BIGresearch
February Retail Ratings: Home Depot Maintains
Lead, Lowe’s Gaining Ground in Home Improvement Sector
Menards, ACE Hardware
and Target Show Growth
COLUMBUS,
OH -- (MARKET WIRE) – 3/11/09 – 31.5% of consumers head to Home Depot most often
for their home improvement needs, according to the February 09 Retail Ratings
Report from BIGresearch (http://www.bigresearch.com).
Lowe’s follows in second place with 25.8% of the consumer share and Walmart
(5.6%) takes third.
Home Depot’s share increased one and a half points among all adults from
February 08 (30%), resulting in a positive Consumer Equity Index™ (CEI)* of
104.93. It seems their biggest rival, Lowe’s, has made gains in consumer share
as well (23.7% in February 08), with a CEI of 108.78.
Walmart’s overall share is flat from last year (5.5%), giving the discount giant
a CEI of 100.53. (*CEI measures growth in share of customer preference
year-over-year. An index of 100 is flat, while an index of 105 indicates 5%
growth.)
Home Depot saw a relatively substantial increase in consumer preference share
among men (31.8% v. 27.9% last year), with a CEI of 114.17. Lowe’s took the
second spot with 25.2% of share (up from 24% last year), resulting in a CEI of
105.09. Although their overall share is small, Menards (3.7%) and ACE Hardware
(2.8%), both saw growth year-over-year with CEIs of 128.79 and 131.42,
respectively.
“Although Home Depot generally maintains a strong lead across gender and income
segments, there is a bright spot for Lowe’s when it comes to the 90 day
outlook,” said Pam Goodfellow, Senior Analyst at BIGresearch. “38.2% of
consumers planning to spend more on home improvement purchases over the next
three months shop at Lowe’s most often, compared to 35.7% who head to Home
Depot.”
BIGresearch’s Retail Ratings Reports (RRR) are available monthly for 12 major
merchandise categories. They are developed from BIGresearch’s monthly Consumer
Intentions & Actions (CIA) Survey of over 8,000 online interviews. For a sample
of the February report for Home Improvement (Adults 18+ and Men), please click
the following link:
http://info.bigresearch.com/.
About BIGresearch
BIGresearch is a consumer intelligence firm providing analysis of behavior
in areas of products and services, retail, financial services, automotive and
media. BIGresearch conducts the monthly Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey
(CIA) of 8,000+ respondents and the semi-annual Simultaneous Media Survey (SIMM)
of 15,000+ respondents. More information is available at
http://www.bigresearch.com.
Contact:
Chrissy Wissinger
BIGresearch
450 West Wilson Bridge Road
Suite 370
Worthington, Ohio 43085
(614) 846-0146
chrissy@bigresearch.com