Key Stats & Takeaways
- 30+ new insights on Home & Hardware shoppers’ habits and preferences
- 3,023 US shoppers surveyed in the quantitative UX study
- Home & Hardware shoppers prioritize price and brand, with more than half being part of a loyalty program and often visiting in-store
At Baymard, we’ve just released new Quantitative Insights into people who shop on “Home & Hardware” sites, expanding our understanding of industry-specific ecommerce user preferences and attitudes.
These insights are visual, survey-backed data that highlight user habits and preferences to supplement and support our large-scale UX research findings and benchmarking of the Home & Hardware industry.
The 30+ insights address the home and hardware shopping experience, ranging from need triggers, product comparison behaviors, in-store usage, loyalty programs, purchasing factors, and returns expectations.
In addition, demographic segmentation has been applied for shoppers in professional vs. DIY spaces, as well as how product expertise and item cost impact their responses.
These Quantitative Insights empower you to align stakeholders through objective, survey-backed data, streamline A/B testing with high-impact hypotheses, and discover and solve industry-specific UX challenges.
In this article, we’ll introduce 3 high-level findings that distinguish how users find, evaluate, and decide on a purchase at home and hardware sites:
- Top factors in purchase decisions
- In-store visitations as part of online shopping journey
- Membership to Pro or loyalty programs
Top Factors in Purchase Decisions
Price and brand are the most important factors for users purchasing home and hardware products online, according to our survey with 3,023 respondents (see Quantitative Insight #HH031 for an interactive version of this graph alongside key findings and actionable insights).
Asking 3,023 US adults who have shopped online for home and hardware products in the past 3 months what played the biggest role in their most recent purchase, price and brand are by far the top overall factors (at 53% and 42% respectively).
This indicates that shoppers are making value-conscious decisions but still strongly associate that value with brand trust or recognition.
Next, while user reviews (34%) and compatibility information (24%) are not the initial purchase trigger, they also play a critical role in reinforcing confidence — especially for users deciding between similar products.
Thus, tools that increase user confidence are key differentiators for conversion, particularly when price and brand are comparable.
Other informational factors that play a part are location convenience (26%), speed of receiving an item (25%), warranty and returns (22%), and word of mouth (15%).
With that, home and hardware sites must clearly emphasize prices (see our Product Price Displays Topic Guide) and consider making brands easier to identify in list items and search results (guideline #444).
It’s also crucial to provide critical filtering options — including for brand (see the Brand Filters Topic Guide), user rating (guideline #1167), and stock status (guideline #417) — as well as offer support for users searching for compatible products (guideline #341).
In-Store Visitations Are Central to Most Home & Hardware Shoppers’ Purchase Decision
More than half of home and hardware shoppers go to the store to access products before they make a purchase online (see Quantitative Insight #HH016 for an interactive version of this graph alongside key findings and actionable insights).
Notably more than 50% of home and hardware shoppers viewed or tested the product in-store before completing their last purchase online.
With that in mind, users will be better served if they can easily identify the closest store with stock availability (guideline #804).
Further, by offering a store locator feature with a map, key store details, and IP geotargeting for autodetection, users will be able to quickly find a nearby store if they wish to see the product or pick it up there (see the In-Store Pickup Topic Guide).
Also of note, while 45% of respondents purchased without seeing the product in person, this tendency increases significantly to 65% among respondents aged 60 and older, indicating that younger shoppers are overall more likely to visit in-store than older shoppers.
A Majority of Home & Hardware Shoppers Utilize Pro or Loyalty Programs
More than half of home and hardware shoppers are part of a loyalty or pro/business program (see Quantitative Insight #HH085 for an interactive version of this graph alongside key findings and actionable insights).
More than half of home and hardware shoppers are part of a loyalty or pro/business program, with 34% being part of a DIY/homeowner loyalty program, and 22% reflecting a smaller but meaningful segment of professional users.
Also, a notable 27% are aware of these programs but haven’t joined, and another 13% don’t know these programs exist, suggesting an opportunity for retailers to optimize the messaging, incentives, and discoverability of their programs.
With these findings, it’s important to first understand which of your shoppers are in the professional realm, and which are DIY users likely to engage with one of these programs.
By identifying, segmenting, and prioritizing users who show behavioral signals of potential participation, you can avoid overinvesting in segments unlikely ever to engage meaningfully (see Strategic Brief #LYB21).
From there, ensure that your home and hardware loyalty programs lead with tangible value.
Most users view enrollment as a value exchange, so clearly communicate upfront what the user stands to gain in return for joining (see guidelines #2946 and #2949).
Lastly, reduce any enrollment friction in your pro or loyalty programs.
Work to incorporate loyalty registration directly into your site’s account setup to streamline the process (see the Account Sign-Up Form Topic Guide), and consider letting users earn points retroactively for recent purchases to encourage hesitant users to sign up (see Strategic Brief #LYB42).
33 Quantitative Insights to Inform Home & Hardware UX Improvements
In addition to the 3 insights presented here, all 30 Home & Hardware UX survey insights are available on Baymard along with our Quantitative Insights for general ecommerce on Awareness & Product Discovery, Consideration & Purchase Behavior, Checkout & Post-Purchase, Loyalty (and other industry-specific studies).
These are just 3 of the insights from our Home & Hardware quantitative study.
To get an in-depth understanding of the habits and preferences of home and hardware shoppers, the other 30 insights should be reviewed.
Use these insights along with our Home & Hardware UX guidelines based on observed user behaviour to inform your UX design decisions for your Home & Hardware ecommerce store.
Note that we also offer Quantitative Insights for general ecommerce on Awareness & Product Discovery, Consideration & Purchase Behavior, Checkout & Post-Purchase, and Loyalty many of which are also relevant to home and hardware sites.
Getting access: all 30+ Home & Hardware quantitative insights are available today within Baymard. (If you already have access through an account, open the Home & Hardware quantitative study).
If you want to know how your Home & Hardware desktop and mobile site performs and compares, then learn more about getting Baymard to conduct a Home & Hardware UX audit of your site.
