Category Insights: Home Improvement investment continues in 2021

By: Mark Morgioni, Senior Analytics and Media Manager, and Ashton Brown, Technical Writer

Each year, Amazon researchers analyze customer shopping trends at the category level to discover actionable insights that advertisers can use to inform their marketing strategies.

Story highlights:

In this article, we provide analysis of the customer shopping behaviors between August 2020 and July 2021 within the US Home Improvement vertical on Amazon. Using the Plumbing Fixtures & Rough Plumbing category as a baseline, we analyzed the year-over-year growth rate within the category as well as how Plumbing & Rough Fixtures compares to peer categories overall. We conclude with a few recommendations advertisers can follow to reach more customers.

1. How does Plumbing Fixtures & Rough Plumbing compare to other categories in the Home Improvement Vertical?

At the time of our analysis, Plumbing Fixtures & Rough Plumbing is the 2nd largest category in the Home Improvement vertical in terms of sales. However, it is growing slower than the vertical average, trailing behind peer categories, including Lighting & Fans, which is the Home Improvement vertical’s leading category in terms of size and growth rate year-over-year. Other peer categories include Hardware, Electrical & Heating, and Appliance Parts & Accessories.

Home Improvement category ranking

#2

Sales rank within the Home Improvement category

#6

Sales growth rank within the Home Improvement category

2. Customer keyword and purchase trends

In the past 12 months, customers in the Plumbing Fixtures & Rough Plumbing category have maintained consistent browsing behavior on Amazon in terms of shopping query volume and keywords. However, a few keyword queries have grown in categories associated with personal hygiene, home improvement, and personal care.

Customer purchase trends

Understanding keyword trends is useful because they provide insights into what customers are shopping for, as well as what may be most important to them. Similarly, actual purchase data are equally important.

Our analysis finds that customers are more likely to purchase products across multiple products within the Home Improvement vertical. For example, 63% of new-to-category shoppers made a purchase in other categories on Amazon in the last 12 months before entering Plumbing Fixtures & Rough Plumbing, which may speak to the potential for brands to advertise Plumbing Fixtures & Rough Plumbing in other, related, categories such as: Lighting & Fans, Hardware, etc.

Conclusion and recommendations

Customer shopping habits changed throughout 2020, as seen in the increase in keyword shopping queries for products related to personal hygiene and home improvement. If customer purchase behavior suggests anything about the rest of 2021, it is that advertisers in the Home Improvement vertical may be able to reach more customers by adding top keywords “bathroom accessories,” “shower head,” and “kitchen” to their ad campaigns. This can help ensure that customers, who are already purchasing across multiple categories, see the advertisement.