Over the course of a few short months, COVID-19 has dramatically accelerated the growth and adoption of ecommerce for the home improvement industry.
With consumers spending more time at home than ever before — and noticing more projects that need to get done — the category is primed for sustained growth, even in a challenged economy. The Home Depot and Lowe’s have seen solid gains during national lockdowns, largely through their ecommerce sites.
The Home Depot disclosed that online sales rose in the “meaningful triple digits” toward the end of its most recent quarter; Lowe’s was keeping pace.
Salsify has launched a Home Improvement Growth Kit to help brands quickly scale up digital operations. Brands can manage and update product content across key Home Improvement retail channels — such as The Home Depot, Lowe’s, Ace Hardware, Walmart, and Amazon — helping them meet this new surge in demand right now. Learn more.
The Steady Shift to Digital Is Now an Abrupt Industry-Wide Change
Before the current crisis, most brands recognized ecommerce as an increasingly important sales channel. However, the pace of adoption was measured and steady because of structural challenges in that industry given high delivery costs for weighty or bulky items.
The luxury of waiting no longer exists. Shifts to ecommerce that otherwise might have taken years are now taking months. The industry’s largest retailers are investing heavily to scale their online business. Brands that fall behind in competing amidst this new landscape will quickly lose relevance and risk falling sales.
Fast-Movers Have the Unique Opportunity to Win Market Share
Forty-two percent of consumers are shopping online more since the outbreak, but 19% report they are feeling less loyal to their current brands, and 13% say they are looking for new brands to try. For Home Improvement brands, this combination of increased online purchasing with decreased brand loyalty translates to an opportunity to win market share with best-in-class product detail pages (PDPs).
A winning PDP includes complete “above-the-fold” content and “below-the-fold” (also referred to as enhanced content, A+ content, and rich media) information and imagery that is critical for products with complex use-cases, as is often true for home improvement brands.
Online, it’s not necessarily the best product that wins, but the best product page.
How to Quickly Scale Digital Home Improvement Operations
Many Salsify customers have scaled their digital programs during COVID-19, using the crisis as a proof point that roadmaps need to be accelerated to deliver better product experiences. These brands have the agility to get to market quickly and appropriately scale their programs.
There are three focus areas for successfully meeting these new demands:
- Activate content at scale across priority retail channels;
- Engage customers with compelling product experiences using enhanced content; and
- Scale ecommerce product information for omnichannel delivery.
The Salsify Home Improvement Growth Kit Will Help Brands Meet Digital Demand
Learn more about the Salsify Home Improvement Growth Kit, and discover how it helps brands:
- Take greater control over brand experience across digital channels, ensuring consistent, accurate, and engaging product experiences;
- Reduce touchpoints and automate key steps in the syndication process to get content live on key home improvement channels faster and more reliably; and
- Create, update, and publish new product content to key home improvement channels faster, allowing them to respond to consumer buying and search trends.
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