Market Segmentation Research for Home Improvement
Home improvement is not one market. A DIY enthusiast repainting a bedroom shares almost nothing with a professional decorator buying 40 litres a week at the trade counter, and kitchen and bathroom purchases run through a decision triangle of homeowner, retailer, and installer. Without real segmentation, your range, pricing, and channel strategy aim at an average customer who does not exist. We segment on real behaviour: project activity, the DIY vs DIFM boundary, brand vs private label orientation, channel use, and price-quality trade-offs. Where the brief needs it, we segment consumers and trade professionals in the same study and link the two models. The result: segments that survive in your category plan and your retail negotiations, not just statistically clean clusters.
30+
years of exclusive sector focus
7
subsectors covered
B2C + B2B
audiences segmented in one study
Four
syndicated monitors for segment sizing
Our clients
What We Measure
Project & Category Engagement
Project frequency and type over the past 12 to 24 months, the DIY vs DIFM boundary (which jobs are outsourced, and to whom), and triggers: moving, repair, fashion, energy saving.
Brand & Price Orientation
Brand-led vs private label by category, price-quality trade-offs, and willingness to pay for premium or sustainable variants. Information sources: in-store, social media, reviews, trade recommendations.
Channel Behaviour
DIY superstore vs specialist vs garden centre vs online, private label exposure per channel, and webrooming, showrooming, and click and collect. For trades: counter, merchant, wholesaler, online accounts.
Trade Professional Profile
Trade type and job mix, purchase volumes by category, brand loyalty, and willingness to recommend (the professional as a channel). Who pays, who chooses the brand, and where substitution happens in DIFM.
Subsectors Covered
Subsector
Paint
Segments split by DIY vs DIFM, brand vs private label, and trade loyalty among professional decorators.
Subsector
Flooring
Shaped by category adoption (LVT growth vs solid wood) and online specification behaviour.
Subsector
Bathroom Products
Segmented around the homeowner-retailer-installer decision triangle: high involvement, usually professional installation.
Subsector
Kitchen Products
Driven by consideration depth and the interplay of retail, fitter, and interior designer influence.
Subsector
Hand & Power Tools
Split between DIY consumers (entry triggers, gifts) and trade users (platform loyalty, battery lock-in).
Subsector
Outdoor & Gardening
Shaped by seasonal motivation and garden centre vs DIY superstore vs online channel choice.
Subsector
Decorative Sundries
Brushes, rollers, fillers, tape. Segments based on quality orientation and basket behaviour alongside paint.
Note: This is a portion of the subsectors and product categories we cover within home improvement research.
How Home Improvement Market Segmentation Works - Example Project
Example project
Scenario: a paint manufacturer wants to defend share against private label in the UK, FR, and PL, and decide where its premium and mid-tier ranges sit by channel, suspecting that “DIY consumer” hides several buyer types and that decorators split by loyalty, not region.
Design: 300 CAWI interviews per country with consumers screened for a recent painting or decorating project, plus 100 CATI interviews per country with professional painters. The consumer survey covers project behaviour, brand vs private label, channel use, price-quality trade-offs, and sustainability willingness to pay, with a MaxDiff on choice criteria. K-means clustering with factor reduction, stability tested by split-half. The trade interviews cover volume, loyalty, channel, and recommendation. Two segmentations, linked through the DIFM interface.
Output: five consumer segments (among them confident project DIYers, reluctant maintainers, and premium delegators) and three painter segments defined by loyalty and channel, with range and channel recommendations per segment and a view of which consumer segments each painter segment serves.
Note: This is an example of a typical project design, not a fixed process.
Target Audiences
Note: Audience mix is tailored to each project.
DIY Consumers & Homeowners [CAWI]
Screened for category activity in the past 12-24 months. The core base for most consumer segmentations.
Professional Painters & Decorators [CATI]
Brand loyalty, volume, channel, and recommendation behaviour. Quotas by company size.
Handymen & General Contractors [CATI]
Multi-category buyers who install flooring, fit bathrooms, and run full room refurbishments.
