1.1 Market definition and structure

Do-it-yourself refers to non-professional manual activities, repair, creation, improvement and maintenance of small objects in the house. This study concentrates on the DIY market and therefore excludes the BtoB activity of retailers and DIY stores

The do-it-yourself market therefore covers a wide variety of items. The Union Nationale des Industriels du Bricolage (Inoha) lists 11 main categories: building, plumbing/sanitary, garden, paint/glue, wood/joinery, coatings, tools, electricity, hardware, decoration and thermal comfort.

The world market for DIY products amounted to 594 billion euros in 2018 and the market has been growing steadily for several years. The United States are largely dominant, accounting for about half of the world market by value. In Europe, the biggest DIY markets are the United Kingdom, Germany and France.

The Belgian do-it-yourself market grew by 3.3% in 2019 and by 16,4% between 2008 and 2017 but is characterised by relative instability.

The growth of the market can be explained by a growing interest in do-it-yourself, particularly in Belgium. The market is highly concentrated and dominated by a few large players, the main ones being the DIY chains Hubo Belgium (Bricoalliance), Brico (Maxeda) and Gamma (Intergamma).

The Belgian market is also characterised by an attachment to physical shops and digitalisation is therefore still weak but growing. This is one reason why the market is cyclical, the sales being largely dependant on the weather and the consumer will to visit the physical shops. One other reason is that the garden category is the most important product category sold by DIY shops in Belgium. Bad weather thus means less sales in the garden category which affect the turnover of DIY shops.

1.2 The growing global market is concentrated in North America and Europe

The world DIY market was estimated at *** billion euros in **** and the market is growing, slowly but steadily. This growth is driven in particular by the boom in emerging countries, especially in the Africa/Middle East market, which grew by **% between **** and ****. Also, in Western countries, a growing craze for do-it-yourself ...

1.3 A Belgian market that is structurally growing but unstable

The graph below illustrates the evolution of the turnover of companies registered under the code **.**, which corresponds to the retail sale of hardware, paints and glass in specialized stores. This code therefore does not correspond exactly to the field of study, but enables to estimate market turnover and obtain an overview ...

2.1 Consumer profile

Why Belgians do DIY

The first reason why Belgians do DIY is to improve their skills. There is thus a strong will to learn about DIY in Belgium. Moreover, Belgians choose not to use professionals when they consider the work easy to install, when they have more time or when they ...

2.2 Determinants of demand

Criteria and brakes to the purchase

The two main criterions for buying DIY products in Belgium are price and product quality, as they are cited by almost all respondents. Belgians are also influenced by the service and advice provided by shop staff, the origin of the products and their brand.

Purchase ...

3.1 Production of DIY products

In general, Belgian DIY production seems relatively volatile and does not seem to follow a marked upward or downward trend. From **** onwards, the value of production increased each year and finally decreased in ****. Production value of specialised shops retailing hardware, paints and glass (***) Belgium, ****-****, in millions euros Source : Statbel Do-it-yourself ...

3.2 Distribution of DIY products

The main distribution channels for DIY products in Belgium are the following channels: DIY stores (***) Independent hardware stores General superstores: hypermarkets and hard-discount stores for the amateur DIY market (***) E-commerce (***) The graph below is the result of a Europe-wide survey that asked a sample of people where they buy their DIY ...

3.3 Weak but growing digitalisation of the market

In Europe, the share of online purchases of DIY products was *.*% in **** and *,*% in ****. This figure is also on the rise in Belgium, but it is well below the European average. In fact, in ****, only *.*% of DIY purchases were made on the Internet in Belgium.

However, the digitalisation of the market ...

4.1 Products

The DIY market includes a wide variety of products, especially as their use does not always correspond strictly to DIY. Garden products, for example, do not fall within the strict DIY field, but are sold by the majority of DIY shops. The products on the DIY market can however still be ...

4.2 Prices

Prices in the DIY sector in Belgium vary enormously from one category or range of products to another, as well as according to the store brand and the brand of the product.

For example, in the category of tools, we can find the following prices:

Pneumatic nailer: about ** euros. Stapler and ...

4.3 Offer trends

Personalisation of the offer

Consistent with the fact that consumers often abandon their projects and look for simplicity, many players are betting on the customisation of the offer, in particular by means of differentiation strategies or reinforced category management.. The ultimate goal of all these efforts and advanced category management is ...

5.1 Regulations concerning DIY shops

DIY stores are regulated by the Code of Economic Law. You will find all the information relating to commercial practices on the website of the FPS Economy, and in particular :

indication of prices price reductions sales on sale distance sales sales in liquidation public sales labeling withdrawal periods comparative advertising quotes ...

5.2 Regulations concerning do-it-yourselfers

The regulation relating to the noise of neighbourhood applies for the do-it-yourself work carried out by a private individual in his dwelling between *:** p.m. and *:** a.m. or on Sundays and public holidays.

The rest of the time (***) this decree does not apply and the law therefore does not provide ...