Building Material Dealers Industry Profile

Companies in this industry are primarily engaged in retail sales of new building materials and supplies. Major companies include Home Depot, Lowe's, and Menards (all based in the US), as well as Beijing Easyhome Investment Holdings Group and Red Star Macalline (both based in China), Home Improvement Hirose (Japan), Kingfisher (UK), Bauhaus and Tengelmann-owned OBI (both based in Germany). Some independently owned stores belong to wholesale cooperatives, such as Ace Hardware and True Value Company in the US, that buy materials in bulk and resell them to members.

The do-it-yourself (DIY) home improvement retailing market is expected to grow by $186.3 billion during between 2022 and 2027, with a compound annual growth rate of over 4% during the forecast period, according to Technavio.

The US building materials dealer industry includes about 57,000 establishments (single-location companies and units of multi-location companies) with combined annual sales of about $304 billion. The industry includes home centers and hardware stores and paint and wallpaper stores, which are covered in separate industry profiles, as well as specialized building material retailers such as electrical supply and plumbing supply stores.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Demand is driven mainly by residential real estate construction and renovation. The profitability of individual companies depends on merchandising and customer service. Large companies enjoy economies of scale in purchasing and have the ability to offer more products. Small companies can compete effectively by catering to contractors, ...