Home Improvement E-Commerce Trends Among Homeowners in 2025

E‑commerce is a preva­lent part of the shop­ping expe­ri­ence in this day and age. Indi­vid­u­als need­ing prod­ucts for their home improve­ment projects uti­lize dig­i­tal sources at near­ly every step of the shop­per jour­ney, from explor­ing brands and research­ing prod­uct details to mak­ing actu­al purchases.There are sev­er­al nuances, though, when it comes to the atti­tudes and behav­iors that influ­ence shop­ping for home improve­ment prod­ucts and mate­ri­als. Baby Boomers much pre­fer the expe­ri­ence of brick-and-mor­tar estab­lish­ments. Gen Z and Mil­len­ni­al shop­pers are more like­ly to aban­don carts when shop­ping online. Aware­ness and use of emerg­ing e‑commerce tech­nolo­gies are grow­ing, but not every­one sees tech­nol­o­gy as the solu­tion to their strug­gles with online shopping.The Home Improve­ment Research Institute’s recent­ly pub­lished Home­own­er E‑Commerce Study offers a clos­er look at these trends, along with data about these three dis­tinct seg­ments and the dif­fer­ences in their atti­tudes around online shop­ping. Armed with the full insights, you and your team can improve strate­gies so that your home improve­ment brand can bet­ter engage each one. 

What Factors and Trends Influence the Home Improvement Shopping Journey?

The omni-chan­nel home improve­ment shop­ping jour­ney is com­plex. For mar­ket­ing man­agers and team mem­bers involved in pro­mot­ing prod­ucts and con­vert­ing cus­tomers, it’s impor­tant to iden­ti­fy demo­graph­ic vari­a­tions, address bar­ri­ers to online pur­chas­ing, and under­stand the impact of emerg­ing e‑commerce tech­nolo­gies on the home­own­er shop­ping experience.Here is a look at some of the insights from our Home­own­er E‑Commerce Study and how it applies to your man­u­fac­tur­ing brand in 2025:

1. Online Channels are Used for More than Purchasing

Online chan­nels are crit­i­cal at all stages of the shop­per jour­ney, regard­less of where the final pur­chase takes place. For exam­ple, accord­ing to our research, more than half of in-store pur­chas­es involve pri­or online research. About 40% of home­own­ers also pre­fer a flex­i­ble shop­ping expe­ri­ence and being able to move seam­less­ly between online and in-store chan­nels. For mar­ket­ing man­agers, it’s impor­tant to ensure accu­ra­cy and con­sis­ten­cy across chan­nels, espe­cial­ly when it comes to pric­ing, pro­mo­tions, inven­to­ry, and prod­uct data. Your team also should pri­or­i­tize seam­less tran­si­tions and inte­grat­ing user-friend­ly dig­i­tal touchpoints.

2. Variances Exist Among Different Demographics

It prob­a­bly comes as no sur­prise that younger gen­er­a­tions, such as Mil­len­ni­als and Gen Z, lead in online behav­iors, while old­er gen­er­a­tions main­tain the desire for shop­ping in stores. How­ev­er, our study uncov­ers oth­er nuances among the dif­fer­ent demo­graph­ics and their pre­ferred way of shop­ping for home improve­ment prod­ucts. For instance, adults with chil­dren are twice as like­ly as adults-only house­holds to pre­fer research­ing prod­ucts online and then pur­chas­ing them in store. House­hold make­up, gen­der, and gen­er­a­tion affil­i­a­tion are all fac­tors that can influ­ence pref­er­ences and behaviors.

HIRI mem­bers have access to the full report which dives into greater detail.

3. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Social Media Appeal to Younger Generations

Both online sources and in-store vis­its are heav­i­ly used as the ​“first stop” when shop­ping for home improve­ment prod­ucts. When it comes to AI solu­tions — such as Gem­i­ni and Chat­G­PT — and social media plat­forms, there is an obvi­ous dif­fer­ence between folks from the old­er gen­er­a­tions, includ­ing Boomers and Gen X, and Mil­len­ni­als and Gen Z. They are more like­ly to use these resources when they start their shop­ping jour­ney, with near­ly one in 10 uti­liz­ing social media plat­forms. Addi­tion­al­ly, about a third of Gen Z and Mil­len­ni­al shop­pers say they check social media for prod­uct rec­om­men­da­tions about 50% to 74% of the time before mak­ing a pur­chase. This presents an oppor­tu­ni­ty for home improve­ment brands to cap­ture the atten­tion of younger shop­pers through strate­gic adver­tis­ing and pro­mo­tions on these chan­nels. It’s also impor­tant to offer a seam­less tran­si­tion from social media links and posts to spe­cif­ic land­ing pages on your website.

4. Homeowners Prefer to See Costly or Complex Products in Person

Home­own­ers vary on how they approach cer­tain prod­uct cat­e­gories. While more afford­able or basic items rarely require in-per­son view­ing, there are cer­tain prod­ucts that they pri­or­i­tize see­ing for them­selves before mak­ing a pur­chase. Our research delves into how home­own­ers feel about dif­fer­ent prod­uct cat­e­gories and the lev­el of impor­tance they place on see­ing a prod­uct in-per­son before mak­ing a pur­chase. The cat­e­gories with the high­est lev­el of impor­tance to see pro­duce in per­son before mak­ing a pur­chase include cab­i­nets, floor­ing, exte­ri­or doors, and coun­ter­tops, while home­own­ers don’t feel it’s as impor­tant to pre­view more basic prod­ucts, includ­ing fas­ten­ers (nails, screws, and bolts), insu­la­tion and weath­er­iza­tion prod­ucts, and adhe­sives, caulks, sealants, and tapes. 

