Home improvement stores, like The Home Depot and Lowe's, continue to see US sales surge as the pandemic-propelled demand for DIY and home improvement projects continues through 2021.

Home Improvement and DIY. Home improvement and do-it-yourself (DIY) projects were popular at-home activities during the pandemic, leading to ecommerce growth across several categories in 2020:. Other.

Home improvement retailer The Home Depot is continuing to build on its loyalty program to create more personalized in-store and online experiences.

Most of these eight retailers have one thing in common: They capitalized on pandemic-induced spending on home improvement, online grocery, and pet care while offering consumers convenient fulfillment options, great prices, or both. Three of the top 15 retailers will post ecommerce sales growth of at least 25.0%, with Amazon coming in just under, at 24.9%.

Sales in Q1 rose faster than expected thanks to government stimulus checks that stoked spending in nonfood categories, including recreation, home improvement, and apparel. What’s more, the company remains upbeat about Q2 and expects stimulus spending and overall economic recovery to continue to benefit general merchandise categories. 

Though virtually unknown outside of China, a new crop of local direct-to-consumer brands are making a name for themselves at home—and even outperforming some of the major foreign players.

As it turns out, click and collect accounted for much of the ecommerce growth that several large US retailers saw in 2020, including The Home Depot (73.4% of ecommerce growth), Lowe’s (72.1%), and Best Buy (44.8%). Certain patterns stood out:. Home improvement retailers leaned the heaviest on click and collect.

“Other”—driven by increased demand for home improvement products—grew 58.0%, compared with our pre-pandemic estimate of 18.7%. (Note: We did not forecast Amazon’s sales by category for 2021 before the pandemic.).

The big-box retailers came in just behind the home improvement retailers, followed by department stores like Macy’s and Nordstrom, which saw the least dramatic transitions to click and collect.

This could boost luxury items as well as nonessential electronics and gadgets, home appliances, and home improvement products. What’s the Same? Prime Day remains a key driver of Amazon Prime subscriptions. Many parts of the Amazon flywheel are geared toward growing Amazon’s already massive Prime subscription base.

The Home Depot and Wayfair continued to ride the wave of home improvement. Best Buy benefited from a season of high-demand consumer electronics products like the iPhone and from the release of Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5. Mobile retail apps are a critical touchpoint for holiday ecommerce.

Our latest forecast shows that Amazon, Walmart, and eBay will remain the top three largest ecommerce companies in the US by total sales volume, while Best Buy and Target will usurp The Home Depot and Wayfair for the No. 5 and No. 6 spots on the 2021 list, respectively.