A Home Improved

How Consumers Are Re-imagining The Home

• • • • • •

The overwhelming majority of consumers have made home improvements since the pandemic sent much of the U.S. into lockdown. Learn more about how consumers are rapidly shifting what a “home” is in 2020.

During “The Great Pause of 2020,” many people have utilized the extra spare time awarded to them by the COVID-19 crisis to reevaluate the corners of their lives. If they don’t like what they see, they’re making changes. 

The home is no exception. With people spending so much time inside their own four walls — in the short term, but likely more so in the long term, too — home alterations are trending.

According to a recent Suzy poll of 1,000 consumers, 83% of Americans have been making home improvements since shelter-in-place recommendations began. What’s more, 97% of those respondents said they’ve enjoyed carrying out the changes. 

“There’s so much right now that we can’t control about this world,” offered Matt Britton, founder and CEO of Suzy. “The one place that you can control is your sanctuary, in your home.” 

Consumers may be making so many home improvements, he added, in part because it gives them “sort of a sense of peace.”

Britton made these remarks over the course of a Suzy webinar, “State of Consumer: The Future of Home.” He was accompanied by Lindsey Mather, deputy editor at Domino Magazine. 

For over 15 years, Domino has been the premier destination for building a stylish home — and life. Through inspirational and service-driven home tours, DIYs, shopping guides, and more, Domino celebrates personal style and self-expression through the lens of emerging and expert tastemakers, and enables our audience to discover their own design aesthetic. 

Among the more striking revelations, 39% of the poll participants said that they are hosting more often at their homes than they did before the crisis. One might think the spread of a deadly virus would force people to keep their distance from others, not welcome them over. 

“This is shocking,” exclaimed Mather. 

“Actually if you take a step back and think about it, consumers can’t go anywhere,” Britton countered. “If they want to be social, really the only place they can do so is at their home.”

Efforts to make the home more of a comfortable gathering space for greater numbers of guests have followed. 

Since the coronavirus spreads mainly through the air, a large portion of this reported hosting happens outdoors. Three-quarters of consumers report having a private outdoor space at home, with 50% of them making upgrades to them over the past six months. Online inquiries for homes with pools are up 3x, while homes with outdoor spaces were looked at twice as often in the third quarter of 2020. 

Furthermore, the building of home gardens or updating ones already on the grounds has emerged as the number-one way consumers are making quick upgrades. 

“There’s so much demand there because gardening has taken on a renewed focus,” Britton said. “People want to grow their own fruits and vegetables.”

“You really won’t have to go to a restaurant then,” Mather added.

Still, many areas of the U.S. have so far been spared a widespread COVID-19 outbreak. People in these places are remaining cautious, and staying home, so they’ve taken to improving the two indoor areas where the most hosting takes place. Half of Suzy-polled consumers who are making improvements plan on updating the living room, while 44% plan to alter the kitchen. 

For the increasing number of people with tighter budgets, they’ve turned to platforms like Etsy. There they find cost-effective, creative home improvements, often upgrading things like decorations and linens. 

Mather remarked that, in light of the recent social justice protests, “people are really thinking about where they’re putting their dollar, and there’s power in that.” She feels that perhaps more consumers are looking to support small-business owners, such as those who sell through Etsy, which has enjoyed a three-fold stock boost in 2020. 

But with a sudden dearth of ways to spend money — with no travel, movie theaters, spas, gyms and so on — Britton noted, for many, personal savings rates are at an all-time high. 

“They’re redirecting it towards their own home; that’s where the money is coming from,” Britton said. “So even in an economic downturn, there’s plenty of space for demand with the consumer, because of all the things they’re not able to spend on in these times.”

For much more information and results from the Suzy research, you can view the entire webinar, “State of Consumer: The Future of Home” at Suzy.com.