5. Urgency Prompts an Influx of In-Store Purchases

In gen­er­al, most home­own­ers buy in-store and take the items direct­ly with them. When pur­chas­ing online, the pref­er­ence is home deliv­ery, with Mil­len­ni­als and Gen Z shop­pers more like­ly than oth­ers to choose store pick­up. But dif­fer­ent home improve­ment sit­u­a­tions can influ­ence dif­fer­ent shop­ping behav­iors. Our research shows that when it comes to urgent needs and emer­gency repairs, near­ly three-fourths of pur­chas­es take place in the store. For planned projects — par­tic­u­lar­ly minor projects with few­er prod­ucts — behav­iors shift, with 30% of shop­pers pre­fer­ring to make pur­chas­es most­ly online.

6. Product Quality and Shipping Costs Pose Barriers to E‑Commerce Conversions

For mar­ket­ing man­agers, one chal­lenge can be to increase actu­al online con­ver­sions. Cer­tain­ly, home­own­ers may be will­ing to look around e‑commerce sites and even add items to their cart, but some­thing stops them before they com­plete the pur­chase. Our research shows that some of the main bar­ri­ers that under­mine con­ver­sion include dif­fi­cul­ty eval­u­at­ing prod­uct qual­i­ty, high ship­ping costs, and the need for same-day deliv­ery or pick­up. More than a third of home­own­ers aban­don their online shop­ping carts because of these issues. Addi­tion­al­ly, Gen Z and Mil­len­ni­als show a high­er con­cern about their prod­ucts arriv­ing dam­aged. The study digs into some desired solu­tions, or improve­ments that might encour­age more online pur­chas­es, such as guar­an­teed next-day or two-day deliv­ery, flat rate or free ship­ping, and cer­ti­fied ​“no dam­age” pack­ag­ing guarantees.

7. Trust Issues Persist Among Online Shoppers

New tech­nol­o­gy can be excit­ing, and online fea­tures — from dig­i­tal wal­lets and aug­ment­ed real­i­ty (AR) to chat­bot advice for home improve­ment project plan­ning — are gain­ing trac­tion. In par­tic­u­lar, per­son­al­ized arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence (AI) prod­uct rec­om­men­da­tions are the most tried and used solu­tion, with more than half of shop­pers hav­ing exper­i­ment­ed with this tech­nol­o­gy. Dig­i­tal wal­lets, such as Apple Pay, are the most-used type of dig­i­tal-pur­chas­ing method for home improve­ment prod­ucts. But there is still a sig­nif­i­cant lev­el of dis­trust, par­tic­u­lar­ly among old­er gen­er­a­tions, and many shop­pers don’t see 3D and AR tools as a way to mit­i­gate their strug­gle with judg­ing prod­uct qual­i­ty online. Mean­while, a sig­nif­i­cant per­cent­age of Gen Z and Mil­len­ni­al shop­pers don’t feel that AI-pow­ered rec­om­men­da­tions are per­son­al­ized enough. To address these con­cerns, your team can work to main­tain a high lev­el of trans­paren­cy and inte­grate dig­i­tal tools that are pri­va­cy con­scious, trust­wor­thy and intuitive.

8. Shoppers Still Appreciate a Human Touch and They’re Selective About Technological Solutions

It’s also impor­tant for home improve­ment brands to under­stand their demo­graph­ics’ opin­ions about tech­nolo­gies and dig­i­tal tools. What are they actu­al­ly hop­ing to get out of emerg­ing e‑commerce tech­nolo­gies? Inte­grat­ing a tech­nol­o­gy just for the sake of doing so isn’t going to improve brand loy­al­ty or boost online con­ver­sions. But there are a few areas where home­own­ers look toward new tech­nol­o­gy to improve their shop­ping jour­ney, such as prod­uct visu­al­iza­tion and accu­rate tracking/​shipping details. Along the same lines, it’s impor­tant to not aban­don all human touch­points or try to replace them with dig­i­tal tools, espe­cial­ly with­in the home improve­ment indus­try. Based on our research, shop­pers, par­tic­u­lar­ly from old­er gen­er­a­tions, still pre­fer inter­act­ing with humans on sup­port chats or through live consultations.

Gaining Access to Deeper Insights to Improve the Omnichannel Shopping Journey

As dig­i­tal shop­ping con­tin­ues to evolve, home­own­ers are increas­ing­ly blend­ing online and in-store expe­ri­ences when shop­ping for home improve­ment prod­ucts. While phys­i­cal stores remain the pri­ma­ry pur­chase point, online research and e‑commerce are play­ing a crit­i­cal role in shap­ing buy­ing deci­sions. Become a HIRI mem­ber to gain full access to our Home­own­er E‑Commerce Study and oth­er impor­tant research about the behav­iors, bar­ri­ers, and inno­va­tions shap­ing the home improve­ment market.