Understanding Consumer Behavior in Home Improvement

Walk into any DIY store on a Saturday morning and you’ll see the same thing: a mix of confident regulars, ambitious, but overwhelmed newcomers and a few people clearly wondering why they didn’t just hire someone. That’s the face of Europe’s home improvement market – healthy appetites, uneven matches that are more complex than “DIY boom” headlines.

For professionals in the industry, home improvement has less to do with retouching what’s broken and more with consumer expectations, market forces, labor challenges and digital habits colliding. Taking a look behind the scenes at what’s actually happening in this market isn’t that exciting – but it’s meaningful, because customers are constantly renovating, repairing and upgrading.

The how of their approach – who does the work, what they buy, where they buy it and the brands they trust – however, is less clear… but matters to everyone in the industry. So let’s get into it.

Online Orientation Flattening

The post-COVID surge gave us the impression that consumers would continue moving online in bigger numbers every year. But that’s not happening anymore. The data from 2024 shows that online research has plateaued. Consumers aren’t orienting online in greater numbers; in fact, in some countries – like the Netherlands, Italy, and the UK – the share of consumers researching online has declined. Elsewhere, like Poland and Germany, the numbers are stable, but the surge is clearly over. The reasons are clear: people are back in physical stores, digital fatigue set in, and with more people hiring others to do the work, the need for deep, hands-on product research simply isn’t there.

But this plateau shouldn’t be mistaken for irrelevance. Consumers still rate online information as highly valuable, especially in categories like paint (24%), bathroom products (23%), decorative items (22%) and power tools (16%). The information just needs to be relevant, easy to access and straight to the point.

As for the where, customers still rely heavily on Google (42%) and Amazon (42%) when they begin research. DIY store websites are gaining traction, especially for comparing prices and narrowing down choices. And social media is increasingly becoming part of the conversation, with 28% of consumers saying they were inspired by visual content on platforms like Instagram (44%), YouTube (38%), Facebook (35%) and Pinterest (34%). 

Buying Behavior: Hybrid Is the Way to Go

The idea that e-commerce would keep exploding after the pandemic hasn’t held up. Online buying has stabilized. What we’re seeing instead is a hybrid model: consumers research online but complete the purchase in physical stores or use click-and-collect models. Here’s what’s happening:

• DIY stores lost market share, but remain strong in-store and online
• Specialty stores continue to lose ground across most categories
• Professional purchasing is back on the rise after dipping in earlier years

There are significant differences per country. Denmark and Belgium are on the rise with 18% and 9% respectively, but a German 16% actually means negative development. And purchase behavior varies heavily by product category. Adhesives, tapes, sealants and sandpaper can be bought online, but the shares are low (9%, 8.5%, 8.3% and 7.7%), which makes sense… on the other end of the spectrum are power tools, window decoration and bathroom furniture (26.4%, 18.6%, 17.7%) – a more online-friendly shopping list.

Brand Decisions Made Earlier

In 2022 and 2023, the number of consumers making brand decisions before going to the store dipped slightly. That trend reversed in 2024. More consumers are walking into stores with a brand in mind, meaning manufacturers and retailers need to win them over earlier in the journey.  This early decision-making supports the case for content-driven branding and online product visibility. If your brand isn’t showing up in the orientation phase, you’re likely not in the final purchase decision.

DIFM vs. DIY Preferences Are Shifting

For the last few years, DIY was gaining ground. That run is now ending. In 2024, the share of jobs done by professionals – or at least, by someone other than the homeowner – increased again. So the market is slowly, but noticeably, shifting back toward DIFM. 

Why? It’s structural. Older homeowners want projects done but can’t or won’t do it themselves. So, they turn to certified pros. Younger consumers often lack the skills or experience, but they’re more likely to rely on their network or generalists. Sustainability projects – expected to rebound in 2025 – usually fall into the DIFM category by default. There’s also more disposable income in some parts of the market, and more housing development, both of which fuel demand for outsourced work.

Key barriers

• Labor shortage is making it harder to find skilled professionals
• Professional labor costs are too high for many consumers
• Waiting times for tradespeople are growing across Europe

As a result, many are turning to cheaper alternatives: the share of home improvement work outsourced to acquaintances or semi-professionals has increased significantly over the past year (to 29% and 11% respectively). Professional specialized companies still dominate high-value jobs, but cost-driven outsourcing is clearly reshaping the job mix.

So when hiring a pro is expensive for a telling 34% of consumers, and DIY confidence is limited – some 60% of people doing their own work say that lack of skill is the main thing holding them back… what’s left is a growing middle: not full DIY, not full DIFM. Just pragmatic outsourcing where people can afford it.

Brand Preferences: Not All Private, Not all A-Brands

There’s growing openness toward private labels, but across all respondents, it’s a balanced equation. About 50% prefer A-brands and about 50% prefer home brands. Yes, private labels are more accepted than ever, but that doesn’t mean A-brands are going anywhere soon.

Private labels are gaining ground for three reasons: they’re cheaper, the quality has improved and consumers trust the retailers who develop them. DIY stores know what sells and why. Many are applying that data to build smart, competitive in-house lines and it’s working.

But brand preference still depends entirely on category. In high-risk, high-investment areas like boilers, roof windows and security systems, consumers still choose A-brands, close to or over 70% of them. In mid-tier categories like paint, bathroom fittings and adhesives, the market is split. And in commodity categories – duct tape, garden tools, masking tape, brushes – private labels dominate.

There are also country-level variations: Spanish, Polish and Swedish consumers continue to lean heavily toward A-brands, while Western European markets show a more balanced picture.

Reading the Shift

Europe’s home improvement market is in a slow evolution. The overall message is stable volumes, small shifts and strategic pressure points. Jobs are steady. Spend is holding. But the mechanics of who buys, how they research and who does the work are shifting. The long-term trend points to a blended model: informed consumers making deliberate choices, more outsourcing to professionals (or semi-professionals), and ongoing price sensitivity shaping product selection. The consumer is:

• doing more research earlier, but not more of it overall
• becoming more decisive about brands before entering a store
• leaning back into DIFM
• price-sensitive and driven by convenience
• more open to private labels, but still picking brands where it counts

Looking to make sense of what’s happening in home improvement? We break it down simply through real trends and practical insights. Check out our latest webinars, seminars, reports and blogs. The opportunity for growth is in responding to what’s already shifting on the ground, in the data and in the consumer’s head.