We know retailers have had to innovate to keep up with changing consumer demands, keeping up a stellar in-store experience while also growing their online presence.

One industry that has thrived in this new retail ecosystem is in the home improvement industry. The leading home improvement retailers have grown significantly over the last few years--Home Depot has seen a 3.1% rise in same-store sales in the last year, and Lowe’s has seen a 10.2% jump in profit from the same time last year.

What is it about home improvement that makes it so resilient in this challenging retail climate? An inclination toward in-store shopping paired with a tech-heavy business model.

Here’s how the top hardware retailers are using omni-channel retail (in-store and online fused together) to optimize sales and maintain growth.

A data-based business strategy
One of the perks of the proliferation of technology and data gathering is the ability to pin-point customer shopping habits like never before.

The best hardware retailers are collecting data to inform everything from inventory to advertising. True Value debuted a new hyper-local marketing strategy last year, providing each store with a unique marketing approach aligned with the interests of nearby customers.

This is particularly useful for home improvement retailers as geography plays a huge role in customer needs--a True Value in New York City should stock and advertise apartment-friendly wares, while a store in suburban Texas could feature lawn care or larger-scale renovation tools.

Climate is also important: advertising snowblowers in December makes sense in Minnesota, but not Florida. Put simply, homes aren’t one-size-fits-all--and retailers shouldn’t treat them that way.

The best home improvement retailers are using consumer data to boost products on their app, improve customer recommendations, and make sure that the snowblowers stay out of sun-drenched states.

Buy online, pickup in-store
The appeal of online shopping is convenience--everything right at your fingertips, no need to leave the house--but many shoppers want to see or try products before they buy, or just don’t want to wait for that pesky two-day shipping.

And when it comes to hardware, online shopping can be just plain impractical--getting a toilet or wooden beams shipped to your front door seems like a bigger hassle, in the end, than getting off your couch and into your local store.

Plus, you can miss out on the opportunity to talk to experts, test tools, and truly compare with other items. That’s why the leading home improvement retailers are debuting buy online, pickup in-store programs that fuse the huge inventory of online shopping with the perks of in-store pickup.

Home Depot invested in expanding online offerings and integrating online and in-store offerings with huge dividends--one year out, online sales had increased by $1 billion, almost a 50% increase from the year prior.

And almost half of those sales involve in-store pickup. True Value has also piloted a ship-to-store program that lets customers find a product online that will arrive at a nearby store within hours.

One of the other perks of buy online, pickup in-store? Impulse buys. Customers are far more likely to grab that extra item when it’s sitting on the shelf in front of them.

As Home Depot senior VP Kevin Hoffman says, “We always talk about Home Depot [as a store] for what you thought you wanted, but you leave with what you really needed.” Promoting in-store pickup makes those last-minute “what you really needed” buys more likely, boosting sales and customer satisfaction.

The Takeaway
Omni-channel retail is key in the modern retail climate. Home improvement is a particularly ripe market when it comes to online-in-store fusion--and the best retailers are pushing ahead with that in mind. Leveraging new technology to improve marketing, inform inventory, and facilitate purchases has the home improvement sector pushing ahead and keeping customers happy with retail design.

Have questions about experiential omni-channel retail design for your store? Give us a call at 203-221-4777 ext. 100 or drop us a line below and an In-Store Experience representative will contact you shortly.

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