Nuremberg, August 31, 2016 – When it comes to what aspect of their home people would most like to improve, the most popular answers among the online population across 22 countries are the interior décor or design (39 percent), the overall size or layout (38 percent), and the furniture (35 percent).

Amongst women internationally, interior décor gets the highest selection, with 43 percent saying this is one of the aspects they would most like to improve. Their next most popular choices are the furniture (40 percent) and the overall size and layout (39 percent).Amongst the men, their home’s overall size and layout is the most popular aspect they want to improve, with 37 percent selecting this. This is followed by the household appliances and the interior décor – both selected by 35 percent of men.

Internationally, significantly more men than women are interested in improving their home’s entertainment equipment – with three out of ten men (30 percent) selecting this, compared to just under two out of ten women (19 percent).

Countries most interested in each area of home improvement

The desire to improve their home’s interior décor is most prevalent in Turkey and Russia, where over half of the online populations make this selection (56 percent and 55 percent respectively).

For the overall size and layout, Hong Kong (50 percent), Russia and Argentina (both 49 percent) are in the lead, while wanting to improve the furniture is seen most widely in Russia (54 percent) and Turkey (49 percent).

Russia and China are the top two countries for online populations wanting to change or improve their household appliances – standing at 45 percent and 40 percent respectively. And South Korea (42 percent), Hong Kong and China (both 37 percent) have the highest percentages who say they would like to improve the overall level of cleanliness of their homes.

Hong Kong features again as a top market when it comes to those wanting to improve storage space, and also how well organized the home is.  For storage space, 47 percent of Hong Kong’s online population chooses this, with Mexico and Argentina following at 44 percent. And for how well organized the home is, 40 percent of Hong Kong’s online population say they would like to improve this, followed by South Korea at 39 percent.

Wanting to improve the garden, yard or other outdoors area is most popular in Mexico (43 percent) and Australia (38 percent) – while improving their home’s entertainment equipment is most widely selected in China (34 percent) and Mexico (30 percent).

The Netherlands, Japan, Germany, France and Belgium stand out as having the highest percentages of their online populations who said that they would not want to change any of the areas listed above.

GfK’s findings form a valuable foundation for major DIY, home furnishing and home improvement retailers, in understanding how consumer aspirations for their homes differ across countries, age groups and gender. By combining these aspirational data with its continuous point of sales tracking, GfK gives its clients a detailed picture of the current and future demands within each target market.

To download full findings for each of the 22 countries, please visit www.gfk.com/global-studies/global-study-overview/

Download (PDF)