Paint purchasers’ preferences

The British are clear leaders of the field when it is a matter of paint in Europe. For no fewer than 72 per cent of the inhabitants of the British Isles buy paint at least once a year for brightening up their own four walls, according to a study undertaken by the Paint Quality Institute (PQI). The French are rather more cautious in this respect, though 46 per cent of those questioned can still be put in this category. The Germans, by comparison, are almost spartan in their behaviour: the number of respondents who say that they buy paint at least once a year amounts to just 33 per cent.
How often do Europeans buy paint?(.pdf download)
The study, the second of its kind to have been carried out by the Frankfurt-based institute, also revealed that Germans are relatively cautious when it comes to exterior paintwork as well: 51 per cent of the respondents stated that they never buy paint for this area. A result that Ludger Küper, director of PQI, explains as follows: “The reason for this is that a relatively high proportion of the population lives in rented accommodation, so they are not responsible for this type of maintenance work.” But the level of interest in outdoor paint shown by home-owners in Germany (41 per cent) is well below the 49 per cent recorded for the French and 52 per cent for the British.
One of the focal aspects of the study, which involved personal interviews with 300 individuals over 18 years of age from each of the three countries, Germany, the United Kingdom and France, concerns the standards demanded by DIYers when it comes to paint quality.
The standard that becomes evident here is high in every respect and in all three of the countries concerned, with only slightly varying tendencies. Quality seems to be increasingly in demand, especially in Germany. Here consumers are very fussy about the quality of the paint when it comes to their living room, followed by the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom.
German, British and French respondents gave significantly differing answers when asked about the importance of the individual rooms in their homes. Whereas the English and French attach the greatest amount of importance to the colour scheme of their bedrooms, the Germans prefer to concentrate on a smart living room.
Internet use by DIYers(.pdf download)
The study discovered that by far the greatest concern for Germans when it comes to product attributes is that their paint should offer good hiding power. Their concern is much greater than that felt by…