Columbus, OH, November 8, 2006--While Home Depot leads in share of wallet among home improvement consumers, the company's biggest competitor, Lowe's, has a slight lead in share of preference, according to a recent study of homeowners.
To better understand how the home improvement consumer feels about Home Depot and Lowe's, Consumer Specialists, a marketing firm focused on the home improvement industry, conducted a study among 1,000 U.S. homeowners who shop at Home Depot or Lowe's.
The objectives of the study, conducted in June 2006, were to learn what percent of the consumer's wallet is going to Home Depot vs. Lowe's; which store is perceived to be better in terms of product categories offered, product selection, convenience, pricing, customer service and installation services; and what personal experiences drive preference.
Study results and analysis appear in Battle for the Wallets of American Homeowners: Home Depot vs. Lowe's, a new report published by Retail Forward.
Although Lowe's leads in share of preference among survey respondents, with 51% of homeowners preferring Lowe's over Home Depot, Home Depot leads in share of wallet. Study results indicate that Lowe's gets an average of almost ten percent less from homeowners who prefer it compared to what Home Depot gets from homeowners who prefer it. However, of the top ten factors that drive share of spending, Home Depot shows strength in only one-convenient locations. Conversely, Lowe's is the leader in many of the other spending drivers and is the perceived leader in many product categorie—including appliances, decorating, flooring and lighting.
"The good news for Home Depot is that the one area in which homeowners perceive it as clearly superior is the single most important driver of spending," comments Steve Spiwak, contributor to the report and manager of Retail Forward's Key Account Programs on Home Depot and Lowe's. "However, it also means the The Home Depot's consumer business is vulnerable as Lowe's expands its store base," he adds.
In Battle for the Wallets of American Homeowners: Home Depot vs. Lowe's, Retail Forward provides relevant and timely insights to answer the question, "Who will win the battle for American homeowners?" Report highlights include:
Heavy Cross-shopping. Among homeowners who have been in a home improvement center in the past two weeks, more than one-third shopped both Home Depot and Lowe's indicating that a large portion of customers are not loyal to either retailer.
Lowe's Wins on Category Perceptions. A larger share of homeowners views Lowe's as superior for nine of the 14 product categories in the survey.
A Split on Convenience. Lowe's has the edge on most convenience/shopping ambiance and customer service factors, but perceptions of pricing are too close to call.
Home Depot was mentioned first as place to shop for home improvement products significantly more often than Lowe's.
Being conveniently located is the strongest predictor for where homeowners spend the greatest portion of their home improvement dollars. Therefore, Home Depot is likely to retain its lead in consumer share of spending so long as it retains a location advantage.
Overall, the majority of women prefer shopping at Lowe's over Home Depot. More significantly, the gap between women who think Lowe's is "a lot" or "somewhat" better than The Home Depot is a full nine percentage points greater than the women who give Home Depot those ratings. On the other hand, Home Depot edges out Lowe's in preference among men, but the gap is much narrower.
