

Making homes smarter and more energy efficient has been a very strong trend before the global corona pandemic hit. As the results of the impact of the coronavirus on home improvement are visible now, with not purely negative effects, but more on that later, we wanted to investigate the topic of smart home products and energy efficiency more closely again. This is why we made these topics the center of our new Q1 2020 European Home Improvement Monitor report, a quarterly survey in 11 European countries amongst consumers (26,400 successful interviews annually).

One of the key outcomes is that almost half of all European consumers are interested in smart home products, although this percentage varies greatly per country. Millennials are most interested in these products with the most interest (and ownership) going towards smart home devices for heating, lighting and security. The countries with the lowest interest are surprisingly Denmark and the Netherlands, with the highest interest in Poland and Italy.
When it comes to energy efficiency, it’s clear that consumers are more and more thinking about this and planning to invest in it. Roughly a quarter of all European consumers has no interest in improving the energy efficiency of their homes, which is relatively low. Improving the insulation value of their homes seems to be most popular.
Here a link to the Report factsheet: 18062020 EHIM_Q1_2020___Factsheet
Of course there is a lot more information in the full report. When of interest, I would be more than happy to plan a short Skype/Teams meeting to show the full content.
Besides this key information on smart home products and energy efficiency, we have been measuring the impact of the coronavirus on home improvement behaviour each month since April. Here you can find the link to the free April report : 18062020 EHIM_Q1_2020___Coronavirus_April_2020. Since then, we have been measuring how this evolved and added even more questions on future home improvement plans and what type of jobs were done more or less due to corona. The latest update (June) of this report is free in combination with the Q1 2020 report or can be ordered individually for 350 Euro (covering all 11 countries).
The full Q1 2020 report, including the coronavirus update for free, costs 3,000 Euro (covering all 11 countries and a product chapter of choice).
In case of any questions, a call to further discuss the content or if you like to order the report, feel free to contact me.