DIY ethic spells opportunity for independents

One way homeowners are saving money is by doing more themselves. Whether it's making improvements inside and outside their homes or fixing the things that are broken or don't work right, it looks like many people are (re)discovering their handiness.

That said, many of us don't feel very handy — we didn't learn when we were growing up, and many of us have convinced ourselves that we're too busy to do it, even if we had the skills.

A San Francisco Chronicle articlelast weekreported that "buying hardware doesn't have to be hard." Bay Area Consumers' Checkbook magazine and Checkbook.org asked thousands of local consumers to rate their hardware-store experience. Checkbook then did an exhaustive price survey of 170 area stores, independent and chains alike.

Their results confirmed what we have seen in our own research with homeowners consistently all year, and as recently as last week:

• Independents are best for advice — for people like me who don't know what we're doing or what we need to in order to accomplish it.
• Big box stores are best for variety both within and across categories of merchandise.
• Independents can be competitive on price, but you have to work harder to make it pencil out — either buying enough to qualify for the discount or use their card or be in their program.

People like the idea of supporting their local stores and appreciate the fact that their local, independent hardware store has folks working there who can answer questions and who know their stuff. But when it comes right down to it, advice and help are not enough to make the independent store the first stop for most home improvement or repair shopping trips.

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Now that times are tough, the independents are having a particularly tough time. Stores like Ace Hardware and TruValue are seen as less competitive on variety and on price, and fall lower down on customer's list of places to go to get what they need. The help they offer has become a "nice to have" as the economy has cratered.

The growing popularity of doing-it-yourself may provide a way out for independents as events like the Maker Faire and sites like Etsy.com gain traction.

Maker Faireis a two-day, family-friendly event that celebrates the DIY mindset that is put on by O'Reilly Publishing, owner of Make Magazine. Over 65,000 people attended the Bay Area Maker Faire this year and the magazine has fans around the world, with a paid circulation of 100,000; its Web site gets 2.5 million visitors each month. The publisher held a second Faire in Austin, Tex., in October this year. Here's what one attendee described as the event's appeal: "Things like Maker Faire give people hope. Creativity is the best expression of humanity."

Etsyis an online marketplace for buying & selling all things handmade. According to Quantcast, traffic at Etsy is at an all-time high of almost 2.5 million unique visitors/month in November. Looks like giving homemade is "in" this holiday, even if it's not made in our own homes!

Seems like the independents might find a lifeline by connecting the dots here.

Judy Hopelain is a consultant with Brand Amplitude and a blogger on the topic of retail experiences.