Demographic shifts boost APAC’s DIY home improvement retail

Growing emphasis on environmentfriendly projects and initiatives could offer abundant growth opportunities

The lack of skilled professionals in the sector might hold back growth in the coming years

The rise in population and demographic shifts in Asia Pacific has boosted the region’s do-it-yourself (DIY) home improvement retailing market, which is expected to see steady growth in the coming years, according to a report from Research Dive.

The market’s revenue is projected to grow at a 3.9% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) to $87.1b from 2021 to 2028, driven by the the dominance of populated countries like India, China, and Pakistan in the retail sector, immense urban increments, and prominence of megacities.

On the other hand, the lack of skilled professionals in the DIY home improvement sector is the major factor expected to hinder market growth, the report stated.

Nonetheless, growing emphasis on environment-friendly projects and initiatives like DIY combo kits, reusable snack bags, and DIY un-paper towels could potentially offer abundant growth opportunities for the market in the coming years, Research Drive said.

The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic wreaked havoc across several industries and businesses, but the region’s home improvement retailing market nonetheless witnessed a significant growth rate, with many retailers adopting advanced technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT) and augmented reality (AR) to enhance user experience.

“In addition, acquisitions by some major market players like that of Scapic by Flipkart to boost online shopping rate among customers during the pandemic by utilizing modern technologies also accelerated the market growth during the deadly coronavirus pandemic,” the report added.

Future growth opportunities

The rest of Asia Pacific is especially expected to witness better growth opportunities, with revenue projected to hit $26m by 2028 due to the rising number of South-East Asian customers.

“In addition, technological advancements, ultra-modern DIY product enhancements by market players, their powerful acquisitions, and heavy investments in the R&D activities are some factors estimated to propel the market development in the rest of the Asia-Pacific region,” the report added.

The market’s painting sub-segment is also expected to see a lucrative growth rate over the period due to the availability of several DIY paint products, as well as the implementation of product enhancements by major market players due to increasing customer demand.

The offline sub-segment is also projected to maintain a dominating market share, as offline distribution channels effectively helped in enlarging the customer base of the local market, the report stated.

HOW FAST DO BUSINESSES DIGITALLY EXPAND TODAY VS PRE-PANDEMIC?

An annual market study from REIT company Equinix revealed that the digital growth in companies is four times more than that of the pre-pandemic levels.

Digitally mature businesses in the Asia Pacific region were able to deploy their digital infrastructure to multiple regions, expand to multiple edge locations, and integrate multiple clouds in six months. This is faster compared to the two years required time from before.

According to the study, overall interconnection bandwidth, the measure of private connectivity for the transfer of data between organisations, is expected to reach 21,485 or more terabits per second, per year by 2024. This represents a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 44%.

Interconnection bandwidth in APAC is also expected to increase by 46% CAGR, reaching 6,002 TeraBits Per Second or Tbps by 2024. This would make up 28% of global interconnection bandwidth.

By comparison, Singapore is keeping pace with other core metros in the region with an expected interconnection bandwidth capacity of 42% CAGR in 2024.

Digital leaders also see 10 times as many instances of interconnection amongst partners.

Industry-wise, the financial services sector is expected to deploy more than 50% of Enterprise interconnection bandwidth. This is followed by the manufacturing sector as the second-largest industry.

The public sector, healthcare and life sciences, industrial services and transportation industries, meanwhile, are seen to experience the fastest growth at a 48% or more CAGR from 2020 to 2024 globally.

Digital growth in companies is four times more than pre-pandemic era