It appears that the home improvement surge of 2020 may be a never-ending phenomenon. While many were “stuck” at home due to COVID orders, those with time on their hands and a bit of handy creativity leaned into property projects and design, resulting in some big boosts for retailers.
And after seeing consistent year-over-year growth throughout 2020, the sector kicked off 2021 with an even bigger year-over-year jump!
According to new data from Placer.ai, brands including Lowe’s, Home Depot, Floor & Decor and Ace Hardware continue to see high volume of shoppers through the first quarter of 2021—a 22 percent increase year over year (which would have been just at the start of the pandemic.)
The peak 2020 numbers for home improvement stores occurred during Q2, and impressively, home brands were able to main those elevated numbers throughout last year. The fact that 2021 started off on the higher end as well is particularly surprising, given winter is generally a slower period for home improvements.
While visits have slowly decreased since last spring’s peak, Place.ai notes that the quarter-over-quarter drops were more than compensated for by tremendous year-over-year growth.
Which brands came out on top? Per the new report, Floor & Decor saw the largest increase in year-over-year quarterly visits, followed by At Home, Home Goods, Tractor Supply Co. and Lowe’s.