British DIYers ponder before purchasing

When German DIYers or hobby gardeners decide to buy a new piece of equipment, they don’t mess about, but go ahead and do it and are therefore much faster when it comes to purchasing than most of their European neighbours. Whereas the Germans just need one hour and four minutes – only the Slovakians are just as fast – the British need double that time, that’s to say, two hours and 26 minutes. The European average, established by the Commerz Finanz’s European Customer Barometer 2015, is one hour and 28 minutes.
The authors of the study point out that the Internet accelerates the decision making process because 40 per cent of Europeans admit that digital platforms have helped them to make decisions about which do-it-yourself tools and garden equipment to buy.
However, generally speaking, this wealth of information also has its disadvantages. In fact, 16 per cent of consumers state that they quite often feel overwhelmed by the amount of offers when looking for the right product. This phenomenon is also the case for DIY purchases.Although price is still the determining factor. The study states that, approximately every third European (34 Per cent) waits for bargains or special offers, especially when it comes to DIY goods, that’s when the consumer pays particular attention to the price.

On the whole, the study concludes that it’s not all bad news for the DIY industry, especially when it comes to the renovation market.
House alterations and refurbishment continue to rank in second place when Europeans are asked what they intend to spend money on in 2015. On average 37 per cent of Europeans cite these proposed items of expenditure, with only travel and leisure ranking higher at 54 per cent in the representative consumer survey “European Consumer Barometer 2015” carried out by Commerz Finanz. The purchase of tools and garden equipment comes sixth with 24 per cent.
Approval ratings in both categories vary significantly between individual countries, but topping the list in both is Great Britain (49 per cent with regard to house alterations/refurbishment and 34 per cent for the purchase of tools and garden equipment).
What is striking is that the procurement intentions in both categories are distributed much more uniformly across…