Background
Any business in the home improvement field has to contend with thin margins, extensive competition, seasonal cycles, and the effect of the economy on new construction as well as existing home renovations. The types of retail outlets that make up the home improvement sector range from small town tool rental facilities to massive DIY marts carrying tens of thousands of SKUs (Stock-Keeping Units) and covering acres of land. The home improvement sector is diverse to a somewhat greater degree than many other industries and thus the statistics regarding the sector's utilization of email and
social media marketing tend to adhere reasonably closely to overall industry medians.
The smaller and independent home improvement businesses tend to have a much lighter adoption rate of email newsletter campaigns as many lack the physical capabilities to engage in the activity. A number of the tinier stores still have manual cash registers and computer technology is still absent from their locations. The uptake of email and social media marketing increases considerably as the store sizes hit the middle range, and agreement on
email marketing as a primary promotional vector becomes virtually unanimous among larger and national chain stores.