for products of all product categories.

Online presence is important regardless of the product category

Online orientation has become so normal that consumers find it useful for every product category they research online. So, even when it concerns products that are mainly bought through offline channels, online information channels can be very lucrative. By being visible online early in the customer journey and making contact with potential customers online, chances that those consumers buy your products and your brand increases significantly.

Whether it concerns a jigsaw or roof window, it is worth it to invest in presence in online information channels. Online information channels is an umbrella term, however. For smart investing in marketing through the right channels, it is essential to know what channels consumers use the most for a specific product group. Those preferences can differ vastly, not just per product category, but also per age group or country.

For a detailed overview of online orientation behaviour of consumers of home improvement products in 11 European countries, we refer you to the Q2 2021 report of USP Marketing Consultancy’s European Home Improvement Monitor. Aside from the theme ‘impact of online orientation’, the report focuses on purchase channels in the home improvement sector and you will find the quarterly update based on the purchasing behaviour of 6.800 European consumers.