The DIY Revolution: How eCommerce is Changing the DIY Industry in 2023

The DIY e-commerce revolution is well underway. With more Brands and retailers looking to up their ecommerce game, the competition to reach and convert shoppers in this space is fierce.

In this blog post, we explore how digitalisation is changing the size of the online DIY industry and what can be expected as consumer expectations grow and technology continues to advance.

We’ve compiled the top five e-commerce trends for the do-it-yourself market in Europe for 2023 and top tips to support your online sales strategy.

1. Seasonality and Innovative Bundling

Brands operating in the DIY eCommerce industry are bound by seasonality trends. However, these are crucial times to capitalise on the demand for specific products at the right time. It’s no secret that consumers' interest in outdoor renovation projects increases as the weather warms up in the spring. Winter months may spark an uptick in indoor home improvement projects. Moreover, the holiday season has always been the busiest period for eCommerce, presenting brands with a significant opportunity to boost sales figures.

To be successful in the DIY eCommerce industry, brands must be proactive and stay ahead of the competition by anticipating and preparing for seasonal trends. To become the top choice for customers, brands must offer discounts and promotions for seasonal products, allowing them to stay competitive and attract additional customers.

For many DIY and home-improvement purchases, consumers will take longer to plan what they need to buy. However, they tend to buy more items together to complete their projects. Capitalise on this tendency, and entice customers by bundling your offerings.  If you understand your buyers, giving them what they want makes sense! Bundling will allow you to move merchandise without compromising on profit. Capitalise by grouping complementary products together, and selling them for a slightly lower price than if purchased separately.

Tip for Brands: utilising seasonality to its fullest potential can lead to increased profitability, improved brand visibility, and the opportunity to engage with existing and new customers. Exclusive bundles will enhance the customer experience whilst boosting basket size and your average order value.

How Luzern eCommerce can help you take advantage of seasonality

Data-driven assortment strategy & Bundling: Luzern eCommerce uses advanced analytics and data insights to identify trends, customer preferences, and market opportunities. This helps brands make informed decisions when selecting products for their assortment, ensuring they offer the right mix of products that cater to their target audience's needs for all seasons. We also help brands by creating exclusive bundles. We use D2C data to understand buyer patterns and inform innovative bundle options that result in better pricing as it increases AoV (Average order value), fewer clicks for buyers, fewer deliveries and improved customer experience of your Brand.

2. The growth of Social Commerce in the DIY industry

The home improvement industry can boost sales and enhance customer engagement by leveraging social media platforms. By harnessing the power of social commerce in social media, brands can reach a larger pool of potential customers and build a strong community around their products. 

Social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest provide an ideal platform for targeted advertising campaigns, making it easier for brands to showcase their offerings to a highly targeted audience. With the rise of TikTok trends shaping home improvement and design, aspiring DIY’ers have unlimited resources at their (literal) fingertips. DIY enthusiasts are flocking to TikTok’s #DIY page for inspiration and How-to videos, with a staggering 229.6 billion views!

Tip for brands: maintaining an active social media presence can help brands and retailers stay informed of customer feedback and address potential issues promptly and transparently.

How Luzern eCommerce can help with social Commerce

Luzern Social Commerce makes your brand shoppable on your customers’ favourite platforms. As a third-party ecommerce enabler, we bridge the gap between social media and ecommerce, providing brands with a frictionless check-out right from the social platforms that your target customers are spending time on, every day.

3. Increasing Popularity of Marketplaces in the DIY Industry

Marketplaces are rapidly becoming the go-to platform for online shoppers worldwide. According to industry experts, Marketplaces will account for around 65% of all e-commerce sales by 2027. Factors include ease of use and the ability to compare and select products from different sellers. More and more businesses are looking to establish a presence on marketplaces to expand their customer reach.

DIY brands can use these channels to increase their sales, improve profitability, and build long-lasting business and customer relationships, enhancing brand visibility and gaining significant market share.

Tip for Brands: the success of any DIY business depends on its ability to adapt to changing market conditions and explore new opportunities. Leveraging marketplaces is an effective way to achieve just that. Marketplaces enable brands to reach more buyers and build brand recognition fast.

How Luzern eCommerce can help your Marketplaces strategy

Our full-service approach for eCommerce Brands ensures the right strategy and action management to deliver optimal results on marketplaces. We help Brands to succeed with:

• Marketplace strategy expertise
• Seller onboarding
• Launch strategies across the product range
• Pricing strategies
• Inventory management
• Search engine optimisation
• Brand promotion – content and images
• Assortment strategies
• Bundling – how to upsell and cross-sell
• Order processing and fulfilment
• Marketplace management
• Customer Service: after sales, returns

4. The Rise of Niche Marketplaces

Vertical or niche marketplaces are becoming increasingly popular among consumers, with approximately 35% of global customers turning to these platforms to purchase home improvement products. The good news for home improvement and DIY brands is that this trend is expected to grow. Specialised marketplaces such as ManoMano and Leroy Merlin allow customers to purchase customised and unique products not available in traditional marketplaces.