Kitchen & Bathroom Fitters [CATI]
Specialist trades with strong wholesaler ties and heavy brand influence on DIFM purchases.
Interior Designers [IDI / video]
Specification influence rather than direct purchase in most categories.
DIY & Specialist Retailers [IDI / CATI]
Ranging decisions that determine which brands consumers encounter at all.
Our Advantage
A generalist segmentation agency runs k-means on whatever variables fit. We start from what actually discriminates in home improvement: the DIY vs DIFM boundary, brand vs private label orientation, channel mix, trade loyalty, and the decision triangle in kitchen and bathroom. Thirty years in these categories means the questionnaire is right on the first draft.
Most agencies can reach consumers online or trades by phone. We field both in one design: 300 CAWI consumers plus 100 CATI painters or fitters per country, across the UK, FR, DE, and PL simultaneously, with native-language fieldwork, and we link the two models. Four syndicated home improvement monitors give us population structure to size segments against, not just sample proportions.
We deliver segments that survive in your category plan and your retail negotiations. Each segment has a size, a clear buying signal, a reachable channel, and a one-page persona. Segments that look statistically clean but cannot be operationalised are flagged as such.
Project Examples
A global wallpaper study across eight markets measured consumer purchase behaviour and category dynamics. The output profiled buyers by style orientation and channel, feeding range decisions and market prioritisation.
BE, FR, DE, IT, KR, SE, TR, UK
A painting tools study sized market volumes by category and channel across three markets. The data split professional and DIY demand, producing distinct user profiles per channel for range and trade marketing decisions.
UK, DE, FR
A flooring study explored decision-making, selection criteria, and willingness to pay a sustainability premium. It produced distinct decision-maker profiles that shaped positioning and sustainability messaging.
DE, FR
An adhesives and sealants brand health study covered installers, handymen, and pool builders. The findings separated the trade base into loyalty-based groups, guiding trade marketing and channel programs.
NL, FR
Deliverables
- Validated segment model with fit metrics (silhouette, split-half stability)
- Segment size estimates by share of category buyers, and value share where data permits
- One-page persona per segment: project behaviour, buying triggers, channel use, brand consideration set
- Cross-tab database of every survey variable by segment (SPSS or Excel)
- Workshop-ready deck with range, pricing, and channel implications per segment
- Targeting recommendation by segment, retail or trade channel, and country
- Linked B2C and B2B view showing which consumer segments each trade segment serves
- Country-by-country comparison noting where segments behave differently
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How large does the sample need to be for a usable home improvement segmentation?
For a five-to-seven segment consumer model we recommend 300-400 CAWI interviews per country, screened on real project activity. For trade segmentations, 75-100 CATI interviews per country per trade type. Smaller samples produce segments that wobble in split-half testing.
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How do you validate that segments are real and actionable, not statistical artefacts?
Split-half stability testing, silhouette analysis on cluster fit, and a face validity check against the category and channel patterns we know from our monitors. If a segment cannot be described in plain language to your category team, it does not ship.
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Can you segment DIY consumers and trade professionals in the same study?
Yes. We run a CAWI track for consumers and a CATI track for trades with a shared core questionnaire, then link the segmentations through the DIFM interface, or build one combined model where the brief calls for it.
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How do you keep consumer panel quality high?
Minimum completion-time thresholds, attention and consistency checks, category engagement screening, verification of actual purchase behaviour, and filtering that removes low-quality and AI-assisted respondents. Qualification rests on real projects completed, not stated interest.
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Can you run a segmentation in the UK, FR, DE, and PL at the same time?
Yes. All four countries simultaneously with native-language fieldwork, harmonised quotas, and one central analysis.
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Where in the strategy cycle should we run a segmentation?
Before a range review, before retailer negotiations, before a private label response, before a brand repositioning, or when your current segments stop predicting behaviour. Not as a one-off poster on the wall.
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How long does a four-country dual-audience segmentation typically take?
Eight to twelve weeks end to end. Consumer CAWI fieldwork runs fast, the trade CATI track usually sets the pace. Analysis and reporting take around three weeks, with overlap.
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