With the focus on customers' specific needs, these marketplaces provide a more personalised level of customer service, which is highly valued and can increase customer loyalty. As a result, there are now more specialised home, garden, and DIY marketplaces than ever before, making it easier for businesses to meet the specific needs of their customers.

The DIY industry can benefit significantly from the opportunities offered by niche marketplaces. With buyers specifically searching for DIY products, sellers have privileged access to a highly targeted audience and can enjoy increased visibility.

Tip for Brands: businesses selling on niche marketplaces have the potential to boost their conversion rates and generate loyal customers due to the personalised level of customer service they can offer. Additionally, niche marketplaces typically have lower competition, which gives Brands a competitive edge and the opportunity to stand out in a crowded market. We have connectors into Mano Mano and Leroy Merlin. We can help you get set up with the correct SKUs and go-to-market sales strategy.

How Luzern eCommerce can help your Niche Marketplace sales strategy

We can help with your overall online marketplace strategy and for niche marketplaces like ManoMano, which is the European online leader specialising in DIY, Home Improvement and Gardening. It typically attracts male customers 45-55, but also a higher than average proportion of younger men in the 25-45 group, as well as attracting a much higher female audience than other DIY retailers.

• With Luzern eCommerce, customers will be able to purchase your products directly from ManoMano
• Opportunity to sell across France, Spain, Germany, Italy and Belgium.
• Performance marketing and advertising to attract both regular DIY enthusiasts and DIY professionals
  

5. Leverage high-quality product images and videos

Customers want to see what they are purchasing before making a decision. Images and videos that showcase products in use, demonstrate product features, or offer visuals of the end result can help customers make informed choices.

Brands that produce quality product content stand out, have a better chance of attracting and retaining customers, and increase sales. Brands can use such content on websites, social media platforms, product listings, and e-commerce sites. DIY Brands can also use 360-degree images, product demos, or explainer videos to provide a more immersive experience that helps customers envision how the product can work in their space.

In addition, brands can invest in creating user-generated content by encouraging customers to review or upload pictures and videos of their projects. By sharing user-generated content across social media platforms or product listings, brands can showcase the versatility and functionality of their products.

Tip for Brands: Brands that invest in producing high-quality images and videos have an advantage in the ever-competitive DIY industry. Brands must prioritise providing customers with a comprehensive visual of their products online, as this can be the final push customers need to press the buy button.

How Luzern eCommerce can help to improve your content

Optimizing your product pages to present your products effectively is vital, not only to improve the visibility of your products on Amazon and other marketplaces, but also to improve your Brand’s customer experience. Our content team crafts well-written, informative, and engaging content that highlights the unique selling points of your products with Compelling product descriptions, clear feature bullets and strong imagery.

How Luzern eCommerce can help Brands to Succeed in the DIY Industry in 2023 and Beyond

Luzern eCommerce is a leading European managed eCommerce platform provider that optimises sales, margins and inventory across channels and boards for brands across the globe. Our technology (Channel Optimizer™ ), coupled with our deep domain expertise, helps brands reach and convert customers on their channel of choice: direct on a branded webstore, on Amazon or other marketplaces or through Social Commerce.

Luzern eCommerce is committed to helping brands succeed in today's ever-evolving digital landscape. With its cutting-edge technology and deep understanding of consumer behaviour patterns, the company continues to set the standard for delivering innovative solutions that drive meaningful results for its clients.

Channel Optimizer™ is a managed eCommerce platform which means that Luzern manages the platform and the tech-enabled services on behalf of brands as their third-party eCommerce enabler. This flexibility and agile approach take the heavy lifting out of eCommerce execution for brands enabling them to move fast, test and learn, and take control of how they perform and sell online.

Key Features include:

• IT Integration: Including features and integrations for popular tools like Magento, Shopify Plus, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, and PIMs, with data and marketplace connections to provide the same execution on every major marketplace
• Inventory Management across multiple channels: Brands can easily track stock levels in real time and adjust the pricing accordingly, which enables them to respond quickly to changing market conditions and maximise sales opportunities.
• Insights and Advanced Analytics: The platform allows brands to leverage insights from customer data, such as purchase history, demographic information, and browsing behaviours, to create tailored campaigns that generate higher ROI for their marketing efforts.
• Fully Automated Returns: Automated return process across channels, delivering a fast, no-touch service. The easy integration to an ERP system removes the complexity for brands whilst improving the experience for the consumer.
• Dynamic Price Management: Real-time price change based on strategic pricing pules configured in the platform. Rapidly identify price, margin, and revenue trends for more effective price management. 

Our platform is modular and scalable. Brands can prioritise which elements they need outsourced, ranging from complete end-to-end to more tailored solutions that extend and complement existing eCommerce capabilities. 

At Luzern eCommerce, we help brands in the DIY industry stay ahead of the curve with strategies that drive results. Contact us today to learn how we can help you grow your e-commerce business and succeed in this ever-changing market.

Contact Us for more information on how we can help your brand scale.